Independence in The Story of an Hour Essay

An Influential Character

In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, the main character, Mrs. Mallard, is a significant character of the story because she is an influential woman of her time. The main theme of the story is a womans acceptance that she can be independent of a man. This is a new idea in the time the story was written, when women were supposed to be totally dependent on men and be a submissive wife. Mrs. Mallard defies this idea and becomes unique for her time.

When Mrs. Mallard hears the news of her husbands death, she has the reaction of any normal wife. She is immediately overcome with grief. She wept, at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, and went away to her room alone (59). While sitting in her room, something came over her. She suddenly realized it was going to be okay. Mrs. Mallard knew that she could now live the life she had wanted to all along, as the story goes, She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long (61). She knows that without her husband she could do whatever she wanted to do. She also knows that there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself, (61). Mrs. Mallard now has to chance to live her own life, not anyone elses.

In addition to the realization she could live her own life, Mrs. Mallard realizes she is free from the constraint of her husband. The first words uttered out of her mouth were, Free, free, free! (60). Mrs. Mallard attempts to fight them. She, was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will. Again, those were the first words, as much as she tried to fight them, she said them. This shows that she has felt burdened by her husband and now without him around she is free from that burden. The text also states that she kept whispering Free! Body and soul free! (61). The fact that she kept whispering that means that she kept thinking about that. It was the only thing on her mind. When she first stated Free! Chopin states that the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body (60). Knowing that she was now free, Mrs. Mallard was relaxed from the initial shock of the news of her husbands death.

In this moment, Mrs. Mallard becomes convinced that self-assertion is more important than love. After hearing about the death of her husband, she has more control of herself and feels more self-asserted. She is now free from her husband and free to live her own life. Chopin creates Mrs. Mallard in a way that does not really show any love for her husband. However, while thinking about their past relationship, she states, And yet she had loved him sometimes. Often she had not. What does it matter! According to this statement, Mrs. Mallard did love her husband; after all he was her husband. However most of the time she did not, she probably felt that she needed to and should. Women at this time are supposed to be submissive and must be in love with their husband. Chopin also states, What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of the possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being (61). The strongest impulse of her being means that it overpowers love. To most people, nothing overpowers love. To Mrs. Mallard, and many women at this time, the knowledge that a woman can make it on her own is greater than love. She has the self-assertion, that she, a woman, did not need a man to sustain her life. She knew that without him, she could do as she pleased and have no one to answer to. She was pleased with this thought and was empowered by it.

The death of Mrs. Mallards husband caught Mrs. Mallard off guard. She felt grief at first, but, was quick to realize how free she really was. In the time the story was written, women were supposed to be the wife and only the wife, dependent on the husband. Mrs. Mallard challenges that idea and becomes independent. Without her husband, she was willing to go life alone and was ready to live for herself.