The Burdened: The Female Gender Role in Marriages of the Nineteenth Century  In Kate Chopin's "A Story of an Hour", the character Mrs. Mallard is presented with the news of her husband's death. However, instead of acting as societally expected with a "paralyzed inability to accept" the death of her husband, she becomes wild with grief and flees away to be by herself (Chopin, 168). Today, this action would not be so unexpected, but in the burdening and patriarchal gender roles in marriage of the nineteenth century her defiant act would have been shocking. In "The Story of an Hour" the burdening gender roles of marriage in the nineteenth century are shown through the opposing actions of Mrs. Mallard and her sudden realization of freedom after her husband's death.  

 Mrs. Mallard is introduced in the story as being a woman "afflicted with a heart trouble," and that the news of her husband's death would have to be broken to her with great care (Chopin, 168). By introducing her character as having an illness/weakness and having to be taken care of, she is immediately placed in a submissive position. This however, was not uncommon for women, especially wives, of the nineteenth century. At this time, women had virtually no rights. Women could not vote or own property, and they were limited to jobs that kept them in a typical domestic role, such as seamstresses, nurses, and maids (Brundage).  Having such little freedoms under then law made it difficult for women to do what their husbands were able to do, so they were placed in a dependent role on their husbands. This dependency on the husband of the nineteenth century could explain why it was so odd that Mrs. Mallard did not show a "paralyzed inability" to accept her husbands death (Chopin, 168). If a woman was supposed to be so dependent on her husband, then losing her husband would leave her weak and unable to participate in anything, because she would not have the right to vote or own property and she could not support herself or her children with out a job. This system makes it seem that no matter what; the woman will always lose and be dependent.  

 However, "The Story of an Hour" seems to suggest that this is not the case. That perhaps women are capable of being independent, in fact they long to be independent. This is evident in the story when Mrs. Mallard is sitting in her room and it says, "When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: 'free, free, free!'" (Chopin, 169). This shows that she was so burdened by the power of her husband, that after hearing of his death she became relieved instead of pain staked.  According to many views of men in the nineteenth century, "the ultimate goal of every women's life is to be married" (Wyse). If this were the case, then why would Mrs. Mallard be so calm that her husband had died? Perhaps it is because Kate Chopin is trying to relay that this is not the only ambition a woman has in life, and that a particular issue of this time was that this idea was what both men and women commonly believed.  

 Even though today it is commonly believed that men were the ones to oppress women into their submissive position that is not entirely true. There were actually women who were against the spread of feminism in the late nineteenth century. During the nineteenth century many middle class women were fighting to ratify the nineteenth amendment, which gave women the right to suffrage. However, some women thought that the right to vote was a bad thing because it took away from their household duties. In this case it was women trying to keep themselves from gaining power with out even realizing it; they were just oppressing themselves. There is a particular explain of this in "The Story of an Hour," when Josephine comes to check on Mrs. Mallard in her room. The text says "Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. 'Louise, open the door! I beg; open the dooryou will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door.' 'Go away. I am not making myself ill.' No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window." (Chopin, 170).  This quote illustrates that Josephine thinks that too much freedom will make Mrs. Mallard ill. This is because in the nineteenth century it was believed that over thinking or over active minds was the cause for hysteria in women. This meant if a woman read too much, or had too many other freedoms she became insane. What this quote suggests though is, contrary to popular belief, the freedom does not make her insane but it makes her actually alive and able to experience life on her own for the first time.  With out her husband, Mrs. Mallard is able to see what she really wants and values in her life and that her husband was keeping her from truly being happy.  

 I believe that based on the possessive ideas of marriage during the nineteenth century, and the happiness that Mrs. Mallard feels after her husbands death, suggests that this story is based on the idea that marriage is in fact hurtful to a woman, and not the "biggest goal of her life."  When Mrs. Mallards husband is still alive to her in the first sentence of the story, she is a frail women who has a heart condition. She is in a position of weakness to everyone around her because she has a condition and is therefore put in a submissive position. However when she hears of her husband's death, her heart suddenly becomes strong. It is said, " her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body." If she had a weak heart she would not be able to do this with out passing out or having a heart attack. This shows her gain of strength since being alone and freed from the oppression of her husband.  

 She is also shown as being repressed by her husband when Mrs. Mallard realizes that "There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature." (Chopin, 169). The word blind suggests that it was previously unseen, or maybe still unseen. This object being previously unseen, could be the amount of freedom that Mrs. Mallard now realizes that she has, or it could be that she still does not see what exactly gives the husband the right to own her. Since in the nineteenth century, when married to a man, a woman was considered to be a possession of that mans. That she only had what her husband had, and technically she was his property. Maybe this blindness is suggesting that neither Mrs. Mallard or Kate Chopin can understand where men believe they have this right to be able to own women, because Mrs. 

Mallard and Kate Chopin believe that they are just as capable of rights that a man might have. These rights could include the suffrage movement at the time, or other marital rights such as property ownership. No matter what the objective of gain is, it is evident through out the text that they feel that women are capable of holding other responsibilities, and that they are not just their domestic stereotypes.  

 Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" shows the hardships of being a woman in a marriage during the time of the nineteenth century. Not only were women sickened by the dependence on their husbands, but they were also trapped by the patriarchal ways of society and only their husband's death could help some of them realize their true potential. In fact being limited to domestic duties is what really damages women, and that a women is not fully capable of her own life while in a marriage with someone because she is then submissive.  
