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Nora Eckert
English 305
Psychoanalytic
10/10/2014
The Battle Within: Psychoanalysis of Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”
There is no conflict so difficult to resolve as that which occurs inside one’s very being.
When these inner battles occur, applyingApplying the influence of Freud’s psychoanalytic
theory in the inner conflict that Mrs. Mallard struggles with in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an
Hour” brings greater understanding for the reasons why protagonists such as Mrs. Mallard in
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” repressshe represses and perpetuates desires in the way
that they do.; Iin Mallard’s case, these repressions are due to a need to satisfy external
expectations of hersociety’s expectations of her. By examining the extent to which she abides by
her inner animalistic desires or the extent to which the demands of society govern her, one can
determine which aspects of Louise Mallard’s psyche are more powerful than others. Overall, in
“The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard’s struggle to balance her desire for freedom with her
expectations as a wife and woman are consistent with Freud’s principles of repressed desires,
and conception of the id, ego, and super-ego. It is evident that her id wins this struggle, for she is
unable to live with the reality of being bound to a husband when she gets a glimpse of the
possible freedom she has without him.
The Freudian concepts of the id, ego, and super-ego are essential to the psychoanalytic
interpretation of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict in “The Story of an Hour.” These different
elements of the human psyche play different roles in producing and controlling desires. The id is
the “center of our instincts, our libido, which naturally seeks gratification, and is driven by the
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pleasure principle”(Pennington, 3.3). It is essentially the natural, animalistic drive for things that
bring satisfaction. Often, these desires do not comply with societal norms and values. This voice
of reason that conflicts with the id is the super-ego, or “the moral conscience—the ‘law’—that
dictates what is right or wrong, permissible or not permissible”(Pennington, 3.3). Often, this
sense of what is permissible is constructed by authority figures such as parents or the law. As
the id and super-ego are so conflictual in their purpose, it is necessary to have a mediator: the
ego. “The ego is the compromise of the id and the superego, a delicate balance of the mind”
(Pennington, 3.3). These three elements work together to balance desires and maintain
psychological and social order. However, in many cases such as Mrs. Mallard’s, the conflict
caused by the differences in desires between the three id and superego can be extremely
destructive, and overwhelming for the ego. By understanding the societal rules imposed upon
Mallard through her super-ego, and the pleasure-seeking role of the id, one can gain a greater
appreciation for the struggle she endures upon realizing that her husband’s death brings her great
freedom.
The battle between Mrs. Mallard’s id , ego, and superego is initially manifested in her
physical weakness, indicating the delicate nature of her ego. . When breaking the news of her
husband’s death to Mrs. Mallard, her sister Josephine takes great care, because Mallard was
“afflicted with a heart trouble”(59). Freud claims that the conflict between these three elements
of the human psyche can cause mental and physical illness, which is obviously evident in
Mallard’s heart condition. Being in such a fragile state, after receiving the devastating message
of her husband’s death, it is described that she “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in
her sister’s arms”(60). However, Mallard quickly begins to experience relief, and “when the
storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow
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her”(60). Her initial reaction to the news demonstrates a response motivated by the super-ego,
the need to show an outward display of grief so that there is no mistaking her sadness. However,
the super-ego’s influence cannot hold for long, and the grief washes over her and leaves after a
short period. Her grief is not faked, but there is a stronger, truer emotion that the id fights to
allow surface in her consciousness: an overwhelming sense of joy. She cannot allow anything
but devastating grief show in the presence of her family, so, specifically ensuring that she is in
her room alone, Mallard’s id-ish desires are finally able to express themselves.
Intentionally describing that “she would have no one follow her,” to her room, Mallard
creates an environment where she can discard the influence of her super-ego, the voice of
societal principles and morals, and allows her repressed desires to express themselves (60).
“Facing the open window,” a symbol of her reversion to her natural state, Mallard surrenders
herself to those id-ish feelings (60). As they overcome the control of the ego and the social
conscience of the super-ego, she feels that there is “something coming to her…What was it?...it
was too subtle and elusive to name”(60). However, these foreign feelings quickly become quite
familiar obvious to Mallard: the desire to be free, the happiness of being without a husband, and
the possibility of a life not repressed by her role as a woman and wife. However, such desires are
condemned, and the super-ego fights to keep them repressed. This internal battle is so intense
that it physically moves her, and s it described that “her bosom rose and fell tumultuously…she
was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving
to beat it back with her will”(60). Her super-ego knows that allowing her hidden desires to
overcome her would completelycompletely defies y all of the rules and expectations imposed
uponset for he her, and attempts to fight them off. This is not a small, insignificant conflict. It
ravages her internally and externally, her breast physically heavesing with effort to maintain
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control. However, when releasing herself from this battle for one moment, “a little whispered
word escaped her slightly parted lips: …’Free, free, free!’”(60). The statement naturally comes
out of her as if bottled under pressure for some time, just waiting for the proper release to show
itself. The fact that Mallard’s desires are deeply repressed and so dissonant with societal norms
is consistent with Freud’s conception of the id. Furthermore, this physical manifestation of
Mallard’s conflict shows the power of the societal expectations of her time, the power of the
superego. She is so suppressed in her role as a wife that her natural desires have to battle
intensely to come to her conscious, indicating that she has become so accustomed to her constant
oppression that she does not have the opportunity to consider what she wants, what brings her
pleasure, what makes her feel alive.
