A Woman Love for a Man Essay Example

A Woman Love for a Man Essay Example A Woman Love for a Man Essay A Woman Love for a Man Essay Essay Topic: The Heart Of a Woman Compare and Contrast Essay: â€Å"Story of an Hour† and â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband† Thesis: In the short story, â€Å"Story of an Hour† by Mary Chopin and the poem â€Å"To my Dear and Loving Husband†, by Anne Bradstreet both authors reveal how each of their female characters feel about their husband and how each feelings are expressed differently I. Both women are treated differently by their husbands. A. In the â€Å"Story of an Hour†, the central character, Louise Mallard, feels locked in her marriage. B. In â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband†, the author Anne feels safe and secure in her marriage. II. Both women express different feelings about their mates. A. In â€Å"Story of an Hour†, Louise feels that it is not enough that her husband loves her. B. In â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband†, Anne values her relationship with her husband more than anything. III. Both authors use literary concepts to make their writings easier to understand. A. In â€Å"Story of an Hour†, the line free, free, free tells us that Louise feels free after learning of her husband’s death. B. In â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband†, the line I prize thy love more than mines of gold tells us that she values their love very much. A WOMAN’S LOVE FOR A MAN As every woman is an individual with distinct characteristics so too will her feelings towards her husband are uniquely expressed. There are husbands who try to control their wives so much that the woman cannot freely follow does their own will. Then there are those who are devoted to their wives through thick and thin. In the short story, â€Å"Story of an Hour† by Mary Chopin and the poem â€Å"To my Dear and Loving Husband†, by Anne Bradstreet both authors reveal how each of their female characters feel about their husband and how each feelings are expressed differently. Both women are treated differently by their husbands. In Mary Chopin’s â€Å"Story of an Hour†, Chopin describes how the central character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is locked into a marriage. She is the kind of wife who cannot voice her own opinion, â€Å"without getting approval of her husband† (12). In Anne Bradstreet’s â€Å"To my Dear and Loving Husband†, the author Anne Bradstreet represents herself as a wife who feels secure and safe while living with her husband. It demonstrates a very loving and happy relationship between husband and wife. Therefore, getting approval from her husband would not be so hard because of his love for her. There are key differences in how each woman expressed her feelings toward her husband. In the â€Å"Story of an Hour†, the husband, Brently Mallard, is still a good man to Louise because â€Å"he never looks upon her with anything but love† (12). However, despite the fact that Louise knows that her husband loves her, the sense of his domination makes it difficult for her to feel any love. She can merely attest to an occasional feeling of affection: â€Å"And yet she loved him, sometimes† (15). In â€Å"To my Dear and Loving Husband†, a love poem, dedicated to her husband, â€Å"Anne conveys how much she loves her husband, and that she values her love of her husband more than money; more than anything anyone can imagine† (5-6) . Both authors both use literary concepts to make their writings easier to understand and interesting to read. In â€Å"Story of an Hour†, Louise Mallard learns about a railroad disaster from her sister and her husband’s friend Richard. Brently Mallards name leads the list of those â€Å"killed† (1). At first she weeps in her sisters arms. However, she soon begins to recognize a different sensation. â€Å"A whispered word escapes her slightly parted lips. Under her breath she was says: Free, free, free† (11). This tells us that she is indeed free from the marriage that has kept her repressed. At the same time, love brings on more meaning in â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband†. Anne states, â€Å"I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold† (5-6). This tells us that she values their love very much; more than anything money could buy. She does not care how rich the people in the East are; she already feels rich because of the love that she and her husband share. Anne conveys that she is a happy wife because he has given her all her happiness as indicated in the line â€Å"If ever wife was happy in man, Compare with me, ye woman if can† (4). Clearly, she is proud of the love she and her husband have for each other. Both women eventually experience love to the death, both physically and mentally. In â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband†, Anne strongly believes that their love can be preserved; that it will last forever. In the last line of the poem, â€Å"Then while we live, in love let’s so preserver, Then when we live no more, we may live ever† (10-11). Anne is speaking from her point of view. She believe that even if one day, that they are dead, their love will still live on forever. In the â€Å"Story of an Hour†, Louise Mallard’s husband shows up at the door of their house and she realizes that her husband was never on the train. Her heart gives out suddenly; ironically given by the doctor attribute this to â€Å"the joy that kills† (23). In both pieces of writing, each character had experiences more or less love in a different way. One man disallows his wife to unable to make her own life decisions; the other stands by his wife with unconditional love. In Louise’s case, she experiences real freedom during the absence of her husband’s domination. Even if it was a short hour, it was the time when all her dreams came true. I believe that Mrs. Mallard’s death was not only because she was shocked to see her husband, but because she was sad about the loss of her new-found freedom. In Anne’s case, she is enjoying her relationship with her husband, as her husband is the kind of man that treasures his wife. The story and poem both discuss love. The poem tells us that some people view love so strongly, that they truly believe in eternal love, that their love will continue even after they die. In the story, the husband and wife do not have enough love between one another: one is giving and the other is taking. Therefore that kind of love does not last eternally. It is the love demonstrated in â€Å"To my Dear and Loving Husband† that is the cornerstone for every marriage; true love operates both directions. WORKS CITED Bradstreet, Anne. â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband†. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 1169. Chopin, Mary. â€Å"Story of an Hour†. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 342-344.