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Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis Essay

1420 Words6 Pages

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Louise Mallard moves from hearing the word of her husband Brently’s alleged and mistaken death, to her own premature death. A literal and symbolic demise of a woman with a troubled heart. Amid both incidents, Louise contemplates and embraces the rewarding opportunities of a husband-free life. Primarily, the story’s emphasis is on Louise’s reactions, alone. An apt choice for a character portrayed as egocentric or self-centered. Images in “The Story of an Hour” convey Louise’s new revelation of the possibly of her release from being a wife. As though, she’d been in a captive marriage. An outlook which appears unjustified, and warped. Generally, “The Story of an Hour” reveals that Louise has completely opposing ideas of what her life means as a wife and who she now, as a widow. The key …show more content…

Primarily, the central symbol in the story is Louises’ heart condition which represents her physical and emotional weakness, and her unhealthy view of love. At first, it can be understood how Louise’s losing a husband she loves would be a devastating shock for a woman with a heart condition, but her unexpected reaction to the news brings doubt to the authenticity of her love. It’s not the usual grief-stricken reaction a reader would anticipate a new widow to exhibit. The concern to tenderly inform Louise of Brentley’s passing, indicates her heart condition is also seen by others as making her emotionally and physically delicate. In fact, her first reaction is an excessively emotional outburst of swift and intense crying. Contrary, to how countless other wives are initially too numb to react to the news of the loss of a loved one.

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Since Louise is afflicted with heart trouble, her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards told her this news about Brently (her husband) very gently. Supposedly, he died in a railroad disaster. Once hearing this news, Louise could not bear it. She began to change her mood very quickly. “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.”

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The Story of The Story of an Hour The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin plays into Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychology that the Id, Ego and the Superego control the unconscious, desires, and the defenses of the individual. Through the psychoanalytic lens of The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin we perceive her emotional journey and how that is initially driven by the Id, Ego, and Superego creating quite the ironic revelation. As Louise Mallard moves from learning of her husband’s death to learning of his survival, her id, superego, and ego all make an appearance through her actions and thoughts. The ego is how an individual copes with their unconscious desires. The ego can be seen taking power in Louise’s thoughts as she sits thinking in a chair “…there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder…

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Many stories use these elements of writing, strong symbolism appeals the senses and explains the strength of the emotions the character is experiencing. There is a lot of strong symbolism and imagery in this story that also goes along with situational and dramatic irony which both appear in the story. When Brentley Mallard ends up being alive at the end would be the situational irony because it was the opposite of what happened, even though it was foreshadowed he was not dead. The dramatic irony is her dying of “joy”. These literary elements lead to the theme of freedom that Louise was

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Chopin uses strong characterization of the story's protagonist, Louise, to convey the theme of the story. In the beginning, Louise is described as "young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression" (174) who conforms to the ways of society. She is a young woman, who is married and a housewife; during the late 1890s, this was the way that a woman should be living.

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Right after Louise hears about the death of her husband she sits in the armchair. She is releasing her exhaustion into the chair from the news. This is where she rests her trapped life and social expectation. As she sank in the chair she’s being embraced by the chair, giving warmth and love.

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Although there is no clear statement that shows Louise to have an oppressive marriage, there are ambiguous statements about the marriage that show she feels caged. During the event of finding out about Brently’s death, Louise did not respond “as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden wild abandonment” (Chopin), due to Brently’s death she is finally able to let out emotions that she has held in for so many years of being a dutiful wife. Once Louise is left alone to grieve she reflects upon her feelings and her marriage. The narrator points out that Louise knows she will cry again for him when she sees his funeral, remembering his “kind, tender hands...the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin).

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Every person has the right to be and feel free. They have the right to be independent and live happily. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences a revelation about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive.

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Louise’s victory in accepting her husband’s death is a feeling that she now cannot live without. The ultimate death of Louise Mallard is one that represents physical and emotional defeat. In this dramatic short story, Chopin uses imagery to sew together a tapestry of emotions all encompassed in an ill-stricken widow. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.”

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1369 Words | 6 Pages

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