From ancient times until the mid-20th century, being a woman meant being a housewife. Women were repressed. Not only did they have no rights except to stay at home, do housework and take care of their husband or children, but women were considered only half of a human being. As a Russian saying goes: "It would be very funny, if it weren't so sad." Nowadays, when there are so many feminist coalitions, it is difficult to imagine that women were once not considered part of society. Of course, women's roles were reflected in literature. However, since women had no status and were not expected to work, they were more often than not stuck in loveless marriages. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened in the following stories: "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. In both of these stories the authors portray two very different but similar women who have difficulty accepting their lives. fate and try to reject the lives of women of their class. Mathilde Loisel and Louise Mallard are very similar because they dream of something they don't have, then their dreams come true, but fate plays a fatal role in both stories and the women lose everything they had. In both stories, the women have caring husbands, whom they do not appreciate. Unfortunately, the endings of both stories are tragic. From the first lines of both stories, it is clear that Mathilde Loisel and Mrs. Mallard dream of living different lives. The only difference between them is that they dream of different treasures. Mathilde Loisel suffers from her bourgeois lifestyle. "She had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing more than this; she felt made for that. She would have loved to be liked, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after." (Maupassant, p. 36) It is clear that Mathilde is envious of her rich friend, Madame Forestier and would trade places with her if only she had the chance, but unfortunately she is stuck with her employed husband in their bourgeois apartment. Unlike Mathilde Loisel, Mrs. Mallard in «Story of an Hour» does not suffer from her bourgeois lifestyle. Mrs. Mallard, a frail woman with heart problems, suffers from being trapped in a marriage. She loves her husband, yet desires freedom.