Essay On Chopin And Ibsen's Story Of An Hour

Using shock as a tool for social critique is an effective way of getting an audience to contemplate an opinion. Chopin and Ibsen were well aware of this, evidence in their writings. Each author had their individual way of leaving the reader with a controversial thought that they then had to think about. Ibsen’s character, Nora leaves her family at the end of the play. This is appalling because not only is she leaving her husband, she is abandoning her children. In the late 1800’s a women leaving her husband for any reason was not acceptable. An article for The Daily Telegraph in 1889 calls Nora “absolutely inhuman” (1889b, p. 102). While other articles call her selfish and unwomanly. This reaction is not unintelligible because in a culture that
But even more so, she had cheated on her husband whom she had a child with. This was not as uncommon for stories, but the thought that neither characters paid any retribution for their actions caused quite the social outrage. Story of an Hour touches upon subjects such as freedom and happiness for a women after her husband dies. Moments after the news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard was rejoiced in the realization she no longer was binded to a man. This was controversial as the thought a women could be anything less than devastated at such news seemed disturbing. As her husband unexpectedly walks through the door, Mrs. Mallard dies right then. This leads the readers to believe she died of shock and disappointment. While both authors used shock as a technique, Ibsen’s ending was more predictable. The entire play was leading towards something big happening, whether you agreed with Nora’s decision or not, it was inevitable to happen. Chopin’s stories ended more unexpectedly, with a character actually dying due to disappointment and an unrevealed affair of two married people. Is the thought of freedom so wrong after years