The relationship between men and women presented in the short story “The Story of an Hour”, is that men dominated society. A Woman’s freedom was nonexistent. Throughout this short story, women are presented as powerless and dependent while men were considered to be superior. Women were tied down through marriage, such as, having been expected of doing as the man pleased without having any say in the relationship. Through a feminist critical perspective, this short story supports a patriarchal society that is presented though marriage and women’s lack of freedom. During this period in time, men had dominated with power and control over women. Women were seen as weak and powerless, therefore it was assumed and expected of women to obey the …show more content…

With this in mind, it’s presented how much power men had over women which supports a male dominated society. Now that spring and summer days were all her own signifies that she would now live a life with no restrictions. To be a women and married meant you did not belong to yourself. Louise was and would always be his wife.
Now that Mallard was dead, Louise belonged to no one and considered herself to be an independent women. As noted earlier, using the feminist critical perspective suggest the idea that women were tied down by marriage. A woman was to be at the husbands every beck and call. It is not her choice to agree or disagree with his wishes, orders, and commands. A point over looked is the Irony presented in this short story. She breathes a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long. Before the death of her husband, she dreaded a long life. A life that she knew would feel miserable and unending. Yet with the death of her husband, she now prays for a longer life so that she can enjoy freedom. The irony is presented through her feelings of dreading a long life but now praying for one. Applying a feminists critical perspective on this idea supports a patriarchal society do to the fact that women would have rather have lived a shorter life when being in the control of a man, rather than live their whole life instead. In turn, men even had the power to