by Marcus Chow

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is an intimate character study of the feminine experience through the lens of a female protagonist, Louise Mallard. Through effective characterisation, Chopin details codified gender rules that define the late 19th century society and the consequences of her deviation from the norm. Skillfully, Chopin shows us Mrs Mallard’s inner conflicts, and illustrates how such conflicts extend towards her social circle and even beyond. Such contrasts present the theme of the story effectively: women gaining transient empowerment is unacceptable in a patriarchal society and will result in a fatal consequence – death. 

Initially, the protagonist inhabits a world dominated by gender constructions, much like our own. The initial characterisation of Louise Mallard, the only round character in the story, exemplifies the status quo of gender stratification in America at the end of the 19th century. She has a “heart trouble” and “white slender hands” (Chopin, 1894/2015, p. 99-100), which indicates fragility. This is compounded by wrinkles that “bespoke repression” and a body “haunted” by exhaustion (pp. 99-100), suggesting a physical state of repression. This extends beyond the physical domain and through into her mental faculties, as evinced by the exhaustion reaching “into her soul” (p. 99). Socially, she is meek and subjects to her husband’s “powerful will”, such that she fears “life might be long” (p. 101). The portrayal of Louise as fragile and oppressed illustrates that women are made to live their lives within the restrictions of social expectations.

The gender stratification is further personified by the flat minor characters and the ideas that each of them symbolise. Louise’s sister, Josephine, embodies a stereotypical feminine weakness and emotional vulnerability – “kneeling” on the ground begging for entry (p. 101). This shows a differing role to the male characters, who possess common traits of care and composure. Richards, facing the death of his friend, remained calm and protective; he “forestalled any less careful friend” from breaking the news to Louise (p. 99). Similarly, Brently Mallard cares deeply for Louise, never looking “save with love” at her (p. 100). The characters symbolise the individual role of their gender; bold men are deemed responsible for women, who are perceived as fragile – illustrating a patriarchal social atmosphere that “imposes a private will upon” women (p. 101).

After Louise receives the news of her husband’s death, she undergoes a drastic and combative transformation as she grapples with conditioned stereotypes and newfound empowerment. As she sinks in temporary grief due to her husband’s death, she begins to feel a sensation “coming to her” (p. 100). The sensation is a taste of freedom, but her social programming attempts to powerlessly “beat it back” (p. 100), indicating the deeply embedded nature of gender norms such that her instinct is to resist change. Despite these internal conflicts, she eventually recognises the inevitable truth – “the strongest impulse of her being” is “self-assertion” (p. 101). As such, she finally embraces the freedom and transforms into a confident “Goddess of Victory” (p. 101). In doing so, she is set free from oppression and becomes independent, with her time belonging “to her absolutely” such that she can “live for herself” (p. 100-101). Through this process of inner struggle, she transitions from a woman repressed by social expectations to one empowered by “clear perception” (p. 101); her character becomes inconsistent with the gender stereotypes that defined her prior identity. 

Louise’s metamorphosis demonstrates the significant contrast between her previous identity, a woman conditioned to remain docile, and her new identity, a self-actualised woman that embraces her desires. This conflict not only exists within herself, but also extends to her social circle. Louise, viewed by others as the prototypical woman, is widely expected to lack the emotional strength to handle the news of her husband’s passing. Hence, Louise’s social circle aims to deliver the news of her husband’s death “as gently as possible” (p. 99). After receiving the news, her sister Josephine is concerned that she would be devastated, concerned that it would “make her ill” and trigger her “heart trouble” (p. 101). Although the people surrounding Louise expect her to respond poorly to the passing of her husband, Louise paradoxically comes alive with “feverish triumph” and “riot” (p. 101). This implicates the societal subjugation of women: that only with Brently Mallard’s death does Louise realise her true potential. Not only is Louise’s new identity polemical to her initial characterisation, it also forms a stark contrast with the expectations of peripheral characters. Clearly, her new identity becomes inconsistent with socially constructed rules of gender.

Furthermore, the doctor’s diagnosis of Louise’s death shows a clear distinction between her friends’ social expectations for her and her internal emotions. At the end of the story, Mrs Mallard dies suddenly as she sees her husband, a man she thought to be dead. A doctor, who is a character outside her social circle, attributes her death due to a “joy that kills” (p. 101). In fact, she dies of shock as she could not accept that fact that her true happiness – freedom and independence – was fake and temporal. The introduction of a foreign character reveals that the contrast between society’s expectation and Louise’s internal emotions extends far beyond individual and kin. Society expects her to feel bliss as her husband is not dead, but to her that is the biggest tragedy of all – that her freedom is prematurely taken away.

Finally, the contrasts that permeate from Louise’s internal thinking to the external society leads the readers to realise the sorrowful theme: women are expected to follow codified gender roles, if not, society will punish the outliers. When Mrs Mallard first received the news of her husband’s demise, she was able to survive the devastation. It is ironic that after Mrs Mallard’s transformation, where she finally feels powerful, is when she gets closer to death. Her heart condition, mentioned in the first line of the story, indicates how society creates a predetermined limitation on women that restricts them when they deviate. With the entry of Mr Mallard, she realises that her social setting does not change. Mrs Mallard meets death in this setting, showing that her new identity cannot fit in. Therefore, her only way out of the setting is death.

In conclusion, Chopin’s story critiques the gender roles reset by individuals and society. As a pioneer of feminism, she leads the readers to a striking moment of epiphany that in a rigid patriarchal system, women’s empowerment is punishable, even to the extent of death. Her exquisite writing and deeply symbolic characters suggest that change is much needed. Perhaps not that surprisingly, even after more than a hundred years, her story is still relatable to females around the world. 

Reference:

Chopin, K. (2015). The story of an hour. In Joseph Kelly (Ed), The seagull reader: Stories. (3rd ed., pp. 98-101). W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1894)

Writer’s Bio: