The two short stories, "The Story of an Hour" and "The Yellow Wallpaper", demonstrate important ideas regarding 19th century marriage. They demonstrated that the husband had almost complete and total control over his wife. Also, it seems that marriages were arranged not because of love, but instead for financial and or social gain. The men in 19th century society were the primary "breadwinners", earning income to support his family. The wife was the primary caretaker of the home and household, her roles were strictly bound to serving her husband.
Kate Chopin's piece of short fiction, "The Story of an Hour", is about the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, and her reaction to her husband Brently Mallard's, "apparent" death in a train wreck. When she first learns of the news from her sister Josephine, Mrs. Mallard's reaction is the usual one expects from a weeping widow. However, as the story progresses, the reader learns of her true feelings. In reality, she is not saddened by her husband's sudden and untimely demise, she is in fact ecstatic. This clearly shows how unhappy she was bound to her husband. Her newfound freedom radiates throughout her: "Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering. (Lawn 74) Her celebration was short-lived; however, as her husband suddenly makes his way into the house. The sudden shock of seeing her thought dead husband was too much for her heart to bear, and she dies. "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills." (Lawn 75).
The next example of the atrocities in 19th century marriage is contained in the literary work "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gillman. The main character is married to a physician, John, who takes it upon himself to care for his "sick" wife. They relocate to an estate in the countryside as part of her "recovery". The husband, a person held in high regards as a physician, dismisses any notion that his wife is really ill.
