Freedom in Death

Death is a sad occasion for most, but Kate Chopin’s protagonist in “The Story of an Hour” finds joy in her husband’s death. Mrs. Louise Mallard is a devoted wife, so her sister, Josephine, and her husband’s friend, Richards, expect her to be overcome with sadness. While Mrs. Mallard cries, she does not seem to mourn her loss. Instead, Mrs. Mallard realizes that her husband’s death means she can be free. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s freedom is not meant to be. When Mrs. Mallard finds that her husband is alive, she dies. Initially, the reader believes Mrs. Mallard only exists as a wife, and she is fragile because she has a heart condition. However, Mrs. Mallard is a woman who suffers from an oppressive marriage and dreams of passion and independence.

Mrs. Mallard cries when she hears of her husband’s death, but her tears act as an escape from oppression. When one bottles up emotions, he or she holds them in. In a marriage, one expects, or hopes, to have a committed and equal relationship. On the other hand, Mrs. Mallard is from a different era. Chopin writes Mrs. Mallard “did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment” (273). It seems that in Mrs. Mallard’s time, women expected their husbands to take care of them and to think for them. Instead of pondering life without her husband’s control, Mrs. Mallard’s tears freely flow from her eyes. In addition, her tears allow her to view Mr. Mallard’s death in another light. For example, as Mrs. Mallard sits in her chair “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it” (273). In a sense, while sadness brings tears, tears can also mean joy. After her initial cry, Mrs. Mallard realizes her tears reflect the newfound freedom she was waiting for to feel the way she wants.

As an illustration, Mrs. Mallard is a young woman, and her marriage lacks feelings and passion. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (273). In her innocence, Mrs. Mallard may have believed her marriage would be filled with love. Instead, Mrs. Mallard’s “lines” (274) suggest old age in spite of her youth. Moreover, Mrs. Mallard reveals that “she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not” (274). Typically, when a man and woman marry, they marry for love. At least, that is the common belief. In Mrs. Mallard’s case, her marriage lacks passion because her husband “had never looked save with love upon her” (274). Now that her husband is dead, Mrs. Mallard realizes that his “gray and dead” (274) eyes would be as cold as they were in life, so she does not have to live loveless anymore. Instead, she is free to find love if she chooses because she is now independent.

For example, Mr. Mallard’s death gives Mrs. Mallard a reason for living because she is free to do what she wants, so she becomes independent. As Mrs. Mallard ponders her husband’s death, she allows herself to whisper “under her breath: ‘free, free, free!’” (274). When one is independent, he or she is free to make choices. Mrs. Mallard does not have the ability to think for herself because she is married. Now, because Mr. Mallard is dead, Mrs. Mallard sees “beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (274). In this way, Mrs. Mallard allows herself to look forward to the future because she will have control. Above all, it seems that Mrs. Mallard yearns for independence because she grew frustrated in her marriage and tired of her husband’s control. As Mrs. Mallard understands her husband’s passing is a positive situation, her sister mistakenly believes that she is sad. Josephine begs Mrs. Mallard to open the door because she thinks Mrs. Mallard is making herself “ill” (274). However, Mrs. Mallard is the opposite of sick because as she looks out the window, she reveals she is “drinking in a very elixir of life” (274). The open window suggests Mrs. Mallard realizes the world is much larger than what she had previously known. Now that Mrs. Mallard is free to explore the world, her need for independence overrides any other emotion. In fact, once Mrs. Mallard finds out that her husband is not dead, she dies in order to escape. Overall, while death suggests an ending, it is actually the only outcome for Mrs. Mallard, so she can continue to be independent and free.

In conclusion, Kate Chopin’s protagonist Mrs. Mallard yearns for freedom, but it takes her husband’s death to realize that. In fact, Mrs. Mallard’s taste of freedom overwhelms her, so she does not want to live. Specifically, Mrs. Mallard is a woman who suffers from an oppressive marriage and dreams of passion and independence. Her marriage to Mr. Mallard was loveless and he controlled her. It seems she was not allowed to think for herself, so her tears symbolized her joy. Mrs. Mallard’s initial reaction to her husband’s death shows passion because she freely allows her tears to fall and she understands that while she cares for her husband, neither one really loves the other. Mrs. Mallard understands her husband’s death means her independence, and she enjoys that feeling. While Josephine, Richards, Mr. Mallard, and her doctors may believe she dies from her weak heart and “of the joy that kills” (274), Mrs. Mallard dies because she refuses to continue as an oppressed and unloved wife. In her short story, Chopin’s characterization of Mrs. Mallard allows the reader to understand the importance of passion and love in marriage because the author allows the reader to experience Mrs. Mallard’s first time of feeling and thinking for herself. It is only one hour, but that hour gave Mrs. Mallard time enough to realize that she if she could not be free in her marriage, she would be free in her death.

Work Cited

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Ed. Greg Johnson. Perrine's Story and Structure. Ed. Thomas R. Arp. 13th ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, 2011. N. pag. Print.