Female Freedom in 19th-Century Short Fiction by Chopin and Gilman

Introduction: Society's Misreading of Women

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" both approach the subject of female sanity and wellness from different angles. Both stories suggest that society — and those closest to the woman — have no real idea about the inner life of the female, nor about what is best for her mental health and overall well-being. The incorrect assumptions of those around them are precisely what contribute to the ultimate tragedies and unraveling of mental states present within each story.

Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" demonstrates the ill-conceived presumptions that so many characters of the era project onto the heart and mind of a woman. We are told of Mrs. Mallard's fragility in the opening of the story. As a result of this fragility, "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death" (Chopin). Everyone around her believes the news will break her — possibly kill her — and she plays along with their expectations, giving them the display of emotions they are expecting. "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself, she went away to her room alone" (Chopin). The inner life of the woman is something completely different from what is presumed by those around her — a theme that both stories share.

Mrs. Mallard's Hidden Desire for Freedom

When Mrs. Mallard is alone, we discover that she craves freedom — freedom from her marriage, freedom from the domination of her husband, freedom from all of it. She does not mourn her husband's death so much as she celebrates her presumed liberty. Her freedom and autonomy are so precious to her that the mere sight of her husband, alive and well, is enough to make her heart stop. No doubt many of the people around her had assumed she would be frightened to live on her own, without the safety, protection, and guidance of a husband.

However, Mrs. Mallard's reaction implies that her husband was controlling and domineering, and that she had very little freedom within the confines of their relationship. This is supported by the text: "There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Chopin). One can conclude, therefore, that for her, marriage was a form of a prison cell. Only through the death of her husband could she get a taste of freedom. As scholars of Kate Chopin have long noted, her fiction consistently probes the tension between social expectation and women's inner experience.

Freedom as a Central Theme in Both Stories

Freedom is a theme inherent in both short stories. When Mrs. Mallard believes her freedom has finally been granted and it is suddenly ripped away, it kills her. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the protagonist's freedom is constantly encroached upon day after day, and this is what culminates in her eventual madness.

The unnamed protagonist of Gilman's story has been diagnosed by her husband — a doctor — as having "a temporary nervous depression — a slight hysterical tendency." She is prescribed fresh air, exercise, rest, and is forbidden from any mental or intellectual endeavors. Her brother is also a doctor, and this detail gives the reader the image of a woman surrounded by men who presume to know what is "wrong" with her and who control her freedom and how she spends her time. As the narrator herself asks, in such a case, "what is one to do?" This question illustrates how little control women had over their own fate and circumstances. The broader cultural context of the so-called rest cure — widely prescribed to women in the late nineteenth century — helps explain why Gilman's depiction of enforced idleness resonated so powerfully with contemporary readers.

Conclusion: The Cost of Denied Agency

Both stories meditate, in their own way, on the dire results that occur when women lack agency and the ability to direct their own lives. While they go in somewhat different directions and demonstrate different approaches to this theme, they both deliver a very dark, cautionary message. When those around women — particularly men — continue to assume what women want, need, feel, and think, and consequently strip them of their independence, only the worst can occur.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." 1894, archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/webtexts/hour/.

Gilman, Charlotte P. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Literature of Prescription, National Library of Medicine, www.nlm.nih.gov/theliteratureofprescription/exhibitionAssets/digitalDocs/The-Yellow-Wall-Paper.pdf. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.