Oppressed Womanhood in The Story of an Hour, a Short Story by Kate Chopin

Louise Mallard, a victim of not only a controlling husband but serious heart trouble, must be carefully informed about some serious news: her husband has died in a railroad disaster. After receiving this news, Louise grieves about her loss. Though, she eventually comes to a realization; she is free! Unfortunately, her ecstatic nature comes to a tragic end when she walks downstairs to see her husband, fully breathing and alive. This shock causes her weak heart to fail. Louise is then pronounced dead. Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” truly signifies oppressed womanhood, a main component of the feminist theory. This text reveals the forbidden independence a woman yearns to achieve.

After hearing about the death of her husband, Brently, Louise obviously reacts the way most would when receiving news about a loved one’s death; upset and confused. Though amongst this heartbreak, Louise remembers the oppressive nature of her husband. Throughout her marriage, Louise was victim of a male-dominated life. Therefore, after a moment of grieving her countenance seems to shift. She expresses her relief when she realizes she will finally “live for herself.” This relief stems from the ending of an overbeared life constantly dedicated to her husband. This role for a woman can be seen in the work of Gilbert & Gubar. “If the Queen’s looking glass speaks with the King’s voice, how do its perpetual kingly abominations affect the Queen’s own voice?” In this case, the Queen represents Louise and the looking glass represents her life. Her marriage made Louise lose touch of who she truly is. Louises beliefs were constantly misconstrued by her husband. Additionally, Louise won’t leave her room for a long period of time after receiving the news about her husband, revealing that she doesn’t know what to do with her newfound freedom. This isolation continues because “It seems inevitable that women reared for, and conditioned to, lives of privacy, reticence, domesticity, might develop pathological fears of public places and unconfined spaces.” Louise shows this reliance on privacy while fantasizing about her independence by looking out a window, still confined to her usual surroundings. While in her room and recognizing her freedom, Louise tends to become very overwhelmed. “She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” This description tends to lean more towards the insane side of relief. This is because as a women, Louise is “supposed to” keep to her “women like” life. According to Gilbert and Gubar, “If she had attended her household affairs, and such things as belong to women…she had kept her wits.” When Louise discovers her husband is actually alive, she dies from disappointment. This is a prime example that, “Patriarchal socialization literally makes women sick, both physically and mentally.”

The narrator in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” can correlate to Louise. For example, the narrator is kept in a room upstairs because she is suffering from domestic life, while Louise is keeps to herself in her room when she realises her escape from patriarchal society. Both experience delirium confined in their rooms. The narrator goes insane by the thought of her dominated life while overjoyed happiness slowly takes over Louise.

The feminist theory outlines the elements of a woman’s destruction. These elements originate from a patriarchal society, one which Louise has suffered from all her life. Her death merely represents the misrepresentation women receive. While Louise is really miserable due to her husband’s arrival, society believes that she is overjoyed to have found her place in a misogynistic life again. Like many feminist stores, the main female character, Louise, ends up dead because of this misogyny.

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