Mrs. Mallard In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

The death of a parent, child, or spouse would be traumatic and despairing. Sadness would replace any positive emotion felt before learning of the tragic news. This is no surprise. What if happiness is the emotion felt instead? Kate Chopin, author of The Story of an Hour, does a good job of showing happy emotions Mrs. Mallard, the main character, goes through when confronted with news of her spouses death. They are not the emotions you expect her to feel, but there is automatic sympathy for her when you learn why. Mrs. Mallard was already a fragile woman because of her failing heart. She was a young woman that had a disability that kept her from working and made her weak. This caused people around her to take care of her. They wanted the best for her. Her sister and husband’s friend were worried about her health and were cautious when they told her the news of her husband’s death. They had her failing heart in mind and did not want to hurt her more than the news of the death would.

Mrs. Mallard was sad and unhappy with it. She felt controlled and trapped by her husband. He was “the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin 235). Mrs. Mallard did not feel loved. Her husband also had controlling tendencies. Because of his death, “There would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Chopin 235). She no longer had to tend to his will that he was pressing her to fulfill. She felt free. This is why she was shocked and ultimately died from a heart attack when she saw her husband alive in front of her. She felt so happy and free for an hour. She was ready to start her new life as a free woman. Her heart could not take the reality that her husband was still alive. She did not want to go back to her unhappy