Analzing Conflict in the Story "story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

Analyzing the conflict of the story "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

In the story "The story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin we see an external conflict of which Mrs. Mallard is unhappy with her marriage. The conflict is man vs. society.

In the Victorian Society and marriage of which Louise Mallard belongs to, women had little choice then but to get married and have children. They did not have any free will because it was controlled by their husbands. Therefore, when Louise Mallard heard the terrible account of her husband's death, she reacted in a convenient way crying on the shoulders of her sister Josephine, but when she felt that the tears were going to be less, she went to her room and locked the door.

In her room she felt differently about what had happen. She felt free. She knew that she should not feel this way but the idea of not having her husband, and suffering from his tyranny made her feel relieved. Chopin writes, "There would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence which men and woman think they have the right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. It show how Louis Mallard suffered under the abusive part of her husband and how much she resented that.

Louise Mallard felt the independent in her room. In some ways she loved her husband, but could not take anymore the requirement that he had over her. She knew that she would have to cry again when she sees him in the coffin. Even though, that will be the scenario, she is allowed to live once more. She does not even give thought to her heart condition. She is satisfied that she out lived her husband. Her heart is pumping now faster and with fire. She is enjoying every second of this freedom, that when her sister Josephine calls her to come out of her room or better yet her sanctuary she is still free.

Louise Mallard loses her short lived freedom when she sees that her husband is not dead. This revelation is what kills her. They say that she died of joy, when the reader surely knows that she died because she lost her independence.

Louise Mallard suffered from an unhappy marriage and relationship because it was what she was "supposed to do" .You can say that society's restrictions are what really killed Mrs. Mallard because she could not live the way she wanted to live.