Story Of An Hour Critical Analysis

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

     Relationships seem to be the favorite subject of Kate Chopin’s stories. As Margaret Bauer suggests that Chopin is concerned with exploring the “dynamic interrelation between women and men, women and patriarchy, even women and women” (Bauer 146). In “The Story of an Hour” Chopin deals with the subject of marriage. She illustrates the influence of family alliance on individual freedom. According to Wohlpart,“The Story of an Hour” describes the journey of Mrs. Mallard against the Cult of True Womanhood as she slowly becomes aware of her own desires and thus of a feminine self that has long been suppressed”(Wohlpart 2). The Cult of True Womanhood in the XIX century included “purity” and “domesticity”. The former suggested that women must maintain their virtue. The latter – denied them their intellectual and professional capabilities (Papke 12). Being the victim of this Cult, Louise Mallard was a good example of a wife without “her own desires and feminine self”.

Kate Chopin is known for being criticized for empowering the subject of female sexuality and independence. In Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, it is placed in a time where men were known as being the head of the household while women were only in charge of raising the children and caring for the home. In the 1890s, women didn’t have so much power to themselves compared to today’s society where female empowerment is frequently encouraged. Chopin’s story narrates a sequence of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions that goes within the motion of the story. As she overcomes the sudden death of her husband, her emotion of grief soon turns into the sudden feeling of freedom, later on emerging into a strong independent woman.

Margarita Engle, a poet, and novelist, once said, “Marriage without love is just one more twisted form of slavery.” In the eighteenth century, marriage was the exit door of many women from their homes whether they believed in love and filled their hearts with hope, or had no choice, and they were sold to men as if they were cattle. In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin shows complex issues such as marriage, independence, symbols, and ironies. After hearing the news that Brently Mallard was dead in a railroad accident, Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend, went to the house to be next to Mrs. Mallard and to help her at this difficult moment. Contrary to what everyone was worried about, Mrs. Mallard knew that she would lament her husband’s death, but she was full of hope, dreaming of her freedom, appreciating life beyond the window, and a new beginning. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s dreams faded when she went downstairs and her husband arrived alive, and she could not stand it and died. Focusing on The Story of an Hour, there are three main points related to women in the early eighteenth century, such as oppressive marriages, women’s new perspective and ways of liberation, and women’s submission and obedience that demonstrates how women survived, even though they were not heard.

Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character from Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” is not the housewife that those around her assume. Although she loves her husband, she is shocked and overwhelmed by the sense of new-found freedom that accompanies her husband’s alleged death. Mrs. Mallard represents the patriarchal control over women of her time, as well as the postulation that a woman could not maintain her independence. Chopin uses Louise Mallard’s reactions to her husband’s supposed death, her subsequent untimely death, and the speculations of those around her to personify the dependent nature that was imposed on women of the turn-of-the-century.

In “The Story of an Hour,” the author, Kate Chopin, places several literary writing elements into her short story. However, one of the most prominent would be the character analysis of Louise Mallard, the story’s protagonist. Kate Chopin uses situations and events throughout the story to mold the emotions and thoughts of Mrs. Louise Mallard. Despite the eighteenth century’s idea that women should willingly give up their lives for their husbands, Louise’s mindset after hearing of her husband’s passing shows otherwise. Moreover, Mavis Chia-Chieh Tseng wrote an analysis of Mrs. Louise and concluded, “after hearing the news of her husband’s untimely passing, the protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is grief-stricken at first, but soon other thoughts creep into her mind” (29). This statement validates the belief that Louise Mallard responds differently than people, such as her sister Josephine, would expect her to react in the unfortunate situation that has been placed upon her. Kate Chopin portrays Louise Mallard’s character as a strong and independent, yet deeply troubled woman struggling to live in an unhappy and restricting marriage during the late eighteenth century, when women had little to no personal freedom.

Kate Chopin `s “Story of an Hour” looks into the oppression of women in marriages. Mrs. Mallard`s fragile condition of her heart is taken in great consideration when her sister breaks the tragic news of her husband`s death. She went away to her room and stubbornly requested to be alone. She flopped onto an armchair by a window and sunk into the deep cushion of the seat to analyze the haunting reality of abandonment. Out the window, Mrs. Mallard saw what appears to be a new spring life.

