Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, a woman by the name of Louise Mallard grieves after she is told that her husband has passed away, like any traditional woman would do. Upon receiving the bad news, she locks herself alone in her room. She then realizes that there is some positivity in his death and begins to celebrate her new life of freedom. Just when she is settled on the idea of her independence, the unthinkable happens. Her husband, Brentley Mallard, appears at the front door. This surprising moment causes her to die from “heart disease” as she realizes she has to spend the rest of her life under the control her husband. The feminist criticism in this story focuses on the patriarchy society and lack of women’s rights during this

Chopin depicts the main character, Louise Mallard, as the normal nineteenth century wife. She seems vulnerable and very dependent on her spouse. Chopin even refers to Louise as “Mrs. Mallard” earlier in the story. Her name is not told until further into the story. The narrators describes Louise’s face as one “whose lines bespoke repression” (paragraph 8). These lines imply that she has kept to herself a lot and that she lives with regression. In paragraph thirteen, the narrator states “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” This suggests that sometimes she could have hated him because he had control over her and her actions. Now that he is no longer alive, she is liberated from Mr. Mallard’s authority, and she can embrace her new identity as an independent woman. Free at last, Mrs. Mallard says “free, free, free!” under her breathe in paragraph ten. This shows that she is no longer in pain over the loss of her husband; she is