Exploring Liberation in 'The Story of an Hour'

Free at Last!

In the Story of an Hour, the main character faces the troubles of feeling free after the death of her husband. However, after the news broke about the alleged death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard strangely finds herself feeling liberated. Mrs. Mallard’s newfound independence is justifiable in every way.

Mrs. Mallard was justified by feeling liberated with her husband’s death in the sense that it changed her, for example, in this quote “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky”(Chopin 476). Mrs. Mallard was not the same person she was prior to her marriage to Mr. Mallard. In fact, she was once her own strong-willed individual. All of Mrs. Mallard’s identity had

vanished after marriage to Mr. Mallard. In the line “whose lines bespoke repression” gives off the impression that Mrs. Mallard is not actually expressing things or feelings obtained in the marriage. Which brings into question what sort of things are occurring behind closed doors? Despite how the characters in the story explain her, which is described as delicate, the author says Mrs. Mallard has a “certain strength."
Chopin describes Mrs.

Mallards "monstrous joy” in the following quote: “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature"(Chopin 477). Mr. Mallard’s influence on Mrs. Mallard was described a “powerful will." Blind persistence can be referred to as Mr. Mallard not looking forward to seeking Mrs. Mallard’s needs, but his own. Mrs. Mallard was being, in a way manipulated and controlled. Once married to Mr. Mallard, there is no way that she could continue to be unequivocally herself.

Mrs. Mallard’sMrs. Mallard’s feeling of Mrs. Mallard’s feeling of being free can certainly be justified. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to sudden “death” of her husband is not what you would consider a cliché Reaction. Instead of mourning her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard was overcome with a freedom that was not only unavoidable but pleasurable. Although some may consider it morally wrong to find happiness in the death of their husband, one's feelings cannot be controlled. Mrs. Mallard is absolutely entitled to feel a sense of

freedom.