Marriage Madness Essay

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Loriane Tadross
Professor Sophie Nadon
Monday 23, 2015
English
Marriage Madness Today's generation sees divorce as an easy way out when things don't work out in marriage, but how did previous generations cope with unhappy marriages with religion voting sternly against divorce? Kate Chopin's writing focuses on women's situations and their lack of authority and overall life quality back in her days, ideas that are reinforced and fought for stronger than ever today. Her thoughts express feminism - women searching for their identity as Louise Mallard does in "The Story of an Hour". Chopin criticizes marriage to be an imprisoning relationship for the protagonist. To begin, Louise's life does not belong to her completely when she is required to share all of it with her husband, which makes her feel entrapped within herself. What society judges to be a decent wife is one that does, in fact, give her all to her partner. Boundaries are dropped and borders are crossed and there is no such thing as mystery or secrets, and all that makes Louise hysterical. Marriage demands much effort, time, and energy, and investing all that in her husband alone exhausts her. She wants her life to "belong to her absolutely" (13) so she can find a sense of reason to live for, a more fulfilling motivation. A marital bond sets gates, like prison gates, and Louise felt so trapped that she could not explore herself beyond her husband. However, Mrs. Mallard's misery is not due to her lack of love towards her spouse. On the contrary, she "love[s] him" (15), but not so much the outdated notion of marriage. Her point of view insists she could not be happy with full intimacy with someone, forcing her to dismiss herself and her needs to put theirs in priority. "There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature," (14)

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