The story of an hour by Kate Chopin - Research Paper Example

Critical Analysis of the Character of Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin In“The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin makes use of imagery, symbolism, and sentiments to characterize Mrs. Mallard. Based on the narrative, Mrs. Mallard is a woman with a weak heart and her sister Josephine and family friend Richards know that she is vulnerable so they could not easily break the truth of Brently Mallard’s death via railroad accident. Josephine and Richards are reluctant to deliver such unfortunate news thinking it would make the state of her illness worse.

Beyond her comfort zone, Mrs. Mallard appears to be a woman who feels the immediate duty to grieve over her husband’s death as depicted in the line “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.” Mrs. Mallard, however, escapes the face of agony right away upon entry to her room, as though it were a private world of all unseen hopes. Apparently, the room represents another dimension consisting of objects that symbolize what Mrs. Mallard has long yearned for and Chopin illustrates this in the phrases “new spring life”, “delicious breath of rain”, and “countless sparrows” twittering.

While part of her consciousness has fully absorbed the thought that she is expected to mourn for a major loss, she is being spontaneously consumed by something that makes her exclaim “free, free, free!” and “Free! Body and soul free!” in a rather cautious mumbling gesture which is altogether understood by herself alone. In that realm, the moment of illumination leads the widow to cherish mixed conflicting emotions where she obtains a sense of certainty toward a much desired fate – the return to singlehood and freedom.

Chopin proceeds to enumerate the attributes that recollect the state of youth of Mrs. Mallard, stating “She was young with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” These details may be claimed as necessary in order for the character of Louise to emerge out of Mrs. Mallard and exhibit some sharper manifestation of hope for liberation despite lack of concrete evidences to support the idea that the passing away of Brently amounts to the happiness of Louise.

This hope eventually shatters when Mr. Mallard comes back alive, contrary to the previous belief, so that his presence causes the irony of his wife’s diagnosis where “the joy that kills” is actually a metaphor that means “the joy that has been killed.” Women of the 1800s lived in societies that were sexist by nature. Most opportunities in and out of an industry employed men for a variety of jobs, leaving their female counterparts to perform limited functions and often to keep a family-centered domestic life that attended merely to husbands and children.

The life of Mrs. Mallard in Chopin’s work turns out to be an embodiment of a typical woman in the late 19th century who struggled to be freed of the evils of social inequality in the form of gender discrimination, oppression, unwanted confinement, very few choices, as well as moral and physical abuse. Due to men who considered themselves superior and exercised the capacity to acquire power and subject women to severities and rules of a rigid system of living at the time, women suffered a great deal to the extent of prioritizing independence instead of romantic affairs.

On this ground, one may well imagine the chief reason behind the meaning of happiness for Mrs. Mallard given Mr. Mallard’s chance of eternal repose. ReferencesChopin, Kate (1894). “The Story of an Hour.” 2013. Web. 9 Oct 2013. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/. Ruiz, Natalia. “The Role of Men and Women in the 1800s.” 2013. Web. 9 Oct 2013. http://roleofmenandwomenwutheringheights.wikispaces.com/The+Role+of+Men+and+Women+in+the+1800s.