The Character of Louise Mallard in Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"

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Mallard is portrayed as a slight and frail woman; we see this from the beginning of the short story when her heart condition is introduced. Kate Chopin mentions Mrs. Mallard is “afflicted with a heart trouble” (250) which is why her sister Josephine told her the news of her husband’s death “in broken sentences: veiled hints that revealed in half concealing” (250). Mrs. Mallard’s character changes once she realizes she is a free woman after her husband supposedly dies, having a new recognition to life. While the trees outside her window had consistently been there, she understands for the first time exactly how wonderful the scene is. She takes a gander at the clouds and they appear to mirror her story so well she sees “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window” (250). Ironically, Mrs. Mallard hearing about her husband’s apparent death, quickly results in him ...

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