The Story of an Hour

Mrs. Mallards emotions were so high from day dreaming about how she was free that wend she found out that her husband wasn’t dead, it was so devastating that she died from her heart weakness “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills” (Chopin). Miss. Brill in the other hand was hit with her harsh reality by two young children “But why? Because of that stupid old thing at the end there?" asked the boy. "Why does she come here at all— who wants her?

Mallard is sitting in her room her sister Josephine is knocking on the door. Josephine begs her sister to open the door thinking she is going to make herself sick. She tells Josephine to go away, while her thoughts are still running about the days ahead of her. “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” ( 548) As she opened the door to the room her sister was standing there and clasped her waist and they both headed to the stairs. Richard who is Mr. Mallard’s friend was standing at the bottom of the stairs. While they are all standing at the stairs the front door opens and Mr. Mallard comes walking in with his grip-sack and umbrella. He was nowhere near the accident and did not even know that there was one. “He was standing there amazed by Josephine’s cry; then at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife". ( 548) He was too late. With Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition and the joys of being free only lasted a short while. When seeing her husband walk through the door, it became too much for her to bare and it killed

These thoughts were a bit suspicious and frightful to acknowledge. As Mrs. Mallard sits next to her window she begins to contemplate what feelings are emerging from her, “There was something coming to her and she was wanting for, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name” (Chopin 653). This depicts the anticipation of change that is about to come into her life. Chopin describes it not as a physical object, but something she internally knows when it fact it blossoms into a new realization. With all these perplexed emotions she encounters from looking out the window to “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds” (Chopin 653), these thoughts become the factor of releasing herself from her forbearing attitude into the new impression of individualism and

She is described to have a heart problem, so Josephine had to gently informed her sister of Mr. Mallard’s death (476). Chopin’s words indicates that Mrs. Mallard’s well-being is in a bad condition, not only her health but her personality is also fragile. The idea is further enhanced by Chopin’s statement, “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” (477). These words suggest Mrs. Mallard to be the passive in her relationship with Mr. Mallard.

This news comes from her husband 's friend, who says that Brently Mallard has died in a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard 's sister, Josephine, mindful of Mrs. Mallard 's heart condition, breaks the news to her "in broken sentences" and "veiled hints" (193). But when Mrs. Mallard hears the shocking news, she undergoes a profound transformation that empowers her with a "clear and exalted perception" (194). As Chopin demonstrates, this heightened consciousness comes to the protagonist because of her awakened emotions. Revealing her own dynamic and avant-garde understanding, Chopin rejects the tradition of attributing supremacy to the faculty of reason in the act of perception, and she attributes it instead to the faculty of emotions.

Mrs. Mallard is, outwardly, a typical woman in the 19th century with a husband, family, and home. It is first apparent that Mrs. Mallard is not satisfied with her role as a wife when she receives the news of her husband’s death and begins to feel a sensation of joy that overcomes her. The wife’s unhappiness with her married life is enhanced when the narrator states, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” (Chopin 16) The reader infers that Mrs. Mallard was figuratively suffocating under the duties and stereotypes a 19th century woman was subjected to, such as caring for a house and family instead of pursuing a career outside of the home. Mrs. Mallard views her husband’s death as an escape from her role and a chance to have control over her life and choices, showed when she whispers “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 16) In the final portion of the story Mrs. Mallard’s husband returns home, having never been in an accident, and she dies of what doctors determine is an overwhelming joy for seeing her husband alive. The reader infers that Mrs. Mallard has lost her chance of a new start and freedom from her role and dies of grief over her loss of freedom. The author contrasts Mrs. Mallard’s lack of control and freedom in her life to

Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is symbolic of her broken relationship with her husband, Brently. Of all the possible health issues that Mrs. Mallard could have been battling, it is heart trouble that she if faced with. It is noted that Josephine speaks “in broken sentences; veiled hints” (Chopin, “The Story”), so that the news of Brently’s death is revealed to Mrs. Mallard as carefully as possible. However, the news of her husband’s death actually brings a new life to Mrs. Mallard: “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin, “The Story”). Mrs. Mallard’s marriage has confined her to her home and has caused the loss of her freedom, which is represented by her heart trouble. Her death is not caused by the joy of seeing her husband like the doctors thought, but rather due to a loss of joy, as she loses her newly found independence upon seeing Brently walk through the front door. Chopin shares: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (“The Story”). The window in Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom also serves as an important symbol in the story, representing Mrs. Mallard’s freedom. Upon seeing the beauty throughout the streets as she looks out her window, Mrs. Mallard is finally able to realize that the rest of her life is full of countless possibilities (Rosenblum,

Mrs. Mallard’s life has not been her own ever since she got married. When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard, she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky” (Chopin 2). Love, in “The story of An Hour” I believe is somewhat superficial. Mrs. Mallard tells that “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 3). The short amount of time it took her to mourn the death of her husband also helps to support the argument that there was no real love in that marriage. When she learns of her husband's death, her thoughts on what life would be like without her husband are pleasing. "Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 3). Mrs. Mallard wants to live without her husband. She believes freedom is hers; however, when she finds out her husband is not dead; she had shock of her losing it again causes her to have a heart attack and die. However, death is eternal freedom for her.

In the psychological lens, the brain is separated into three different parts. The three parts are the superego, the ego, and the id. The superego is the way society expects you to react to different problems and situations. The ego is the conscious decisions that you make. The id is your unconscious desires.

The author makes a point of assuring the reader that Mr. Mallard was a kind man, but Louise’s response to his death indicates a loveless marriage and one that possibly

Mrs Mallard's awkward attitude after learning of her husband's death establishes an irony- somebody who is really happy in marriage will not enjoy nature in peace and have mixed emotions; the person will feel genuine grief upon hearing of the death of her husband. Here, Mrs Mallard's reaction portrays the extent to which her thirst for freedom was strong. Kate Chopin allows us to visualise the moment that Mrs Mallard is able to shed the bondage of marriage: "free, free, free!." She feels liberated through her husband's death. Much emphasis is laid on her joy upon finding freedom- "there would be no one to live for." The author also points out that "she knew that she would weep again.....folded in death." This only highlights the fact that it is not an expression of love but seems more like a duty that

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is the liberating yet tragic tale of Louise Mallard. It is about Louise Mallard finding independence after hearing news of her husband’s supposed death, and later suddenly dying upon his return. In the story, Chopin does not express the true reason for Mrs. Mallard’s abrupt death, but few insights throughout the narration give indication of the actual reason. The last sentence tells that the doctors said “she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills” (217) which is ironic in the fact that Mrs. Mallard did die of heart disease, but it was not the arrival of joy, but rather the loss of it that caused the imminent end of her life. During the course of the time Mrs. Mallard spends in her room reflecting on her husband’s death, we observe as she goes through different stages of self-discovery: from a grieving widow, to the forbidden satisfaction of her newly found freedom, and ultimately to the acceptance of her situation which elates her as she descends the staircase with her sister in her final moments.

There are two settings in the story one is downstairs and one is up. Down Stairs were learn that Mrs.Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble.The fact that Chopin is very unclear and just says ”heart trouble” suggest that Mrs. Mallard's problems are with in her mind and her relationship with Mr.Mallard indicating that that she feels oppressed in her marriage. When Josephine, Mrs.Mallard's sister revealed with “veiled hints” that Brently Mallard was dead she wept hysterically “with sudden wild abandonment in her sister's arms”, opposed to feeling numb or “paralyzed” as she knows many other

Mrs. Mallard was filled with joy after contemplating her husband’s death but was excited to experience her new, free, life. “Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering” (8) Chopin is showing how joyous Mrs. Mallard felt after her husband’s death and how she was excited she had nobody in charge of her. Chopin also wrote about Mr. Mallard coming home and how the devastation was shown through her facial expressions. “When doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills.”

Author, Kate Chopin, presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. Finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow: "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." In her soul, the dark clouds are disappearing because she is illuminated. All the memories of her husband are now of the past. She is living in the present. At this point, she is no longer "Mrs.Mallard." She is Louise and is ready to welcome a new horizon of freedom : "Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own." Overwhelmed with a new sense of herself, she feels as if she