Essay On Mrs. Mallard In Kate Chopin's Story Of An Hour

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In Kate Chopin’s short story The Story of an Hour, the metaphor Mrs. Mallard is a square peg in a round hole, refers to the idea that she is not the type of woman who automatically no longer knows what to do after her husband is dead (or believed to be). In the beginning she is overwhelmed with grief, but after some time thinking on her own she decides to make her life her own, making her stand out from the average widow (or supposed widow) of the time.
Mrs. Mallard has had an extremely repressed life due to the way of being during the time in which she lived. So, when she believes her husband to be dead she starts fighting against the feeling of freedom that begins to well up inside of her. She uses her willpower to try and counteract her desire for freedom and inevitable newness of life. Even so she doesn’t want to believe that she now has the ability to do as she wishes whenever she wishes. Now that she is exalted of her role as a wife she can begin to explore what this means for her.
As Mrs. Mallard is considering her new life as a free woman she looks out her window she sees a blue sky rain and the beginnings of …show more content…
Just as she starts to find her reason to live on her husband returns and scares her to death. Quite literally as it happens. However; until that moment, she is described as “unwittingly a goddess of victory” as she has finally taken back the control he had over her life. Even if it doesn’t last long. The most iconic moment of the entire story is the moment in which the doctors come and identify the cause of death, as it is quite different than the truth of the matter… “When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease-- of joy that kills.” The reader knows that that simply is just not true. She doesn’t die of joy, she dies of fear knowing that if she lived, she would no longer have the ability to stay in control of her own

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