Lesson video

Hello everyone, and welcome to this final lesson on Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour." Today, we're going to be looking at our own opinions of the story, and there's also going to be the chance to think about what might happen next.

For today's lesson, all you'll need is a pen and some paper or something to write on and with.

And if you can, try and move yourself away from any distractions, when you're ready, we'll begin.

We'll begin by reminding ourselves of what happens in "The Story of an Hour." Next, we're going to think about Mrs. Mallard's behaviour in an attempt to understand her character.

After that, we'll think about how Kate Chopin presents marriage in the short story, and we'll finish by thinking about what might happen next.

Let's remind ourselves of what happens in "The Story of an Hour." The story begins when Mrs. Mallard, who has a heart affliction, is given the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has died in a railroad disaster.

When she first hears the news, she weeps into her sister's arms. Eventually, she decides to go to her room alone.

She won't let anyone follow her.

Sitting down in her armchair, she's quite emotionless, she's exhausted, until a strange feeling begins to overcome her.

She's not entirely sure what that strange feeling is, but it makes her repeat the same word over and over to herself.

That word is free.

It turns out Mrs. Mallard feels liberated from her marriage.

She's no longer living under the control of her husband.

She thinks about her future, of all the days she has to herself and she opens up her arms wide and welcomes them.

Her sister Josephine is banging on the door, begging Mrs. Mallard to let her in.

Josephine is worried that Mrs. Mallard is making herself ill.

Mrs. Mallard eventually opens the door and walks downstairs with her sister Josephine.

However, as they're walking down the stairs, someone opens the door.

It's Brently Mallard, who didn't die in a railroad disaster, a mistake had been made.

Mrs. Mallard is so shocked to see her husband that her weak heart cannot cope, and she dies on the stairs.

The doctors, when they're evaluating Mrs. Madeline's body, believe that she died because she was so overjoyed to see her husband, but we know that this isn't the case.

When a reader knows something that the characters in the story do not, it's called dramatic irony.

Let's see how much you can remember.

Here are some multiple choice questions.

I'll read each question to you and the options, and then you can pause the video, make your selection as to what the right answer is and press play to hear if you were correct.

Question one, what affliction does Mrs. Mallard suffer from? Option one, asthma, option two, heart trouble, option three, poor eyesight or option four, hearing loss.

Pause the video here if you need to, and make your choice and then press play so you can hear the answer.

Well done.

Mrs. Mallard suffers from heart trouble.

Question two, how does Mrs. Mallard react to the news of her husband's death? Option one, she becomes angry and start smashing things, option two, she sits in silence and does not believe the news is true, option three, she does not react, or option four, she weeps and goes to her room, where she is alone.

Pause the video and make your choice.

Well done.

Option four, she weeps and goes to her room, where she is alone.

Question three, did Mrs. Mallard ever love her husband? Option one, Mrs. Mallard never loved her husband.

Option two, Mrs. Mallard loved her husband sometimes, option three, Mrs. Mallard loved her husband all of the time or option four, Mrs. Mallard loved someone else.

Pause the video and to make your selection.

Fantastic.

If you put option two, you would be right.

Mrs. Mallard loved her husband sometimes.

Finally, question four.

What does the term dramatic irony mean? Option one, when a character in the story knows something about a situation that the reader does not, option two, when a writer knows something about a situation in a story that the reader does not, option three, when a reader knows something about a situation in a story that the characters do not, or option four, when a reader knows something about a situation in a story that the writer does not.

Pause the video here and make your choice.

Well done.

If you picked option three, you would be correct.

Dramatic irony is when a reader knows something about a situation in a story that the characters do not.

Brilliant work.

We are now going to take a closer look at Mrs. Mallard's character.

When she first hears news of her husband's death, she weeps, as we would expect anyone would.

However, when she goes to her room alone, she begins to repeat the same word over and over again.

That word is free.

Mrs. Mallard feels free from the control of her husband.

To understand Mrs. Mallard's behaviour, we need to look at what life was like in the time the story is set.

Let's take a read of the following information.

"The Story of an Hour" is set in the late 19th century.

This was a time when women did not have the same opportunities as men, husbands held most of the power in their marriage, and some women had no choice but to do what they said.

Although many women were fighting for liberation, they were often subordinate to men.

Let's take a look at what that word subordinate means.

Subordinate means lower in rank or position.

This is demonstrated by the image you can see on your screen.

We have our king at the top and the three people below him are his subordinates, they are lower in rank or position than the king.

Let's take a look at the word subordinate in some sentences.

Number one, the king watched his subordinates bow down before him.

The king is watching everyone who is lower in rank or position than him bow down before him.

Number two, all the issues we face are subordinate to the problem we have to deal with now.

The issues are not as important as the problem that we have to deal with now.

Here are some synonyms for the word subordinate.

A synonym is a word or phrase that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or phrase.

Synonyms for subordinate include lesser, lowly, inferior or minor.

Here's an extract from "The Story of an Hour." Let me read it to you.

"There would be no one to live for "during those coming years; she would live for herself.

"There would be no powerful will bending hers "in that blind persistence with which men "and women believe they have a right to impose "a private will upon a fellow-creature." Here, we can see how Mrs. Mallard has felt subordinate to her husband in their marriage.

Now that she thinks he's dead, she believes there will be no powerful will bending hers.

There would be no one to live for.

She can live how she likes because her husband is no longer there to control her.

So can you remember what the word subordinate means? Pause the video here and copy it and complete the definition.

When you're finished, press play, and we'll go through the answers.

Well done.

Subordinate means lower in rank or position.

