Mrs Mallard in "The Story of an Hour"

Chopin tackles complex issues involved in the relationship among female independence, love, and marriage through her brief but effective characterization of the supposedly widowed Louise Mallard in her last hour of life. After discovering that her husband has died in a train accident, Mrs. Mallard faces conflicting emotions of grief at her husband's death and joy at the prospects for freedom in the remainder of her life. The latter emotion eventually takes precedence in her thoughts. As with many successful short stories, however, the story does not end peacefully at this point but instead creates a climactic twist. The reversal--the revelation that her husband did not die after all-- shatters Louise's vision of her new life and ironically creates a tragic ending out of what initially appeared to be an unexpected turn of events. As a result, it is Mr. Mallard who is free of Mrs. Mallard, although we do not learn whether the same process of conflicting emotions occurs for him.
Chopin presents Mrs. Mallard as a sympathetic character with strength and insight. As Louise understands the world, to lose her strongest family tie is not a great loss so much as an opportunity to move beyond the "blind persistence" of the repression of personal relationships. In particular, American wives in the late nineteenth century were legally bound to their husbands' power and status, but because widows did not bear the responsibility of finding or following a husband, they gained more legal recognition and often had more control over their lives. Although Chopin does not specifically cite the contemporary second-class situation of women in the text, Mrs. Mallard's exclamations of "Free! Body and soul free!" are highly suggestive of the historical context. The idea that both her body and soul are free indicates that marriage is both a legal, physical binding and an emotional one.
Beyond the question of female independence, Louise seems to suggest that although Brently Mallard has