How to Understand the Story of an Hour Using Id, Ego and Superego

【Abstract】Irony is one of the most representative features in the Story of an Hour. When Mrs. Mallard knew that her husband died， she became wild with joy， which is an irony. When the doctor declared his diagnose of the death cause of Mrs. Mallard as “of joy that kills” after seeing her husband， it is another irony. According to Sigmund Freuds structural model of the psyche， the irony can be explained as the outer appearance of the conflict within the heroine between her ego and superego.

【Key words】id; ego; superego; irony; freedom

【作者簡介】贾可睿，北京林业大学外语学院。

1. Main passage

Kate Chopin（1851～1904） was a writer whose mind had gone beyond the time. In many of her literary works， Chopin has featured numerous unusual female characters， which are later explained by many scholars as the awakening feminism and women rebellious for individual freedom. The Story of an Hour is one of this kind， in which Chopin had shown her exquisite talents in designing an unexpected ending. This article mainly focuses on analyzing the irony in this novel. I believe that the irony of this novel is the effect of heroines ego（her crave for individual freedom） and superego（the moral senses upon her） resulting into conflicts.

To illustrate my point of view here， we must first understand Freuds theory of id， ego and superego. According to this Freudian model of the psyche， the id is referred to as humans most primitive instincts. It only applies to human desires and does not regard any social bounds， therefore would most likely cause conflicts with social regulations. The ego is separated from id when the conflict happens， and it is  the organized， realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the society. Freud believes that from ego there is another part that can supervise ego objectively， which is called superego. And super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role that always affect ego from the perspective of laws， moral codes， religions etc. It is the latest part that a human personality would form， but it is also the most perfect part to fit in the society.

2. Synopsis and Kernel of the Story

The Story of an Hour tells the experience of Mrs. Mallard in her last one hour of life. The story begins with Mrs.Mallards sister told the news of her husband death， and Mr.s Mallard cried wildly in her sisters arms to mourn her husbands death. However， when she was all alone in her room， she suddenly felt a wild happiness of being “free”. Her minds had struggled hard between the thoughts of freedom and her husbands death. Eventually， she became crazy about her imagination of her carefree future life， but her sister were worried that she asked her to come down stairs. At this time， the missing Mr. Mallard suddenly appeared in front of her wife and stuck everyone， with Mrs. Mallard the most astonishing. She died instantly because of heart attack and the doctor told the others that she died of extreme joys.

The story is full of irony， but undoubtedly the biggest one of them is in the end when the doctor declared the cause of her death. However， after reading the whole piece，  readers would know that it is desperate that scared Mrs. Mallard to death. This article mainly focuses on the conflict between Mrs.Mallard id and superego as well as analyzing the irony shown in the novel. I believe that the irony of this novel is the effect of heroines id（her crave for individual freedom） and superego（the moral senses upon her） resulting into conflicts.

To help us better understand the theme of the novel， I would like to propose two questions：

Did Mrs.Mallard really grieve for her husband？ And why did she behave like a goddess of victory in the latter part？

The answer to the first question is no doubt positive. Surely in this society， a woman would most likely to be struck by the news of her husbands death， especially when their marriage seemed adequate. Such a circumstances well fit the traditional social ethic and moral.

However， it is easy to find that in the first three paragraphs， the author give us the perspective of a bystander to look at the scene--we know that Mr.s Mallard had heart disease and everyone treated her with extreme caution. There is no evidence what kind of woman Mrs.Mallard really was， and it seemed all reasonable that her family and friends would take care of her feelings because of her illness and physical fragility.

Nevertheless， according to the novel， the lady did not “hear the story as many women have heard the same， with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance” in the first place. But in the latter part， she “carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory”. This has caused significant contrast that I cannot help but thinking the author has deliberately used metaphor here. Therefore， regarding our second question， a contrast here implied there is a huge gap between Mrs.Mallard and her surrounding people， or if we put it in another kind of statement， her surface image was quite different from her true yet concealed innermost being.

Based on the discussion above， when concerning of a lady who could not face her husbands death to her becoming of goddess of victory， we may broadly deduct that this is a sarcasm of the patriarchal society under which women lack their id in the spiritual level. Her discrepancy with the surrounding environment lessened as her id gradually awakening： This explains why their love became her husbands imperial will on her; she asked her sister to go away only to absorb in her imagination of freedom， whilst others thought she was lost in grief; the long dark hopeless future suddenly seemed brighten up into free from burden. In the end， when Mrs.Mallard died of desperate， others could just interpret her death “of joy that kills”.

