"The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was first published in 1892, and "The Story of an Hour" written by Kate Chopin, was written and first published under the title "The Dream of an Hour" in 1894. These two stories deal with the position of women in the late 1800’s. This era is especially interesting because women were still treated as second-class citizens. These two stories had a lot in common and shared a lot of the same views about life of women governed by the laws of men. Aside that both husbands, Mr. Mallard from "The Story of an Hour" and John from "The Yellow Wallpaper" are very similar as they both have a very strong hold and control over their wives, they also are very different such as John demonstrates his dominance by talking down to his wife. This is demonstrated by the following quote: "What is it, little girl?" he said. "Don't go walking about like that – you'll get cold" “(Gilman 63) but in “The Story of an Hour”, there is a different type of male dominance as Mr. Mallard did not allow her to fulfill her dreams and aspirations. Although both men have a strong control over their wives, both men deeply care for and love their wives. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator’s husband controlled her both mentally and physically. Her husband, “a physician of high standing” (Gilman 55), has diagnosed her as having a “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 55). He does not allow her to have any sort of mental or physical stimulation. The narrator is forbidden to engage in normal social conversation; her physical isolation is in part designed to remove her from the possibility of over-stimulating intellectual discussion. She is forbidden to work and not even supposed to write. The narrator is keeping a journal, confiding to “dead paper” (Gilman 55) the unorthodox thoughts and perceptions she is reluctant to tell to a “living soul” (Gilman 55). The woman wants to experience her own life, but, more importantly to her, to have the ability to express herself and be creative. Challenging and subverting the expert prescription that forbids her to write, the journal evokes a sense of urgency and danger. “There comes John, and I must put this away, – he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 57). Furthermore, visitors are absolutely not allowed. She says, “It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work…but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now”(Gilman 58). Without a doubt John loved his wife, in the sense that he took care of her while she was ill. Not only had John taken care of his wife, he also moved out to a secluded colonial house for some time in order to have his wife in the optimal relaxed environment. Being a physician, John thought secluding his wife and restricting her from most or any activity at all was best for her. His actions had all the right intentions, and the compassion he showed was sincere, his wife even tells us “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (Gilman 56). She is virtually imprisoned in her bedroom, supposedly to allow her to rest and recover her health. Disturbed by the wallpaper, she asked for another room or for different paper; her husband argues with her not to give way to her “fancies” (Gilman 58). The wallpaper is to remain: acknowledgement of its reality is the first step toward freedom. At the end of the story, his husband surprisingly fainted as the narrator followed her own logic, her own perceptions, and her own projects into madness by destruction of the wallpaper “I've got out at last... And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!” (Gilman 70). The woman goes crazy for lack of freedom. She goes crazy and experiences her own type of freedom, but her freedom is only temporary, and once she leaves the house she is going to start getting better.
On the other hand, Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” had to deal with the same sort of affliction as the narrator in “The Yellow wallpaper” as her husband had control over her body and soul but in different ways. Mrs. Mallard’s life has not been her own ever since she got married. When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard, she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky” (Chopin 2). Love, in “The story of An Hour” I believe is somewhat superficial. Mrs. Mallard tells that “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 3). The short amount of time it took her to mourn the death of her husband also helps to support the argument that there was no real love in that marriage. When she learns of her husband's death, her thoughts on what life would be like without her husband are pleasing. "Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 3). Mrs. Mallard wants to live without her husband. She believes freedom is hers; however, when she finds out her husband is not dead; she had shock of her losing it again causes her to have a heart attack and die. However, death is eternal freedom for her.
These two husbands are very similar but also very different. Both husbands love their wives who are very weak and they both have a very strong hold and control over their women, but both are different type of male dominance. Each story had own way of demonstrating the twist at the end as one let the wallpaper drive her crazy and the other had her freedom drive her dead. These two stories are definitely a try to let women be who they want to be and not to shut them away to try to make them better. Everyone needs to freely express him and women must be included in that, too.