Introduction
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin features Mrs. Mallard as the main protagonist. It revolves around her inner character, which tends towards preservation. She is portrayed as a woman suffering intensely due to her internal thoughts. Her true personality is one of independence and intelligence. Her independence is manifested when her sister tells her that her husband Brently is dead. She demonstrates her emotions by crying out loudly to express her feelings which any typical lady would have hidden. She displays her demonstrativeness through her emotional reaction to the sad news of her husband’s death. Her inner thoughts propel her to her newfound independence after her husband’s death. Unlike any other ordinary woman, she does not think deeply about her future but is happy for the opportunity her husband’s death has granted her. Her thoughts become more independent when she is alone and out of the sight of others. Her attitude towards marriage is contradictory because she feels it is an institution that has oppressed her. However, she is an independent-minded individual who cannot be easily influenced by marriage and feelings of love.
Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
It is because of her problem that we witness a violent outburst of emotions when she is told by her sister Josephine that has husband had died in a train accident. She immediately goes to mourn alone in her room upstairs. Her behavior is indicative of someone who was deeply in love with her husband. However, on the other hand, she is a woman who is independent and not easily influenced by external forces. Therefore, her character exhibits some form of contradictions playing out in her heart and mind. Alone in her room, she experiences intense feelings of freedom as if her husband’s death had finally removed the yoke holding her captive. She is captured murmuring the words: “free, free, free!” (Chopin 1). She is afraid of this feeling which is so deeply ingrained in her even though it gives her so much happiness to feel free. The fact that she is no longer crying shows that her attribute of independence was far more potent than her love for her husband. She made a conscious decision that she would weep again when she saw her husband’s corpse. Even though she has fond memories of him, the thought that the years ahead will offer her the freedom to do as she pleases makes her happy. She regards her marriage as an oppressive institution where both partners oppress each other out of love and kindness. Her passion for her late husband disappears with feelings of independence and freedom.
However, the events that follow demonstrate that Mrs. Mallard was a woman who loved freedom and independence more than anything else. The love for her husband was a hindrance to her independence and freedom. Even though necessary, her marriage was viewed as an obstacle preventing her from attaining total freedom and independence. She did not hate her husband, and neither did she despise her marriage. It was only that her character was much more inclined to be free from external influences. Even though she regarded herself as an independent woman, she was unaware of her husband’s love’s impact on her character. The discovery that her husband was still alive and not dead led to her sudden death. The doctor’s diagnosis was that she had died because of happiness. The author says, “when the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (Chopin 2). The real cause of her death could not be further from the truth.
She was not overwhelmed with happiness by seeing her husband alive. On the contrary, she was disappointed to know that her newfound freedom was short-lived because of her husband’s presence. Her heart could not take the unexpected appearance of her husband, having reassured itself that it was now a free soul. This prior reassurance filled her heart with happiness, which an accident alone could not offset. This incident shows that Mrs. Mallard was not in love with her husband. She did not realize that her character and attributes had not changed due to marrying her husband.
The marriage did not change her intelligence and independence, usually influenced by love. She got a heart attack when her heart beat wildly. The incident occurred only a few minutes after she had experienced feelings of independence and happiness occasioned by the alleged death of her husband. She was happy that her husband was dead because it meant she would be free to do as she pleases. However, we find out that her true happiness did not reside with her love for her husband but rather with her feelings of freedom. Before her death, her character had undergone a change from one that was emotive and feminine to one that was independent and rational. A character arc is represented by various archetypes which are contradictory to each other (Fowler 9). Her character arc borders on two dominant autonomous attributes, including being highly emotional and rational at the same time.
Conclusion
In short, Mrs. Mallard’s heart races with happiness during the time that she thinks that her husband has died in a train accident. She physically feels her new independence as a result of this incident. When alone in her upstairs room, her heart and body feel warm, and she invites the feeling by spreading “her arms open and welcomes” her newfound freedom in a symbolic manner (Chopin 2). She murmurs that her body and soul are free, revealing that she owns her new independence. Her heart problem reappears and kills her only when Brently walks into the room. There is an irony in this ending because she does not die of the joy of seeing her husband alive and well but instead of loss of joy. The doctor’s claim was false because Mrs. Mallard died of disappointment from being shown a new life, freedom quickly taken away, leading to disappointment and shock that killed her.
Works Cited
Chopin Kate. The story of an hour. 1894.
Fowler, Elizabeth. “Literary Character.” Literary Character. Cornell University Press, 2018.