As the 1800s ended, American life was evolving rapidly. The workplace was changing, and jobs were being created to better the daily lives of many people. Although, women were expected to not work at all, only to care for the children and home at the hand of their husbands. The National American Woman Suffrage Association was created in 1890, to fight for women’s social and political rights. Kate Chopin, an American author, and writer believed women should have greater freedom as individuals, a controversial topic during her time. Her short story, “The Story of An Hour”, focuses on a woman’s lack of freedom in a male-dominated relationship, only to be revealed after his sudden death. The main character’s marriage serves as a representation of the power imbalance women experienced during the nineteenth century. This theme is executed through a roller coaster of emotions the main character endures as well as symbolic motifs involving her heart condition.
The heart is a symbolic element that is consistently referenced and tied together throughout the short story. In her marriage, Louise Mallard is a victim of social repression. Her heart not only feels metaphorically repressed but physically as well. We are made aware that Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition, which we can assume is heart disease. Immediately at the beginning of the text, Chopin prefaces this traumatic experience. She says, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin para. 1). This passage is important because when Mrs. Mallard’s sister, Josephine, and her husband’s best friend, Richard, come to her home to reveal the news of her dead husband, they are aware that her heart is delicate. This makes the delivery of this news so much more heart-threatening than just an emotional level.
Mrs. Mallard was immediately in distress once the bad news was revealed to her and goes up to her room to grieve the loss privately. Chopin emphasized the various effects the tragic news took on her body through the personification of exhaustion. Once she arrives at her room the text says, “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul” (Chopin para. 4). The soul’s and heart’s conditions are likely connected due to the descriptive wording Chopin uses. We can infer that the physical exhaustion is a result of the grief or the literal heart disease she has.
An extreme turning point in this short story was the relief of repression Mrs. Mallard suddenly feels. Her loss of freedom from her marriage was then regained with the news of her husband’s passing. Symbolic references were made about the nature seen from outside her bedroom window, symbolizing the relief set in. In the text, it says, “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window” (Chopin para. 6). This beautiful picture provides a symbolic sense of freedom from repression in her marriage, something she never would have experienced prior. It also states in the text, “What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air” (Chopin para. 9). We can better understand the toll that this draining marriage has taken on Mrs. Mallard, due to the relief she is undergoing. The sight that she sees outside her window is something she has not experienced before, an astonishing sense of freedom. She is unsure of this vibrant and lively feeling she is encountering and questions it aloud in the text.
The joy she feels is fully uplifted from her heart and chest, making her feel lighter. The short story said, “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously…She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!… Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin para. 10). These words suggest that with her newfound freedom, the symptoms of her heart disease have also vanished. This hope brings her heart back to life.
Mrs. Mallard felt triumphant but is shot down almost immediately afterward. There is a knock on the front door and is revealed to be her very well and alive husband, Brently Mallard. When Mr. Mallard returns, so does Mrs. Mallard’s heart disease, killing her instantly. The story comes to a close with, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease–of the joy that kills” (Chopin para. 20). This conclusion made by the doctors was created to make it seem as if Mrs. Mallard died of peace. Although, this represents the peace she was never able to fully flourish in after the shock of her husband still being alive. This moment in time was simply too much for Mrs. Mallard’s poor diseased heart to experience. The shock of seeing her husband was enough to kill her, especially after she discovered how overjoyed she was to see their relationship end. It is also suspected that Mrs. Mallard died of the grief of freedom she never had, something she was only able to have a small taste of.
Chopin’s repetition of referencing the heart represents both emotional and physical hardships a woman in the late 1800s experienced. Mrs. Mallard’s crippling heartache suggests to readers that her life had left her simply heartbroken. In a marriage as repressing as hers, she finally understands what freedom would feel like, only to have it ripped away from her quickly after. Her heart condition is not only symbolic but literal, and the heart she loves so deeply is what kills her in the end. Chopin relates this spiritual awakening that Mrs. Mallard experiences to the expectations of women in the late nineteenth century. This short story remains controversial for the time published as a realization that repressive relationships put an unknown toll on a woman’s emotional heart.
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Featured image citation:
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