Theme of Marriage in The Story of an Hour Essay Example

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour follows the hour preceding Louise Mallard being informed of her husband’s death. The short story, written over one hundred years ago, criticizes the institution of marriage: a controversial topic to condemn during the time of its publication. The denouncing of marriage, especially by a woman, was not, or even still to this day is discussed often in the mainstream media. In less than three pages, Chopin articulates the importance of individual freedom and the inherently oppressive nature of marriage, especially concerning the period in which the piece was written, with her controversial characters, use of symbolism, and application of dramatic irony.

The plot of the short story is primarily stimulated by the internal conflict experienced by Louise Mallard, who is torn after receiving the news of her husband’s death. At first, Mrs. Mallard is shocked and saddened by the news, the reaction expected by her sister as well as the readers. However, as the story progresses, she begins to contemplate the possibilities that the death of her husband suggests. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. 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” (Chopin 172). Louise is overwhelmed with her new grasp of freedom and the idea of living for herself without having to seek the approval of another. A testament to her lack of freedom prior to her husband’s death is her lack of a name within the story. At the story’s beginning, she is only referenced as Mrs. Mallard, denoting her marital status. The reader is finally made aware of Louise’s given name only after she has come to accept her freedom from her husband. This is shown when her sister calls to her, “‘Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise?’” (Chopin 173). The use of her first name signifies her being released from the chains of only being defined by her marriage and by her husband. The internal conflict is established as Louise fights with the guilt that she feels after finding this freedom after her husband’s death. “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will” (Chopin 172). Louise recognizes the freedom that she feels, and she fears the implications of her own thoughts. Living in a society that is very marriage-positive, Louise feels guilt for finding solace in her husband’s death. Finally, after much internal turmoil, she comes to the conclusion that love is nothing compared to freedom. “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” (Chopin 172). The narrator suggests that love is not more important than the right to one’s independence. Freedom is the most fundamental and powerful thing that one should strive for.

The author also uses symbolism in the story to establish the paramountcy of personal liberation over love. After hearing the news of her husband, Louise retires to her room, where she sits in front of an open window to contemplate her husband’s death. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 171). This sentence contrasts greatly with the dark tone that the author had established before it. Louise noting the trees being “aquiver with the new spring life” is the first allusion given to the reader of her thoughts of personal freedom and the hidden excitement that she feels at the possibility of a new life following her husband’s death. Louise feels spring all around her and begins to think about the future springs she will experience on her own, liberated from having to live or be lived for by someone else. “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. 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 173). With her newfound freedom, Louise had also found something to live for: herself. While it is often suggested that living on one’s own can be lonely or frightening, Louise views her independence as an “open window,” something that has given her an abundance of new opportunities without having to be concerned with the will of another individual.

Conversely, while the window represents her newfound freedom, Louise’s heart condition that is referenced at the story’s beginning and end serves as a symbol of the oppressive nature of her marriage with her husband. As Louise sits in the chair, looking out the window and considering her freedom, the narrator notes her pulse. “The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulse beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin 172). With the realization of her freedom, Louise’s pulse grows stronger, relaxing her, directly contradicting the heart trouble that the reader was warned about at the story’s start. Her strong pulse and coursing blood serve as a physical representation of her newfound emotional prosperity, her physical and emotional health being directly correlated. At the story’s end, after Brently Mallard walks into the house and it is revealed that he is not actually dead, Louise dies as soon as she sees her husband. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills” (Chopin 173). When Louise sees her husband, she sees her freedom, her joy, being ripped away from her. Without her freedom from her marriage, Louise has no desire to live. Brently making an appearance signifies the end of her new life that she had just obtained an hour before. It marks the conclusion of what may have been the most important hour of Louise’s life. In the end, it was her seemingly inescapable marriage that killed her.

The ending of the story is crafted by Chopin with dramatic irony. As stated in the story’s last sentence, it is proclaimed that Louise had died due to her weak heart, implying that she could not take the amount of joy that she felt once she knew that her husband was still alive. This would make sense to the other characters in the story, as they were all under the impression that Louise was overcome with intense grief as she locked herself in her room:

“Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”

“Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through the open window. (Chopin 173)

Despite her sister believing that Louise has succumbed to grief, it is known to the reader that that is not the case. Instead, Louise is overwhelmed with the new meaning that her life has gained due to her husband’s death and is aware that her sister, along with all of society, would shame her for these thoughts that she attempted to repress. When Louise is killed by “joy,” it is not the joy of seeing her husband, as it seems that the doctors suggest; Louise is killed by the short-lived joy and freedom that was ripped away from her when her husband walked through the door. Without her freedom from her marriage, Louise saw no reason to live. She would rather be dead than give up her freedom to stay in a stifling marriage.

Chopin’s use of introspective characters, symbolism, and dramatic irony come together to create a piece that puts personal freedoms over love and marriage, a taboo concept for many. Chopin explores the repressed thoughts that one may feel ashamed to share regarding marriage and self-affirmation. The Story of an Hour showcases the inherent oppressiveness of marriage, suggesting how people can only truly be free when they live for themselves and have no one else’s will to confine them.