Essay Comparing Louise of Story of an Hour and Nora of A Dolls House

Comparing Louise of The Story of an Hour and Nora of A Dolls ingleside In Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour, the main character is a woman who has been controlled and conformed to the norms of society. Louise Mallard has obviously given her entire alivenessspan to assuring her husbands happiness while forfeiting her own. This truth is also apparent in Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House. In this story, Nora Helmer has also given her life to a man who has very little concern for her feelings or beliefs. Both of these characters live very lonely lives, and both have a desire to have out who they really are and also what they are capable of becoming. Although the characters of Nora and Louise are very much alike in many ways, their personalities differ greatly when it comes to fashioning decisions regarding the direction of their lives. Both Nora and Louises lives have been shaped and molded to conform to their husbands wishes. At the time these stories took place, it was basically un heard of for women to assert their beliefs or to act upon their ideas. As a result, Louise was forced to succumb to the role of an obedient wife, in order to abide by the norms of society. This is apparent because of the way she reacts when she learns of a false rumor regarding her husbands sudden death. mend in deep thought, and staring out the window by herself, she has a sudden realization of complete happiness and total freedom. As she tries hard to cut these fresh, new feelings, she speaks the words, free, free, free (23) These words help the audience to understand the repression she has been forced to withstand for many years. She feels sudden exhilaration as she reflects on what her new life will bring her. She speaks of the treatmen... ...ay. Freedom and Desire The Theme of Awakening in the Works of Kate Chopin. Critical Interpretations Kate Chopin. Ed. Harold Blooming. New York Chelsea House, 1989. 14-32. Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Introduction to Literature Re ading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed. Ed. Dorothy U. Seyler and Richard A. Wilan. Englewood Cliffs Prentice, 1990. Durbach, Errol. A Dolls House Ibsens Myth of Transformation. Boston Twayne, 1991. Ibsen, Henrik. A Dolls House. Introduction to Literature Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed. Ed. Dorothy U. Seyler and Richard A. Wilan. Englewood Cliffs Prentice, 1990. Salom, Lou. Ibsens Heroines. Ed. and trans. Siegfried Mandel. Redding Ridge Black Swan, 1985. Templeton, Joan. The Doll House Backlash Criticism, Feminism,and Ibsen. PMLA (January 1989) 28-40.