Joy And Happiness In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

When it comes to joy and happiness, everyone has its own definition for it, but it is hard to believe that any of those feelings can actually kill people. People die from disease, from aging, accidents etc. but dying from joy and happiness sounds a little bit strange. However, ‘’The Story of an Hour’’ by Kate Chopin explains that perfectly. Mrs. Mallard, who hears about her husband’s death, experiences a huge wave of new unknown feelings, emotions and excitement. She did not know what it was. ‘‘It was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it’’ (Chopin 60). The magic feeling that she was experiencing was a joy of freedom. Mrs. Mallard died from the overdose of pleasure, happiness and joy. She could not handle the strength of these powerful feelings that were absolutely new to her. When Mrs. Mallard hears about her

Mrs. Mallard was unhappy with her husband and she realized it after she heard about the death of him. She was young, and probably married without love, or she just loved him sometimes as Chopin mentions in the story. After seeing her reaction, readers might think that her husband was not a good person, he did not love her or even more, he abused her physically or mentally. However, we cannot really find any evidence of it in the story. The author even says that he had ‘’ the face that had never looked save with love upon her.’’ (Chopin 60). He looks like a caring and loving husband, but she was still unhappy with him and opened her arms to the freedom after his death. The fact that her husband was caring and nice does not mean that she could not be unhappy or oppressed with him. Freedom must have been an unknown thing for woman while living in a Patriarchal society, where male were too dominant and