The Story of an Hour

Characters of the Story

Louise Mallard: As soon as I started reading Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", Mrs. Mallard, who is the main character in this story, appeared to me as an aged lady since it is being narrated in the very initial sentence, “afflicted with a heart trouble.” It was quite surprising for me when Chopin informs us in the eighth paragraph about the lady by stating "She was young,”. It became even more interesting when she is further portrayed as having “a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression”. This clearly describes her as being elderly for her age. Mrs. Mallard, however, is Kate Chopin's compelling model of a woman who is self assertive. She is definitely a lady ahead of her time, as if we talk about the standards of the 1890's she should have been happy. One quite interesting fact which was noticed in the story was that every character had an initial name at the start of the story apart from for Mrs. Mallard. It was not until her husband's believed demise that we come across her name which is Louise.

Josephine: Subsequently we get to meet her sister, Josephine. She is another woman who has a strong and significant character in this short story. She is described as someone who symbolizes an ideal feminine and who is hesitant to be the carrier of bad news. It is Josephine who tells Mrs. Mallard about the death of her husband and who pleads while standing at the door to permit her to come into the room after Mrs. Mallard had locked herself in the room.

Mr. Richards: Then there is this friend of her husband Richards, whose importance in the story appears extremely vague to me. He is a portrayed as a newspaperman, and a close friend of Brentley Mallard. He was the one who found out that Mr. Mallard has been killed in an accident while he was present in the newspaper office. He waited for a confirmation telegram in order to make sure that the news is accurate. Once he received the confirmation, only then he prepared himself to break the reports to the concerned people.

Brentley Mallard: Lastly there is Mr. Brently Mallard around whom the whole story revolves. He is believed to be dead after a disastrous railroad accident. Although he only makes appearance at the end of the story yet he holds a lot of significance in this story. At the end when he re-emerges at the front door, the surprise causes the death of Mrs. Mallard's. He was considered as a fine man by Mrs. Mallard and she herself acknowledges the fact that he never looked at her with anything but love.

Time and Location:

“The Story of an Hour” is set in the late nineteenth century which is also recognized as the Victorian Era. During that era women were to abide by their husbands and wait on, rearing of the kids and take care of the home. The location ...