Kate Chopin notifies the reader in the beginning of the story that Mrs. Mallard has heart problems and will need to be told of her husband’s death; Brently Mallard “as gently as possible” (Chopin 278). Mrs. Mallard represent women of her time period who were unable to find happiness in marriage and motherhood, not because it's not found there, but because their freedoms within marriage are restricted” (Bright Hub Education). “The idea of a new found independence for Mrs. Mallard is also noticeable (symbolically) while she is upstairs sitting in the room crying” (The Sitting Bee). Once told Mrs. Mallard escapes into a room

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour was first published in 1894 (The Story of An Hour). The main theme of this story is oppression and loss of freedom for people, especially when they are married. In the Era this story was written marriage bound a couple together in a union that could not be undone except through death. The oppression happens to both women and men. This theme is demonstrated many times throughout the story. Chopin keeps us in Mrs. Mallard’s head through the entire duration of the story, letting us listen to her thoughts. Chopin uses character actions and imagery to further illustrate the emotions that Mrs. Mallard is feeling.

Kate Chopin wrote the short story “The Story of an Hour” in the late nineteenth century. The main character, Mrs. Mallard, is a representation of all of the women of that time. Although they may be in relationships where their husbands treat them well, it is not enough. All most women want is their freedom and independence. They want to do as they please and not be dependent on their husband or their family. Women in that time were simply not allowed to be independent or have their own freedom. Before a woman is married she is known to belong to her family, and when she is married, she belongs to her husband. This is why Mrs. Mallard was actually more delighted than devastated when she heard the news of her husband being killed in a train accident. The news of her husband’s death “brings tears of release rather than of grief” (Harris). The theme of this short story is freedom and independence but at a cost. There are many shocking turns of events throughout Kate Chopin’s short story which leads to Mrs. Mallard gaining her freedom, gaining her independence, and then losing them both.

Many authors write short stories to let the story have many different perspectives. In “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin wants the reader to feel as though, Louise is genuinely upset that her husband had died. In this short story Chopin focuses on the 19th century American woman’s dramatic hour of awakening into selfhood. She makes the character out to be a woman of either selfishness, or a woman that has been through an unhappy marriage. In the end it enables Louise to live the last moments of her life with an acute consciousness of life’s immeasurable beauty.

Any way of life denied of self-government is a type of death. There was a time in life that women's rights weren’t lawful. Following Kate Chopin, fiction story describes in an exclusive way of back in the day's lifestyle. Her use of remarkable literary gave the tale clues of the message she was trying to convey to the reader. “The Story of an Hour” reflects the forbidden delight of freedom and death.

[Chopin] wants her readers to know that Mrs.Mallard has a very specific condition that interferes with the workings of her heart. Later, when we see Mrs.Mallrd “warmed and relaxed”, we realize that the problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to “live for herself.”

One of the greatest concerns of critics who have analyzed “The Story of the Hour” has been whether or not Mrs. Mallard was oppressed in her marriage or if she was depressed due to the lack of time she and her husband spent together. Time plays a crucial role in the story, from the time they have spent together, to the period of the story, and to the short time in which the story takes place. “The Story of the Hour,” is a story written by feminist author, Kate Chopin in 1894 that deals with marital instability from a woman’s perspective. Chopin, whose husband died when she was in her early thirties, wrote stories about healthy women during a time of female sexual liberation. She wrote stories about women who wished for freedom or who were trapped in an unbalanced marriage and longed for more.

At the end of the 19th century, American society presented an ideology of patriarchy. Feminists struggled for equality and against discrimination against women. As the feminist movement started, lots of female writers were explored. One of the most famous writers is Kate Chopin. Her works mostly present a theme of women pursuing freedom and equality. “The Story Of An Hour” is one of her representative works. In this short story, Kate Chopin reveals how women lived under the oppression of male-dominated society, especially for women who got married. They were not financially independent and their freedom and rights were deprived. Therefore female were forced to be an “angle in the home”. The literature piece challenges the preconception that women can only be a housekeeper and marriage is the only way out.