3. Conflict of Contradictory Between Id and Superego

When Mrs. Mallard knew about her husbands death， her happiness eventually took the higher ground in her mental state， which is in fact an irony known as situational irony. Situational irony is also sometimes called an irony of events and it occurs when an expected outcome does not happen， or its opposite happens instead. So why does this situational irony happens here？ I believe it originates in the conflict of Mrs.Mallards id and superego.

It is not hard to find that in the story， Mrs.Mallards id is shown in a way of pursuing her desire of freedom. When she was upstairs imagining her free life without her husband， she suddenly found out that such a life was what she wanted most：

There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. 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. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.

And yet she had loved him - sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter！ What could love， the unsolved mystery， count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being！

In here we can see Mrs.Mallard bend to her impulse of her being. But it is not an easy process as she had actually struggled a long time to accept it.

As I have previously mentioned， id represents the most primitive desire and it is not controlled by human will. It would simply come out at some point to make people try to reach their satisfaction; such an action here is represented with Mrs.Mallard going upstairs：

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it， fearfully. What was it？ She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it， creeping out of the sky， reaching toward her through the sounds， the scents， the color that filled the air.

What was approaching her？ Obviously it was the uncontrollable and primitive impulse that could not be controlled by her will--an impulse toward her desire of freedom. However， her superego had not abandoned yet when “she was striving to beat it back with her will”. If her impulse was satisfied， surely Mrs.Mallard would have her happiness. But her morality and ethics forbid her from doing so because she should not as her husband just died.

However， we know that her struggle ended with superego depressed as Mrs.Mallards long repressed crave for freedom had finally been set free. She was whispering “free， free， free” and even herself was frightened.

There is a specific term by Freud to describe “a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips”， which is known as Freudian slip. It is an error in speech， memory， or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of though. The long repressed crave for freedom of Mrs. Mallard was able to be expressed through this slip. Such an action is unintentional： she was frightened by such a thought as well. The reason for such a frightening was that her superego has banned her from such an immoral expression， yet her superego failed at last.

Here I would like to propose another question： Why was Mrs.Mallard died when she found out that her husband was still alive？ It took Mrs.Mallard a long time and hard struggle to submit to the desire of id， yet she was fragile--too fragile in both of her body and her will. There was nothing she could do when she realized that her husband was still alive. In other words， the death of her husband was destructive to her id， as she had lost her spouse permanently;however， the resurrection of her husband was even more destructive to her superego.

Answering the question above would make us to reflect on the irony again. Actually it can be called as the most representative scenes of irony of the whole novel--none of the characters realized what had happened（perhaps Mrs.Mallard realized， but she died  instantly） except the readers. If Mrs.Mallard truly died of wild joy， all of the mental struggle Chopin described within the whole story is meaningless. Hence， it is logical to think that Mrs.Mallard died of desperate. She only just had time to taste her joy of being free， to break her ethic code， before her husband came back alive and smashed all of these. It is hard to define whether she died of her hatred of the tiredness toward marriage， or she just hated to live under the shadow of patriarchal society. What can be sure is that her id（impulse of life） was restricted by her superego（social conventions） again. How should she be able to live under such an impact？

4. Epilogue

To sum up， the irony used by Chopin in the Story of an Hour is the outer appearance of Mrs.Mallards conflict between her id and her superego. When her husband was consumed dead， she was believed to be sorrow， instead her behavior struck all of the readers（including herself）as she appeared to be more than happy， which had constructed an environment of situational irony. This actually reflected that her id had gone beyond control. When she found that her husband returned， her doctor declared she died of genuine joy， but the fact was just the opposite--she died in a hopeless desperation. This has caused another irony which was also produced in the struggle of her id and superego and that her superego had eventually took the upper hand. Whether Chopin aimed to attack how system of marriage set bounds to individual freedom， or she was accusing the patriarchal society to had persecuted the other gender， or anything else， there is no doubt that all the contradictory conflict as well as the using of irony in the novel is the outward manifestation of Mrs.Mallards id and superego， which is all shown with her unique and mastery skills in the novel.

The Story of an Hour not only brings a story but encourages us to think and feel the actual mental state of the women living in patriarchal society. Mrs.Mallard “chose” death over her loss of freedom， which not only makes us feel pity， but hopefully would enable us to see the problem from different perspective and seek to the essence deep inside of the story .

Refernces：

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