The Joy That Kills

“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills. “ The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin

 In Chopin’s short story, the audience is introduced to young and heart-disease ridden, Mrs. Mallard. Her husband was said to have died in a terrible train accident and breaking the news to her became the unfortunate responsibility of her sister, Josephine and her late husband’s friend, Richards. The story reveals that Mrs. Mallard didn’t react as others who hear of grief. She wasn’t so shocked that she couldn’t grieve; in fact, Mrs. Mallard was filled with woe and devastation immediately upon hearing the news. After completely isolating herself to grieve in privacy, Mrs. Mallard continues to sob inconsolably when she senses an unfamiliar feeling approaching. After trying to suppress it, she realizes that she couldn’t fight it.

The story reads that “her bosom rose and fell tumultuously” which foreshadowed the heart attack in process. After stumbling upon the realization that the years ahead would bring freedom, Mrs. Mallard finds joy beyond grief. She is sure that pain will find her once her eyes rests upon the cold corpse of her late husband, but she resolves that the pain would only be temporary. The freedom was sure to last for years to come. In all irony, a very-alive Mr. Mallard returns home unaware that an accident had even taken place, but by that time his wife’s heart failed after experiencing true happiness.

Now, we see that while sobbing, Mrs. Mallard “sees the light.” At first, it seemed as if Mrs. Mallard died from sheer happiness, but it seems to me that death was approaching far before. It was “the light” that helped her to see what life would have been like long after she stopped grieving. It can very well be interpreted that Mrs. Mallard had an epiphany or revelation that led to her death; that somewhere in the midst of her tears, she found tears of joy. BUT her “bosom rose and fell tumultuously” long before such revelations were realized. This means that the approaching death helped her to see the beauty of her life. She knew she would mourn yes, but she knew she’d live past that. After all, she didn’t love him all the time. She was finally free and she couldn’t shake the joy that came with this revelation. In fact, the joy was strong enough to cut the ties she had to this life altogether. If the grief couldn’t kill her, the sheer joy had to. The story was truly ironic indeed.