In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the societal outlook of marriage during the late nineteenth century is reflected in a notion that represents the separation of gender roles at the time. Mrs. Mallard, who just gained insight from her sister Josephine of her husband’s sudden death from a railroad disaster, “undergoes a profound transformation that empowers her with a clear and exalted perception” (Jamil, 215). Her reactions throughout her hour of processing the idea of an unmarried lifestyle, contrasts to how most women today would react to such news. Through expressing Mrs. Mallard’s unique uplifting response of self-assertion and endless freedom towards the news of her husband’s death, Kate Chopin is reflecting upon women’s outlook towards marriage during the Victorian period as the ideology of Separate Spheres perceives women as unequal, dependent, and subservient to men.

During the late nineteenth century, the belief of ‘Separate Spheres’ distinguished the acceptable characteristics between a man and a woman. Through Separate Spheres, “Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere” (Hughes). Married women would typically stay home and do housework such as the cooking, cleaning, and raising the children in preparation to her husband’s arrival from a long day of work. On the contrary, men were viewed as the providers and would work long days at shops or factories to financially support their family (Hughes). This extreme form of gender separation shadows the type of lifestyle Mrs. Mallard and her husband live on a day-to-day basis. Being that Mrs. Mallard is young, this repetitive, domestic-centered life as a married woman is probably not to her satisfaction, there so the idea of freedom from marriage to her meant freedom of her rights as a young woman. Within the Separate Spheres, it was also unseen for a woman to be educated in the same manner as a man would be. In contrast to men, women during the late nineteenth century “[required] a new kind of education to prepare them for [the] role of ‘Angel in the House’” (Hughes). This form of education was directed towards teaching women purity, mannerisms, and roles of a domestic-centered life. If a woman was too educated, she was called a ‘blue stocking’ and was “considered unfeminine and off-putting in the way that they attempted to usurp men’s ‘natural’ intellectual superiority” (Hughes). The separation of educational means amongst genders portrayed women as being incapable of becoming anything except a housewife. This makes the reader question just what Mrs. Mallard had in mind to do with her free life if her husband truly did pass away, being that there were little opportunities at stake for women at the time.             

Through this broad belief of Separate Spheres during the Victorian period, “a women was not expected to engage in self-assertion” (Jamil, 216). A woman’s freedom wiped away entirely at the sound of ‘I do’. Marriage “mandated the complete dependence of wives on husbands making [it] a form of slavery” (Jamil, 216). This emptiness of independence amongst married women justifies why at the thought of her husbands death, Mrs. Mallard felt an unimaginable plethora of freedom and joy for the first time. Chopin mentions how when Mrs. Mallard first receives the news, she immediately locked herself in a room and stared at an open window (Chopin). This open window is symbolic to Mrs. Mallard’s response of self-assertion, due to the fact that it signifies endless possibilities bestowed in front of her, being that her rights as a woman are gained as a result of her husbands death. As she looks beyond the open window towards her potential future, the natural environment gives Mrs. Mallard insight of the “particular combination of attributes within her soul that make her a unique individual”, awakening her mind towards a life of freedom (Jamil, 217). This reference of the open window representing opportunities and freedom for a widowed woman symbolizes how married women during this period felt trapped and limited to what they are ‘socially’ allowed to do. Ironically, although it may seem as if otherwise, Chopin claims that Mrs. Mallard loves her husband, yet the idea of freedom overpowers the love she feels: “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” (Chopin). The level of extreme awakening and enthusiasm Mrs. Mallard feels towards the thought of freedom, ranking it as more important than the love she had for her husband, makes the reader question just how little freedom was bestowed on married women in the late nineteenth century. 

When analyzing Mrs. Mallard’s position in her relationship with her husband in reference to her happiness, the reader is assured that Mrs. Mallard did not want to be married. This makes the reader question why Mrs. Mallard did not just file for a divorce if she wanted her freedom, rather than waiting until she receives news of his death. During the Victorian period, marriage was perceived as giving ownership of a woman to a man. Women married in their “early to mid-20s”, and “typically the groom was five years older” (Hughes). The men were older for the sole purpose of being able to “show that he earned enough money to support a wife and any future children before the girl’s father would give his permission” (Hughes). Being that the man is the laborer and supports the women’s finances when married, if the women left the man, she would have no money and no where to go. Due to this, divorce was not acceptable for social and religious objections during the late nineteenth century (Hughes). This justifies the reasoning as to why Mrs. Mallard was forced to live in a unhealthy relationship. No matter for how long or how severely she wanted her freedom, Mrs. Mallard could not get a divorce because it was socially unacceptable. Mrs. Mallard’s situation reflects upon many women’s same marriage condition during this period’s in correlation to being stuck and having nowhere else to go. Mrs. Mallard’s severity of depression in regards to her marriage is seen when she dies at the sight of her husband being alive. The fact that Mrs. Mallard died knowing that she is not actually a widow and is still married to Brently Mallard gives the reader a better understanding of just how little freedom married women at the time had. 

Women in the late nineteenth century were forced to give up their freedom when married, and live a domestic-centered lifestyle. The extreme emotions that Chopin expresses through Mrs. Mallard in “The Story Of An Hour”, in reference to freedom and self-assertion from marriage, demonstrates many women’s similar mindset during that period. The understanding of the Separate Spheres during the Victorian period, perceiving women as weak, dependent, and submissive, while men as independent laborers, justifies Mrs. Mallard’s quench for independence. Although the thought of “monstrous joy” (Chopin) at the news of her husbands death is quite deceiving, the condensed level of rights that married women were given at the time awakens an insight to Mrs. Mallard’s overall outlook towards marriage. 
