"The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin on April 19, 1894. It was originally published in Vogue on December 6, 1894, as "The Dream of an Hour". It was later reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895, as "The Story of an Hour".
The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Louise Mallard, hears that her husband, Brently Mallard, is dead, and then discovers that he is alive after all. Featuring a female protagonist who feels liberation at the news of her husband's death, "The Story of an Hour" was controversial by American standards in the 1890s.
Plot
"The Story of an Hour" follows Louise Mallard, the protagonist who deals with heart disease . Louise's sister, Josephine, informs her of her husband's death in a railroad accident. Louise reacts with immediate grief and heads to her room where she gradually comes to the realization that she is happy that her husband has died. Though she bore no animosity towards her husband, the implications of his death include a new sense of freedom for Louise. This realization of possibility is the source of her joy and "she breathed a quick prayer that life might be long". Later, she heads back downstairs, only to witness Brently coming home. Her joy turns to shock at the sight of her husband and she dies from a heart attack as a result.
Characters
Louise Mallard: She is the wife of Brently Mallard. She also suffers from a heart disease which is mentioned in the beginning of the story. She grieves her husband's death after finding out from her sister Josephine that he died in a railroad accident. Although she is upset and grieves him at first, she comes to realize that she now has her freedom to live her life only for herself. Brently Mallard: He is the husband to Louise Mallard. He is believed to be dead at the start of the story. Only after Louise starts to feel overjoyed with her new freedom is when he returns home not knowing he was believed to be dead and then Louise dies from "the joy that kills". Josephine: She is the sister of Louise Mallard, is the one to inform Louise of Brently Mallard's death, and consoles Louise during her bout of grief. Richards: He is Brently Mallard's friend and was the one to learn of Brently's death and inform Josephine, Louise's sister, about it.
Critical responses
In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin "had to have her heroine die" in order to make the story publishable. In a 2020 article, Cihan Yazgı provides a different perspective on why Chopin had to let Louise Mallard die at the end and analyses her death as a part of the story's tragic plot. Drawing upon the Aristotelian formula and supporting his reading with stylistic evidence from the text, Yazgı argues that it is possible to understand the story's plot in terms of classical tragic elements of anagnorisis, peripeteia and catastrophe. He states that Chopin's reliance on these tragic elements in structuring her plot, helps Chopin to attain sympathy for Mrs. Mallard and to have her readership reflect with a critical eye on gender politics; this might not have been possible without the tragic plot. Meanwhile, Yazgı uses textual evidence to emphasize Chopin's stylistic mastery in creating a language that "reveal[s] in half concealing", which makes these tragic elements achieve their intended effects: The delaying of information creates a feeling of suspense and anticipation that eventually makes Mrs. Mallard's anagnorisis and catastrophe the more striking in such a short text.
Bert Bender, an English professor at Arizona State University, offers a biographical reading of the text and argues that writing of the 1890s was influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Chopin's understanding of the meaning of love and courtship, in particular, was altered and became more pessimistic. This attitude finds its expression in "The Story of an Hour" when Mrs. Mallard questions the meaning of love and ultimately rejects it as meaningless.