
The author of “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin, is known today for being a major literary, political, and social force for the feminist movement. In 1894, Vogue first published this story under the name “The Dream of an Hour”. The title of the story was later changed to “The Story of an Hour” in 1895 when it was republished from the St. Louis Life newspaper (Kate Chopin: The Story of an Hour). In the story by Chopin, the protagonist, Louise Mallard, who was married to Brently and suffers heart trouble, was affected greatly by the news of her husband’s death. She let her emotions get the best of her; however, soon she began to realize what it meant to be a widow. Somehow Mrs. Mallard suddenly finds some satisfaction in being a widow. She believes that men and women unintentionally impose expectations on each other; therefore, she is looking forward to a long life by herself. At the end of the story Brently Mallard walks into the house and Louise dies of a heart attack. This story is easier understood with historical context at the time it was published. In 1894 women’s rights were very limited, they could not vote and some workplaces chose to only hire employees of the male gender. The gender roles of women consisted of being domestic, pure, and submissive. These traits go hand in hand with the marital laws at the time. The extremely unequal marriage laws of the 1890s demonstrate how radical of a story Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is for its time and the influence marital laws, divorce laws, and the oppression of women had on the text.

The Industrial Revolution changed the world in the late 1800s. The gender roles at this time were the same they had always been since the colonists came to America. Most laws were extremely biased in favor of men. An example of these laws is coverture, which is a law that insisted, “that a married woman did not have a separate legal existence from her husband. A married woman covert was a dependent, like an underage child or slave, and could not own property in her own name or control her own earnings, except under very specific circumstances (Woman and the Law)”. The traditional housewife was not able to neither possess property nor control the financial aspects of the family during this time period. This meant that the husband in the family must work outside the home to bring back money. The wife in the family stayed home and never left the house. When Louise learns about her husband’s death she freaks out because her love for Brently was the primary purpose of her life. That is very understandable considering that Mrs. Mallard has nothing else to do but please her spouse. This story is very progressive because of the influence marital laws had at the time. For example, in the text “She said it over and over under her breath: ‘free, free, free!’ The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin). Mrs. Mallards initial reaction towards the word “free” is very eye opening. Mrs. Mallard’s marriage before her husband “died” must have been terrible for her. She kept repeating the word free as if she were a slave. Due to laws like coverture, it was very common for women to be in married like that and not have the opportunity to leave.

During the late 1800s, divorce was very abnormal or bizare. Women, who couldn’t even vote at the time, either were married or lived under the same roof as their parents. Therefore, divorce barely happened because the laws made it unfair for women. Mr. Sydney G. Fisher, a former member of the Harvard Law School, points out that “in most of the states at the beginning of the (20th) century the laws allowed substantially the same freedom of divorce as at present, it is only very recently that people have begun, to any great extent, to take advantage of these laws” (DRAFT OF A UNIFORM LAW, 139). At the time there weren’t many divorces due to the nature of the marriage laws. A divorce during the 1890s would have stirred many social as well as many economic problems for a woman. The next quote from the text comes after Mrs. Mallard has an epiphany of her life to come. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin). Chopin wants to tell the readers that before Louise Mallard’s husband “died”, she was hoping her life was short. At the time because divorce was virtually impossible, the only way Mrs. Mallard could get out of marriage would be for her husband to die.

Marriage between a man and a woman can create lots of strain. In the 1890’s the marital laws influenced gender roles. At that time marriages consisted of the husband oppressing his spouse. The next quote shows part of Mrs. Mallard’s epiphany. “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. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination” (Chopin). Men and women unintentionally impose their own expectations on each other in a serious relationship like marriage. Mrs. Mallard came to the conclusion that men and women aren’t meant to be together because of that. In the text something to note is that throughout the entire story, the women never left the house. That alone says that men during this time period made the women stay in their home.

The marriage laws, divorce laws, and oppression of women in marriage in the 1890s are evident in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. They influence how the author wrote in the text due to the social and political forces in that time period. The previous examples above support how the historical context affected the story. In 1894, Kate Chopin’s story was published near the beginning of the feminist movement and it helped bring attention to the movement.
