Analysis of "Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin

¶ … Desiree's Baby Kate Chopin

In many of Kate Chopin's stories there are women who are repressed by their husbands. In that sense, there are a number of male characters written by the author who are portrayed as villainous. This proclivity of Chopin is certainly evinced within "Desiree's Baby," as her depiction of Armand renders him highly iniquitous. The supreme irony of this fact is that for the duration of the story, Armand considers himself a victim -- since he believes his wife has hidden the fact from him that she is an African-American woman. Yet a closer examination of the language that the author uses to describe Armand indicates that regardless of the plot of the story, he is portrayed as a villain in many of the same terms that the fallen angel Lucifer is.

As far as the reader can discern from the information within this story, Armand was never a nice person. His ordinary habit of driving his slaves hard only intensifies once he ascertains that his own child is of African-American descent. The following passage, which describes his behavior after he comes to this conclusion, indicates that he is not a victim of circumstance, but rather a villain. "He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of the child, without excuse. And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves" (Chopin). Not only does Armand take care to disdain the company of his wife and child after he suspects his child is African-American, he also begins treating his slaves in an infernal manner that is comparable to "Satan." Satan, of course, is the great adversary of the world and of the perceived good in it. By comparing Desiree's husband to this infernal trickster, Chopin is underscoring the fact that Armand is equally as evil and villainous.

This depiction of Armand's behavior as contrary to that of good and of God is suggested in his final conversation with Desiree. Because Armand believes she has deceived him about her race, he wants to hurt her, which the following quotation sufficiently proves. "He though almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed into his wife's soul…he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon…his name" (Chopin). Although Armand does not literally stab his wife with a weapon, he figuratively stabs her by speaking to her "cruelly and unjustly. Furthermore, this passage denotes that he does so because of his belief about the injury he perceives she gave him. This passage shows that Armand thinks Desiree has wronged him, and demonstrates that he is shamefully villainous in his attempts to wrong her -- and God -- back in return.