The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin. This story revolves around the character Mrs. Mallard Louise and her psychological process one hour after hearing the news that her husband is dead. Kate Chopin doesn’t describe the inner thoughts of characters instead she uses signs and symbols to express the true feelings and emotions of the characters. This essay mainly focuses on the analysis of the short story, The Story of an Hour through the semiotic theory of Peirce. Semiotic is the study of how an idea or object communicates meaning and what meaning it communicates. It is the concept of meaning that is formed through diversity between signifiers and signified. Charles Peirce described how “three things are concerned in the functioning of a sign: the Sign itself, its Object, and its Interpretant”. And according to Peirce signs are classified into three they are icon, index, and symbol. An icon is a sign by virtue of its similarities with what it signifies. For instance, the similarity of a portrait to the person it depicts. 

Firstly, according to Peirce, an icon has a relation with its object by referring to its object which is similar in nature. He also called icons “likeness” or “semblance” The Story of An Hour, various icons are used to depict the characters and themes. For example, the images of “the closed door”, “the open window”, and “bottom” of the stairs and ‘upstairs.’ The space outside the closed door is the living room downstairs, in which all relatives and friends gather for social activities and Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husband’s death. This space in the bottom stairs where the place she is constrained to behave in a certain way. She is forced to adhere to patriarchal society and stereotypical norms where she grieves for her husband’s death even though she is happy about it. Whereas the upstairs depicts another world of fantasy where she idealizes her future of being free from the shackles of stereotypes. She discovers her true self and dreams about her future life without being controlled by her husband. And the bedroom upstairs is the space of her fantasy of freedom and hope and a place of her secret inner world. Mrs. Mallard returns to her bedroom upstairs where she wants to spend her time alone after the storm of grief downstairs. And she also repeats the word ‘free’ three times. She wants to spend time alone where she expects no one to follow her even her sister Josephine. She also feels the most comfortable in her room through the gesture when she sinks into a comfortable roomy armchair. Thirdly the sign of the ‘closed door’ refers to a boundary between private and public life. It acts as a dividing point between the old and the new life and a barrier between the ideal and the reality. Finally, the sign of the open window symbolizes Mrs. Mallard’s self-growth and discovery of her true self where she reveals her female consciousness. All her repressed feelings were exposed when she was alone in the bedroom and looked outside the open window. She saw a new world outside the window. Kate doesn’t make the setting in the scene very gloomy as if the weather is stormy or rainy to symbolize grief or mourning for her husband’s death. On the contrary, it was a scene full of vigor and vitality in spring. It brings access to her future life filled with hope and freedom.

At the end of the story, the upstairs becomes an ideal life she dreamt about whereas the downstairs in the bottom acts as a most ironic icon. When Mrs. Mallard opened the door at the request of her sister Josephine and was “drinking in a very elixir of life through the open window”, Richard was “waiting for them at the bottom’’ the “open window” symbolizes the life full of “freedom” and “vitality”, then the “bottom” symbolizes the “death”, “despair” and “end” of the fantasy of a happy life. Thus the theme of life, freedom, and death which is the cruel reality of life is expressed through the icons.

Secondly, An index is a sign that has a cause-or-effect relationship with what it signifies. For example, smoke signifies fire. Here in this short story, the names of the characters and the gestures and actions act as an index to signify the characteristics of each and every character. Kneeling” is a gesture of absolute submission. Here Josephine kneels outside the “door” and performs Richard’s will. She believes that staying alone inside is terrible and will make Mrs. Mallard ill. It’s only normal and safe to open the door and return to the world with Richard which means the world of patriarchy. Though Richard didn't say a word, Josephine’s language, behavior, and thoughts were submissive to her husband. Josephine would have supported her sister but she strongly stands on the oppressor’s side and victimizes her sister. She cheers for the patriarchal society which suppresses women’s freedom. Josephine’s name carries the meaning of “enhancement” and refers to a “prolific woman”. It symbolizes those women who accept and obey the rules of fate and were deprived of the ability to think and were only accustomed to the dependent way of life. They believe that the greatest value of women’s existence is “prolificacy”, to have more children. On the other hand, Louise’s husband's name ‘Mallard’ carries the meaning of male physiological characteristics which is the habit of controlling part of the brain to keep sleep and part of the brain to keep awake. This habit of half-asleep and half-awake can help them escape from the predation of other animals in a dangerous environment. To conclude, the main habits of mallard are summarized as follows: male dominates controls, and brain consciousness, and is half-asleep and half-awake. Such an index symbolizes a male-dominated family, Mallards. It is the epitome of male’s dominant position, their control over women’s thoughts and consciousness. 

Finally, a symbol becomes a sign, as the relationship between the signifier and the signified is socially constructed by convention. For example, a red traffic light signifies a stop. In The Story of An Hour, Mrs. Mallard’s “heart disease” is not a biological disease. On the contrary, it is a kind of physical and mental disease for women in the patriarchal society. It serves as a symbol of the tragic result for women who are indulged in an obsession with abstract ideas such as individual freedom and self-assertion. The dramatic irony of the story is that the beginning and the end. In the beginning, Kate starts with the death of Mr. Mallard, and in the end the arrival of Mr. Mallard alive results in the death of Mrs. Mallard. Kate portrays the tragedy of women under the restrictions of social norms that if she tries to escape from the stereotypical ideas, will only lead to death. She also reflects the idea that society is conditioned in the minds of the people in gender relations. That is in a mutual relationship one has to be submissive to coexist and prosper together. But what is important is not the confrontation between the two genders but the relationship and understanding between them.

Thus, Kate uses icons, images, and signs to express the mentality of Mrs. Mallard and makes the readers question about gender relations and think about how everyone is conditioned in the shackles of societal norms and traditions.

References:

Kate Chopin. (2014). The Story of an Hour. Toronto: HarperCollins Canada.

Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar (2000). The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale: Yale University Press.

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