Type of paper:Ā | Essay |
Categories:Ā | Kate Chopin The Story of An Hour |
Pages: | 4 |
Wordcount: | 976 words |
Character Analysis of Louise from āThe Story Of An Hourā
First appearing on the pages of Vogue in 1894, the story titled āThe Dream of an Hourā describes the reaction of one Mrs. Louise Mallard to the news of her husbandās untimely demise. Within sixty minutes, she works through her grief and sadness only to realize she is happy to see Brently Mallard gone. The short story can be read as an evolution of the character, and it highlights the key characteristics of Mrs. Mallardās life and outlook, bringing her hunger for freedom and selfhood to the fore.
Heart Condition
The story opens with Mrs. Mallardās sister, Josephine, and Mr. Mallardās friend, Richards, coming to break grave news to Louise. Her spouse is considered to be a casualty of a railroad emergency, and they donāt know how to tell Mrs. Mallard about the misfortune that has befallen her. Josephine and Richards are afraid she will take the news hard because of the heart condition she suffers. And while Louise does start weeping as soon as she learns about the accident, her health seems none the worse for wear.
Considering the story is set at the end of the 19th century, Louiseās heart condition could be nothing but frailty assigned to her by doctors and her husband to keep her from getting overly excited or taking on challenging tasks. The author does not mention any worsening of Mrs. Mallardās condition until the very end of the story, so it is safe to assume she could have survived the funeral. Moreover, she is excited to have a long life for the first time after getting the grave news, which makes one think she has never before expected to outlive her husband. Still, the mentions of heart disease at the beginning of the short story serve as effective foreshadowing for the tragic ending.
Married Life
Louiseās joy at realizing her spouse is dead could be attributed to a psychologically or physically abusive relationship, but that is not the case, as far as one can tell from āThe Story of an Hour.ā Mr. Mallard treated his wife fairly and glanced at her with affection, and she believed that she felt the same towards him. However, their marriage was ruled entirely by Brentlyās wishes and desires. Louise had to submit to her husbandās every whim regardless of her feelings and wants.
Considering the story only spans an hour, Kate Chopin could not fit in the full expanse of Mrs. Mallardās emotional response to her husbandās death. However, there are a few notable exceptions. For example, there is no guilt at feeling happy about Brentlyās demise. Still, Louise feels an occasional pang of sadness amidst her joy when she imagines seeing his body at the funeral. It serves as another reminder that her marriage wasnāt all bad, but it wasnāt all good either.
Living for Herself
āFree! Body and soul free!ā Thatās the core sentiment Mrs. Mallard experiences within an hour of discovering her spouseās death. Her gradual reawakening starts when she first notices the beauty of nature outside her window for what seems like the first time in years. And her lengthy contemplation leads Louise to the understanding that her feelings for her husband could not compete with her desire for autonomy and self-assertion.
Research shows that the first and second versions of the story printed in Vogue and St. Louis Life are slightly different. The latter added āherā to the sentence, āThere would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.ā Without this single word, the story could be read to mean that Mr. Mallard was Louiseās whole life and that it would be empty without him. With āherā, the sentence transforms to highlight the patriarchal nature of the Mallardsā relationship. Where Brently dictated Louiseās every action before, she was free to make her own decisions.
Joy That Kills
Once Louiseās feelings settle, and she comes downstairs, her husband walks through the front door. Seeing him alive causes Mrs. Mallard to die on the spot, and doctors attribute her death to ājoy that kills.ā However, most readers and critics believe that it was the realization that her hopes of autonomy were out of reach that led to Louiseās broken heart.
According to Emily Toth, Kate Chopin had to kill off Mrs. Mallard, as the readers would not accept a happy ending for a widow excited to see her husband gone. It would have been a radical change for the audience and the editors, so Louiseās demise was predetermined from the beginning of the story, even if her husband had been dead after all. On the other hand, one could argue that Louiseās death was a direct result of her husbandās return from the dead. She could no longer live under his rule, so her heart stopped to save her the grief of struggling for years to come after glimpsing barely a glimmer of hope and freedom.
Some argue that āThe Story of an Hourā reflects Kate Chopinās feelings about her marriage that resulted in six children and a significant debt after her husband died. However, there is no biographical evidence to support this theory. Still, her short stories and novels highlight the experiences and emotional turmoil of the married women at the end of the 19th century that do not seem as strange and outlandish in the 21st century as one would assume.
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Free Essay on "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. (2021, Dec 02). Retrieved from https://speedypaper.com/essays/louise-from-the-story-of-an-hour
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