An Archetypal Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

 

An Archetypal Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

 

There are several methods of critiquing literary works, all of which rely on the way each person interprets and responds to the material. In some cases interpretations vary greatly, such as when one reviews the material from a reader response approach.  Other interpretations, such as the archetypal approach, are more widely related among readers as it is made up of viewpoints that are the foundation for human nature. Often stories that incorporate such images capture the reader’s interest and make the story or poem more personal and meaningful. Having read Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, I was intrigued by the depth of the imagery created for the main character as she experiences a journey through the grief process which can be universally understood through an archetypal analysis. 

True emotions can often get buried beneath stereotypical obligations and our own sense of propriety. Society, family, friends, even the expectations of one’s gender can force us into a status quo, replacing what is deep rooted and heartfelt for what is ‘appropriate’. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the main character Mrs. Mallard, after learning of her husband’s sudden death, is overcome with a whirlwind of emotions that ranges from shock and disbelieve to a hard realization of relief and release from her role as a wife. I was drawn to this story by the use of imagery to depict how this exchange of emotion takes place and breaks Mrs. Mallard from her acceptance of the status quo. “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully […] she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air” (as cited in Clugston, 2010, sec. 2.2). What comes to Mrs. Mallard is her own realization that with her husband’s death comes her freedom to live her life as she pleases. Chopin’s use of personification gives the realization a sense of tangibility. Since thoughts cannot be held they can figuratively slip away, therefore the tangible quality that Chopin describes takes a firmer and more permanent hold over her character. Such a shift in thought and the breakout from the repression that is described of Mrs. Mallard is monumental is expressing the general quest for freedom and happiness that we all seek, and is primary in what captured my interest in this story.

The archetypal approach to analyzing this story draws on what we know about our own humanity in terms of goals, dreams, fears, and common responses to dilemmas. Archetypes in literature determine the structure of the story and the meaning that is implied, based on both ancient and current cultural mythology (Delahoyde, 2011). Myths and the cultures amongst societies provide a general understanding of the meaning and purpose in the elements presented in a story.  For instance, the term “tomorrow is a new day” would be considered trite and obvious if it was not laden with the meaning that we can always start over, or try again when we are met with failure or difficulty.  Analyzing literature by way of the archetypal foundations laid within the work allows the concept to be unanimously understood and therefore makes the literature itself more relatable.

Kate Chopin uses several archetypal images in “The Story of an Hour”. In the third paragraph the narrator describes Mrs. Mallards reaction to her hearing her husband’s death, stating “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone” (as cited in Clugston, 2010, sec. 2.2). The reference to a storm is significant in understand the feelings she had, how they came, and how they seemingly left her empty.  The archaic understanding of a storm in literature dictates emotion, and the wild frenzy that is creates in us. Additionally, storms represent a spiritual cleaning that is necessary after a significant disruption in life (Chopin, 2001). This renewal is seen when Mrs. Mallard leaves to her room where she sits in solitude and silence before accepting a fulfillment of new emotions.  She is left empty and sits with what is explained as a blank stare before being seemingly grabbed by the enlightenment of freedom.

In having come to such a state, the narrator describes Mrs. Mallard thoughts of “spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (as cited in Clugston, 2010, sec. 2.2). The image of spring and summer days are symbolic of new life and optimism, as found in ancient mythology. In the character’s case, such new life is symbolic of her release, or rebirth, from repression (Chopin, 2001). This concept is widely understood. It is of particular interests that the fall and winter are not mentioned as being seasons Mrs. Mallard looks forward to, as mythology suggests these seasons as the time of death, solitude, and confinement indoors which would be contradictory to the anticipation of freedom that Mrs. Mallard is expressing.

            Mrs. Mallard alone is an archetype that is symbolic of the martyr.  In the finality of the story, she descends the stairs with a sense of poise, self-confidence, and affirmation in her new found perception of life only to be stuck dead by the sudden shock, and ironically a great grief, of finding her husband alive and well staring back at her.  It is the nature and timing of her death that makes her a martyr as she held true a new sense of self, or spirituality, so strong that the sudden loss of it caused her a heart attack. Her freedom was given and robbed from her, jarring her between a life servitude, to independence, and back again. Her death speaks for feminism and the general view society has of women, particularly in the late 19^th century when this story was written.

            Kate Chopin’s main character and experience through the grief process in “The Story of an Hour” was written with the use of several metaphors, and personification of inanimate objects and thoughts, that filled the story with meaning. The use of archetypal imagery made the moral timeless and universally understood.  Mrs. Mallard may be personally relatable to both men and women; whether in the 19^th century or the 21^st, every person mourns the loss of their “freedom” in some regards. Release is found in the moments, as fleeting as they may be, when weights are removed and we are able to live for ourselves.  Such a philosophy is what captured my attention and what lays the archetypal foundation into this this story.

           

 

References

Chopin, K. (2001). The Story of an Hour. Close Readings: Analyses Of Short Fiction, 86-112. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.

Clugston, W. R. (2010).  Journey into literature.  San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.  Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books

Delahoyde, M. (2011). Archetypal Criticism. Retrieved from http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/archetypal.crit.html