This manifestation of the id with the statement “Free, free free!” is a feeling more clear
and understandable than any Mrs. Mallard has ever had, but it is frightening in how much it
differs from the influence of her superego. As psychoanalyst Eugene Goldwater describes,
“Satisfaction of the needs of the id results in joy—feelings of excitement, enjoyment, pleasure,
and just plain fun”(Goldwater). Therefore, the moment the id is able to fully express in Louise is
logically an incredibly joyful experience. This new state of clarity is described as “aA clear and
exalted perception”(60). Her whole being is involved with this transformation, and , as it is
described that “the vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes.
They stayed keen and bright”(60). Analyzing the eyes as a symbol for the soul, tThe
metaphorical implications of this description are clear: Mallard’s soul is cleansed and renewed
when she sheds her super-ego’s pretenses, and allows her id to express itself. She realizes that
these desires are stronger than any other forces in her life, even that greater than of the love she
felt for her husband. She exclaims: “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the
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face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse
of her being!”(61). This is an extremely powerful statement, because it demonstrates that
Mallard not only disregards society’s expectations that she love her husband, but she disregards
the love that she truly felt for him. Even as powerful of a force as love is incomparable to her
liberation, to the assertion of the most natural part of her being: the id. In the midst of this
glorification of the id, the super-ego still finds ways to slip its influence into Mrs. Mallard’s
psyche. She does not allow her sister to witness her experience. When her sister knocks at the
door and implores that Louise open it, Louise does not do so. This demonstrates her consistent,
yet weakened desire to remain true to societal norms. If her sister recognized her exuberance in
the face of her husband’s death, it would be defy all morals and norms of her time. Mallard
recognizes this, and keeps her transformation personal. Through allowing her true desires to
break through the crushing weight of her societal expectations as a woman and wife, Louise
Mallard can truly feel joy, tragically, for the first time in her marriage.
When Mallard’s husband enters the house, unaware of the alleged accident causing his
death and his wife’s intense psychological battle and realizationbattle, Mrs. Mallard dies as a
result of the conflict between her id , ego, and super-ego, her ego incapable of balancing the
tension between the two.. The doctors diagnose the cause of her death as “heart disease-of joy
that kills” (61). This lethal joy is multidimensional: it is the joy of seeing her husband, which
inherently carries the death of her anticipated freedom. The super-ego is joyful, while the id is
devastated. The conflict between these two forces, and the realization that her desire for freedom
is stronger than her happiness at seeing her husband, is fatally overwhelming for Mrs. Mallard.
Before the entrance of her husbandhis entrance, Louise Mallard feels likethat “she was drinking
in a very elixir of life through that open window” that she stood before (61). The opening of the
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window suggests something very natural and cleansing about being free from her husband. Sh
Shee revels in the possibilities of her freedom, and feels truly alive for the first time in her life.
The prospect of having that metaphorical life taken away from her, of having to remain trapped
in her role as a woman and wife, essentially kills the id., Thisand is a realization terrible enough
to literally kill her.
Ultimately, in “The Story of an Hour,” Louise Mallard’s intense inner conflict is caused
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by the battle between her id and , ego, and super-ego that her fragile ego is unable to resolve.
This struggle is so consuming that it results in her own death. In recognizing her true, repressed
desires through her husband’s passing, Mrs. Mallard experiences a joy so intense, that the minute
it is ripped from her with her husband’s return, she is too devastated to survive. It is the “joy that
kills.” The difficulties that she experiences attempting to balance her roles as a woman and wife
with her repressed desire to be free is consistent with Freud’s conception of the role of her id,
ego, and super-ego., and demonstrate how internal battles can have a profound emotional and
physical effect.
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Zacharias Abstract
Zacharias, Greg W. “The Eextraordinary Fflight of Hheroism the Ooccasion Ddemanded of
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Mme”:
Fantasy
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and Confession in The Turn of the Screw.” The Turn of the Screw. James, Henry.
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Boston:
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Bedford, 320-332. Print.
In his application of Lacanian psychoanalysis to The Turn of the Screw, Greg Zacharias
establishes the ways in which the governess creates and interacts with elements of her
environment to maintain order. He describes that she creates the ghosts as a way to fulfill desires
that she cannot, and make up for inadequacies and self-doubt. In doing so, she relieves much of
the anxiety that builds up internally. In addition, such actions as when she wishes to “confess her
troubles to Bly”(323) demonstrate her acceptance and compliance with authority figures.
Zacharias further ponders why the governess feels the need to confess, and examines the role of
her unconscious in this desire.
Zacharias Word Search
Zacharias, Greg W. “The Eextraordinary Fflight of Hheroism the Ooccasion Ddemanded of
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Mme”:
Fantasy
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and Confession in The Turn of the Screw.” The Turn of the Screw. James, Henry. Boston:
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Bedford, 320-332. Print.
Turn of the Screw; confession; governess; Lacan; Freud; dreams; repressed desires; ghosts,;
authority; unconscious; fantasy; Bly; Henry James; children; evil; apparitions; Miles; death;
anxiety
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Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Literature, a Portable Anthology. Third eEd. Ed. Lawn,
Beverly et al, and Gardner, Janet E., and Ridl, Jack, and Schakel, Peter.Boston: Bedford,
2013. 59-61. Print.
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Goldwater, Eugene. "Happiness: A Structural Theory." Modern Psychoanalysis 35.2 (2010):
147-163. PsycINFO. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
Pennington, John and Cordell, Ryan. “. (n.d.). Writing about Literature through Theory.
“Writing about
Character and Motivation: Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism.”Retrieved from
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/5248. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Zacharias, Greg W. “The Eextraordinary Fflight of Hheroism the Ooccasion Ddemanded of
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12 pt
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Mme”:
Fantasy
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and Confession in The Turn of the Screw.” The Turn of the Screw. James, Henry.
Boston:
Bedford, 320-332. Print.
Formatted: Indent: Left: 0.5", First line: 0"