The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Analysis

In 1894, Kate Chopin wrote The Story of an Hour, which portrays a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who was notified of the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. After discovering her husband is truly alive, she goes down a long path of emotions that leads her to evaluate her life as well as her marriage. These emotions ultimately kill her when she meets her presumed dead husband at her front door. I will argue that Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s twisted relationship is the most engrossing in our unit due to the hesitance of romance from a male-dominated marriage shown through the illness of the woman lacking freedom. 

The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard is very much male-dominated. Mr. Mallard could not be the perfect husband if his wife felt the way she did. There were definitely some unfair parts of this relationship that we, as readers, are unaware of. Women in the 19th century were often shut down for their ideas and their emotional desires to do the unexpected. You can see this happening in a few of the other stories we read. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Mrs. Mitty is very controlling over her husband. In the text, it says, “You’re not a young man any longer” (Thurber). This shows that she treats her grown husband like her son. She continuously tells him that he needs to grow up, while also ordering him around to her own liking. Having an overbearing relationship seems to take a toll on someone emotionally, and can be shown in the texts we read.

Mrs. Mallard was very sick physically and mentally when this had happened. She was stuck inside her home every day. The author tried showing that her sister tried to pay attention and make sure Mrs. Mallard would react okay to difficult news while having problems. Mrs. Mallard also seemed to have mental health issues because we notice that her husband treats Mrs. Mallard the way he should only from time to time while she has done everything she can to please him and receive that validation. We can also see mental health problems in our other stories. In Walter Mitty, there are signs of PTSD shown from when he has flashbacks. This mental disorder could be what is affecting his relationship with his wife. In Checkouts, there is social awkwardness and anxiety between the two characters and talking to each other. Receiving difficult news for Mrs. Mallard seemed easy, almost as she never cared for her husband, due to the boundaries that were shown in her sickness.

The Story of an Hour shows that the relationship between the two characters lacks lots of freedom. A prominent theme in this story is a battle between freedom and the lack thereof. Mrs. Mallard is most trapped when she is stuck with her husband, who subdues her thoughts and feelings. Until her husband dies, she does not feel free and you can see this when she stares out the window. This window represents the life she could have while Mr. Mallard is dead. She can see the tops of trees and people outside, which shows just what freedom is out there. She referred to that life as the “late spring of life” (Chopin). She passes away from a heart attack after all of her dreams and passions come crashing down when her husband walks through the door. Readers can see that Mr. Mallard is always out in the world and he uses trains. Whereas, Mrs. Mallard is stuck at home all the time. 

To conclude, we find that Mrs. Mallard is very overpowered by her husband’s dominance in their supposedly equal relationship, she cannot handle the shock of such news with her illnesses, and she is not free at all in her own life. This causes the relationship to be a difficulty for both parties to understand their own feelings. In the end, we know that Mrs. Mallard couldn’t control her emotions when she was presented with something so life-changing. The absence of freedom and equality in their relationship may have been the cause of her heart problems in the first place and they cost her life in the end. It was not the shock of her husband’s return that killed Mrs. Mallard, but rather the news that she would be losing her freedom again.