This story is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard, who happens to be a heart patient. She is to be disclosed the news of her husband’s reported death, for which her family is thinking of ways to do so by giving her minimum of shock. They are afraid of the reactions that may arise upon hearing the news of his sudden death in an accident. But this news is disclosed to her, only to please her, and she starts dreaming of her independent days ahead. Sadly, the news of her husband’s death was only a rumor, and when she saw him alive, standing at the entrance of the house, she died of shock. This shock was probably due to the joy she felt upon viewing him. However, we can analyze from the story by Kate Chopin that Mrs. Mallard was not fully content with her husband.
The fact that Louise was not happy with her husband Brently Mallard erupts from the evidence laid by some of the sentences of the story written. The first example is when, upon hearing about the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was gazing out of the window, lost in the views of the spring season, when suddenly a feeling of freedom approached her, changing her expressions from depression to happiness and satisfaction. She even uttered the word “free” from her lips, which symbolizes that she is feeling free as a person after the death of her counterpart.
Secondly, the writer had shown Mrs. Mallard’s happiness by mentioning that she was sad when she thought of her husband’s dead face, which had always looked at her lovingly, but immediately felt happy upon thinking of the wonderful years ahead that would “belong to her.” This shows that even though her husband had loved her, she was not completely happy with him, as she was thinking of her future, which she would have for ‘herself.’ If she was very happy with him, such thoughts would not have erupted in her mind. Instead, she would have been really depressed and worried about her future and how she would spend the coming years alone.
Another example of her displeasure with her husband can be seen from the sentence showing that she prayed for her long life, and just a day earlier, she had hoped she did not live very long. This clearly shows that when she was living with her husband, she did not want to live for long, but now, on hearing about his death, she suddenly wishes to live longer. There was a victorious feeling in her.
Mrs. Mallard’s reactions to her husband’s death turned out to be opposing to what others had feared. As she was by herself when she heard the news, no one else knew of her triumphant emotions, but in reality, she was overflowing with awe of contentment. The pleasurable feelings mentioned helping us conclude that she was not contented with her husband the way she should have been.
It is evident from the emotions portrayed in the story that Mrs. Mallard was discontent with her husband. However, she surprisingly died the instance she saw her living husband standing in the doorway, who had no news of the accident that had supposedly killed him. She probably died of happiness on seeing him, causing her a heart attack.
Reference
The Story of an Hour. 2008. Web.