By highlighting how Mrs. Mallard feels free from her marriage, Kate Chopin is telling readers how some women felt trapped in their marriages at the time the story is set.

She is telling her readers how some women felt subordinate.

We may think, then, that Brently Mallard, her husband, has been really horrible to her, but this isn't actually the case.

Let's take a look at this line.

Kate Chopin writes, "Brently Mallard's face "had never looked save with love upon her." This means Brently Mallard's face had never looked upon her except with love.

This is a really significant point because it means that even though Mrs. Mallard feels subordinate to her husband, she doesn't blame her husband for this.

Instead, she's blaming marriage itself.

Marriage, she thinks, makes women feel trapped and subordinate.

Pause the video to complete your task.

I would like you to answer the following question.

What is your opinion of Mrs. Mallard and her actions? If you would like, you can use the sentence openers you see on your screen.

But if you'd like to have a bit of an extra challenge, you can ignore them.

Let me read them to you.

I think Mrs. Mallard has been feeling in her marriage to Brently Mallard.

Her actions and her feelings of liberation are/are not surprising because, when Mrs. Mallard dies at the end, I think readers are supposed to feel because.

Look at that second sentence opener.

You need to make a decision whether her feelings of liberation are or are not surprising.

Pause the video here to complete the task.

And when you're ready, we'll go through the answers.

Let's go through what an example answer could look like.

Before I show them to you, as always, please don't worry if what you have at home is different to what you see on your screen.

Have a look to see if there is any similar language, and if there is, give yourself a tick.

For the purpose of demonstration, I'm going to argue that Mrs. Mallard's feelings of liberation are not surprising, but if you chose differently, please don't worry.

An acceptable answer might read, I think Mrs. Mallard has been feeling trapped in her marriage to Brently Mallard.

Her actions and her feelings of liberation are not surprising because she has felt like a prisoner in her marriage.

When Mrs. Mallard dies at the end, I think readers are supposed to feel sad because she was never free in the first place.

A good answer might read something like this.

I think Mrs. Mallard has been feeling trapped and suffocated in her marriage to Brently Mallard.

Her actions and her feelings of liberation are not surprising because when she believes her husband to be dead, she is excited at the prospect of living how she wants to instead of how she is told to.

When Mrs. Mallard dies at the end, I think readers are supposed to feel sad and angry because Mrs. Mallard was always subordinate to her husband.

She never knew what it was like to be truly liberated from marriage.

A very good answer might read like this.

When Mrs. Mallard dies at the end, I think readers are supposed to feel sad because her life has come to an end.

However, in a strange way, Mrs. Mallard is liberated.

She finds her freedom through death.

She will never have to feel trapped in her marriage again.

This is a very good answer because it really makes some perceptive comments that we might not think of on a first reading of the story.

If you've got anything like the answers that I've shown you today, very well done.

We're now going to take a closer look at how marriage is presented in "The Story of an Hour." Here's your activity.

Using everything we've discussed today and all of your notes, I would like you to answer the following question.

Which box best describes how marriage is presented in "The Story of an Hour"? Is it presented as a suffocating partnership, a loving partnership, an unequal partnership or a respectful partnership? There's not really a right answer to this question.

It's completely your own opinion.

But remember, Mrs. Mallard does not blame her husband, Brently Mallard, for her subordination.

Instead, she blames marriage itself.

That might help you make your choice.

If you'd like, you can use the sentence opener below.

Pause the video, complete your answer, and when you're finished, press play and we'll go through what we could have had.

Well done.

Now, as I said before, if you choose something different to what I choose, please, don't worry.

For the purpose of demonstration, I'm going to say that marriage is presented as a suffocating partnership, but if you chose differently, fantastic, it really doesn't matter.

The important bit is what comes next.

I now want you to explain to me why you made your choice.

Remember, I said that marriage was a suffocating partnership, so in my explanation, I'm going to explain why it's suffocating.

I would like you to do the same for your choice.

Pause the video here, complete your answer, and when you're ready, press play.

Brilliant work.

Remember, I said that marriage was a suffocating partnership, so here's an example of my answer.

I think marriage is presented in this way because although Brently Mallard has never been mean to Mrs. Mallard, she feels trapped because she cannot live how she wants to.

She has to do what her husband tells her.

You may have put something different.

In fact, you most likely have put something different because we may have all chosen different options.

It really doesn't matter.

The important thing is that you've explained why you made that choice.

Well done.

Now that we've understood Mrs. Mallard's behaviour, have looked a little bit as to what life was like at the time and evaluated marriage, let's have a think about what could happen next.

"The Story of an Hour" takes place over the course of an hour.

I want you to now think about what might happen in the next hour, the hour after the story finishes.

You can complete this activity how you like.

You may want to jot your ideas down in a mind map.

You might want to create a bullet point list.

You may even want to write the story itself.

It's completely up to you.

Think about the ideas you could include.

How are Josephine and Brently Mallard going to react now that Mrs. Mallard is dead? Can you include a twist like Kate Chopin does in her original story? I'd be really interested to see what you come up with.

I'm not going to give you any sentence openers for this task.

This is a chance for your imagination to run wild.

Pause the video here to complete the activity and press play once you've finished.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson and this unit on "The Story of an Hour." A really big well done on all of the fantastic things you've achieved today.

I've got two things I'd like you to do now.

First, don't forget to complete the exit quiz on the next slide, and second, if you're able to, please take a picture of your work and ask your parent or carer to share it with your teacher so they can see all of the fantastic things you've learned today.

If you'd like, you can ask your parent or carer to send a picture of your work to @OakNational on Twitter, so I can see what you've been doing, too.

Thank you for joining me today and take care.