Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s untimely death is described as anything but typical. She did not experience the “paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” She immediately seeks refuge in her room alone where she comes to terms with the magnitude of the news.
She leaves behind all that represents her relationship with her husband. Meaning, the room is a sanctuary from the downstairs where her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richard remain. Both individuals are ties to the life that has come to a screeching halt. Mrs. Mallard needs to be alone.
Environment as Reflection
The room to which she retreats is a reflection of the newfound freedoms that accompany the loss of her husband. The window through which she looks is an obvious metaphor for the new beginning and fresh opportunities that await her in the days and years to come.
The scent of rain is analogous to the cleansing nature associated with the spring rains that bring new life to a dormant landscape. The rains have not yet arrived, but neither has a new dawn for Mrs. Mallard.
The patches of clouds that dot the horizon are representative of the different aspects of the relationship she shared with her husband. The clouds were the rough spots and times when she felt as a puppet feels when its strings are being pulled, or when she felt suffocated by his adoration, affection, and protection. The blue skies that peak through the clouds denote the clearing of oppression and opportunities for renewal.
Mrs. Mallard as a Widow
The physical description of Mrs. Mallard is concise, and, yet, says so much. She is described as young with a “fair, calm face” with “lines [that] bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” The lines that “bespoke repression” allow the audience a glimpse of the stress that Mrs. Mallard endured because of her inability to maintain her independence, or to express what she desired. In essence, she was controlled by her husband in almost every respect.
While she gazes out the window she makes that realization that “[t]here would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence” that her husband wielded. The narrator states that both men and women “believe they have the right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.” Mrs. Mallard’s character is a testament to the effects of such a mindset. As she considers this, she doesn’t deem her husband’s intention as either kind or cruel, either way, what he did was still a crime.
A Dull Stare
The dull stare in her eyes speaks of stagnation and routine. During the years that she was married, she became less vivacious and independent. The gaze she owns is “not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.” Mrs. Mallard is not looking to the past, but to the future. She is planning for the time when she is free to make her own decisions.
The vivaciousness she once possessed never died, it merely stayed fallow. Now that she has awakened to the opportunities tomorrow holds secure, she is able to plan with a sense of optimism that almost feels alien.
Tears of Sorrow and Joy
As Mrs. Mallard contemplates her freedom, she knows she will still mourn the passing of her husband. She visualizes what he will look like lying in his coffin. She will weep when she sees “the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked saved with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.”
She admits that she did love him, though not all the time. He was loyal and adoring, but he suffocated her in his attempts to heave her upon that golden pedestal that he erected.
The joy she feels over possessing her freedom is something which consumes her. She does not “stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.” Mrs. Mallard maintains a clear sense of control and knows that such feelings come from having been repressed for so long.
"A Joy That Kills"
When she is coaxed from her room by Josephine, her attachment to her sister and sense of relief is only momentary. As her husband walks through the door, Richard jumps to hide him from her view – but he is not quick enough. Mrs. Mallard lets out a horrendous scream and collapses. The audience is told, “[w]hen the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of a joy that kills.”
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories of Kate Chopin. New York: Signet Classic, 1976.
 |
