Analysis and Interpretation 2.1 Exterior Perception – Expectations of a Nineteenth-Century Society This mask shows a warm-hearted woman who is easily overwhelmed by her great emotions and is able to love from the bottom of her heart, and a caring wife who always speaks kindly of her husband. These three semantic levels of her “environment” force Louise to hide her inner self behind a mask. “Environment” includes three different dimensions: first, the abiotic environment containing lifeless matter such as the house and the closed window second, the biotic or social environment, in concrete terms her friends, relatives and every person she interacts with as representatives of contemporary society and its norms and values and third, time as a limited resource. In order to avoid misunderstanding an important key term shall be defined and explained in more detail in the following. He follows Louise through the recognition of her inner wish to break with conventions by unveiling her yearning for freedom, and he stays with her when she comes to realise that self-assertion is of greater importance to her than love. On the other hand, the reader is able to gain some insight into her mindset. Thus, it is no wonder that the doctors, who are less close to her, misinterpret the reason for her sudden death. Although they are very close to her - both physically and emotionally as her friend and sister – they are not able to understand her nature. On the one hand, there are the characters in the story whose perception of Louise is limited to the exterior they see, talk to and observe. Who is she really – this woman with a split identity and secret wishes? As the reader is the only person who has access to both her exterior behaviour and a part of her interior thoughts, he is able to analyse Louise Mallard´s character and the incentive of her being to a certain extent.īy doing so, the careful reader discovers that she is not the warm-hearted woman and caring wife the story´s characters believe her to be because her interior emotions are restricted by her environment and thus cannot be recognised by the persons in the story. Although this hour of revelation brings to light the second self of Louise Mallard, it also leaves many questions open. But Louise is not entirely alone – the reader observes her secret wish for absolute freedom, and he alone is able to see the discrepancy between appearance and reality which the story´s characters cannot detect. Slowly, Louise begins to relax and develop new senses for the world outside the window and the feelings coming from the bottom of her heart to the surface where they had been locked during the years as a married woman. Now, that she is alone she knows that she does not have to pretend false feelings anymore. This state of dismay and sadness soon wears off after she has shut the door behind her, and is screened from all the preoccupied faces of the others. Mallard is suffering times of immeasurable emotional pain and despair. Up to this point in the short story her behaviour triggers what everybody takes for normal, namely that the widow Mrs. Her wish to be alone for some time is also nothing unusual for someone who has to bear such a great loss. She grieves for her reportedly dead husband and shows great emotions. Louise Millard´s external appearance perfectly conforms to what her environment expects of her. 2.1 Exterior Perception – Expectations of a Nineteenth-Century SocietyĢ.1.1 How the Other Characters of the Story Perceive LouiseĢ.1.2 How the Doctors Misinterpret Louise´s DeathĢ.2 Interior Perception – Feministic MindsetĢ.2.1 Louise Recognises her Inner Wish to Break with ConventionsĢ.2.2 Louise Values Self-Assertion Higher than Love
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