Introduction
Freedom refers to a situation where one is capable of acting, reasoning, judging and sharing his or her opinions without being restricted by external forces or being influenced. In every relationship, couples are bound by varied responsibilities. Violation of one’s responsibilities may lead to the relationship becoming sour or even coming to an end. There are numerous benefits accrued from freedom in a relationship. Setting a partner free in a relationship leads to one becoming responsible thus being committed to the relationship. In addition, trust blossoms in the relationship leading to the partners coexisting harmoniously.
Generally, freedom in an intimate relationship is a factor that requires to be addressed with lot of caution. This is because; the term is in most cases misinterpreted leading to most of the relationships breaking up. One of the biggest mistakes committed when addressing freedom in intimate relationships is that people do not consider the association between freedom and love. On the other hand, love is the decisive method used in gauging the level of freedom in any relationship. This is because couples in every relationship are bound to numerous expectations and demands. This makes one feel not to be free. In the short story “The Story of An Hour”, Mrs. Louise Mallard felt to be ensnared in her marriage. By focusing on Louise Mallard in the short story, this paper aims at demonstrating that freedom in an intimate relationship demands for kindness, intelligence and trust.
Freedom requires kindness
For every relationship, partners deserve to treat each other in kindness so as to enjoy. In a relationship where one is oppressed, the victim can not enjoy the relationship. To such a victim, he or she views the relationship as a heavy burden casted on his or her shoulders. To him or her, life in the relationship appears to be a long journey. Such a victim leaves each day as it comes and can never enjoy the relationship. In the short story, Louise appears to be a subject of repression in the relationship. This is clearly depicted by the wrinkles in her face. Her husband treats her with a lot of contempt leading to her perceiving the relationship to be a burden to her. Generally, most people tend to break into tears when they receive bad news such as the death of their loved ones. However, this does not happen to Louise on hearing about the death of her husband. Instead, she views this as liberation from the cruelty of her husband. This signifies that in an intimate relationship, partners deserve to treat one another with kindness so as to cherish and treasure the relationship. A relationship, in which one of the partners is treated ruthlessly, makes the victim not to feel at ease thus being feeling to have been deprived her freedom.
Freedom requires trust
Freedom in an intimate relationship requires trust. Usually, people in a relationship come up with expectations and demands due to lack of trust among them. These demands are put in place so as to instill responsibility to the parties. Most of the people in relationships fear that setting their partners free may lead to them forgetting about their intimacy and betraying them. Hence, every partner is given numerous conditions and demands that he or she has to meet thus making him or her always remember about the relationship. However, trust is of paramount importance in every intimate relationship. Louise sends a sign of relief after her husband’s death as she now know that she has been liberated from the demands her husband had put on her. She can not wait to see the coming days when she will not be bound to pleasing someone. This is a clear indication that there was no trust in their relationship. This is because her husband had imposed a personal will on her.
Freedom requires intelligence
Freedom comes with responsibilities. It is the duty of every party in a relationship to understand his or her responsibilities and strive at ensuring that he or she always meets them. This calls for intelligence so as to examine the situations and identify those that are not likely to adversely affect the relationship. Despite Louise Mallard being trapped in her marriage, she always played her role wisely. She could control her feelings and avoid expressing her anger to the husband. This helped her continue living with the husband and avoided confrontations. Even after realizing that her husband had not died from the accident, she effectively managed to control her emotions thus not letting him know that she had celebrated his death. For those relationships that parties do not carryout their responsibilities intelligently, they always experience confrontations.
Conclusion
Freedom in intimate relationships ought not to be taken lightly. This is due to the significant role it plays in strengthening the relationship. For partners to be free in a relationship, they have to trust each other, treat one another with kindness as well as execute their responsibilities intelligently.