The Personality of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour". A Tragic Life (eBook)

Academic Paper from the year 2021 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Tubingen (Englisches Seminar), course: Literary Studies, language: English, abstract: This term paper will analyze Chopin’s short story from a different perspective, than how many scholars have analyzed the protagonist’s death before, which is as a critique of the patriarchal society she is living in. It will focus on the approach Lawrence I. Berkove treats in his work "Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"" where he proves that this story is neither about patriarchy nor about marriage, but about the protagonist, Louise Mallard, herself.

As she is an unreliable narrator who does not give clear evidence for suppression in her marriage, in fact who does not give much information about her husband at all, it can be suspected that Chopin’s story actually centers Louis Mallard’s personality. This is why I argue that Louise Mallard is a tragic character who could never be happy, as her understanding of freedom can never be achieved in real life, she loves nobody but herself, and she is physically too weak to face the difficulties of life.