a-psychological-analysis-of-the-story大学毕业论文

A

Psychological

Analysis

of

the

Story【Abstract】Kate

Chopin

is

a

famous

feminist

writer.

A

strong

sense

of

feminine

consciousness

is

embodied

in

her

works.

Her

successful

adoption

of

the

psychological

approach,

specifically

the

stream

of

consciousness,

adds

grandeur

to

splendor

of

her

literary

creation.

The

successful

employment

of

psychological

approach

in

The

Story

of

an

Hour

not

only

has

achieved

dramatic

effects

and

intensified

the

themes

but

also

has

exposed

the

women’s

anaclitic

situation.

【Key

wordst】The

Story

of

an

Hour;

Psychological

Analysis;

Feminist

Consciousness.

Kate

Chopin

was

born

in

St.

Louis,

Missouri

in

1851.

She

was

raised

by

a

strict

Catholic

mother

and

attended

the

Academy

of

Sacred

HeartIf

we

throw

our

eyes

onto

her

Emancipation:

the

Life

Fable,

The

Story

of

an

Hour

and

Awakening,

we

will

be

assured

of

this.

She

has

given

us

so

much

food

to

consider

the

significance

of

life

and

marriage

and

the

embarrassing

situation

in

which

women

lived

that

she

is

later

labeled

by

the

radical

feminists

in

1970s

as

one

of

the

woman

writers

with

a

strong

feminine

consciousness,

although

surprisingly,

she

herself

resolutely

denied

it.

Actually

it

is

understandable

that

she

is

taken

as

a

progressive

woman

writer

of

feminine

consciousness

because

in

her

times,

the

second

women

movement

began

to

sweep

over

the

whole

country.

And

in

her

works

the

heroines

were

not

merely

contented

with

their

family

life.

Instead,

they

tried

every

ways

and

means

to

break

the

fetters

forced

upon

them.

They

wanted

to

pursue

their

individual

freedom

and

spiritual

independence

and

didn’t

want

to

play

a

traditional

role

any

longer.

Most

of

the

heroines

under

her

pen,

like

Edna

Pontellier

and

Mrs.

Mallard,

were

more

or

less

rebellious,

although

their

resistance

mostly

ended

in

self-destruction

and

compromise.

Maybe

she

was

so

radical

that

the

public

hadn’t

yet

prepared

to

accept

her

then.

Just

as

Jane

Bail

Howard

put,

she

uttered

a

voice

‘so

far

ahead

of

her

times’.When

Kate

Chopin

lived,

another

influential

trend

that

prevailed

in

the

United

States

and

the

European

Continent,

namely

the

so-called

psychoanalysis

presented

by

the

Austrian

psychologist,

Sigmund

Freud.

He

divides

human

psyche

roughly

into

three

parts:

conscious,

preconscious

and

unconscious

mind.

In

illuminating

the

mental

processes

he

further

distinguishes

the

three

psyche

areas

of

the

mind

as

the

Id,

the

ego,

and

the

superego.

To

elucidate

their

interplay,

he

put

forward

the

pleasure,

reality

and

the

morality

principles.

His

theories

have

contributed

a

lot

to

modern

psychology

and

also

exerted

a

profound

influence

upon

many

social

aspects,

including

literature.

Many

famous

writers

attribute

their

debts

to

him.

Although

there

is

no

much

evidence

that

Freud

has

directly

influenced

Kate

Chopin,

yet

we

can

find

that

she

has

repeatedly

adopted

the

psychological

approach

in

her

short

stories,

novellas

and

novels,

among

which

The

Story

of

an

Hour

is

a

typical

example.

And

the

successful

employment

of

the

psychological

approach

or

stream

of

consciousness

has

achieved

the

dramatic

effects

and

intensified

the

themes.

Mrs.

Mallard,

the

heroine,

lived

a

superficially

happy

life

in

other

people’s

eyes

according

to

the

conventional

and

secular

criteria.

Her

husband

was

gentle

and

considerate,

so

they

were

deemed

to

be

a

perfect

match.

However,

deep

inside

her

heart

she

felt

much

inhibited.

No

one

knew,

including

her

husband,

of

her

spiritual

demands.

Yet

she

had

to

make

others

believe

that

she

was

happy

and

lucky.

She

had

to

act

the

traditional

role

as

a

virtuous

wife,

not

for

herself,

but

for

others.

According

to

Peggy

Skaggs,

the

heroines

in

the

works

of

Kate

Chopin

often

lived

a

two-faceted

life.

They

lived

in

disguise

to

hide

their

real

feelings

and

intentions.

The

women

in

the

19th

century

were

required

to

learn

all

the

social

graces

(The

authoress

herself

was

also

required

to

do

so

in

her

puberty.)

and

encouraged

to

follow

the

rules

and

principles

as

men

wanted

them

to

do.

In

the

American

fiction

Gone

with

the

wind,

we

can

see

that

Mummy

has

once

and

again

threatened

Scarlett

that

no

man

would

take

the

risk

to

marry

her

if

she

insisted

on

doing

as

she

liked.

Most

women

were

reduced

to

the

victims

of

the

then

social

and

marital

systems.

Yet

still

they

had

to

repress

their

own

desires

to

cater

to

the

patriarchal

society.

And

no

one

would

care

about

their

real

demands.

Mrs.

Mallard

was

just

one

of

the

victims.

Chopin

is

a

good

weaver

of

plots.

When

we

read

her

short

stories,

we

find

there

are

so

many

mistakes

and

coincidences

in

them

as

if

we

were

reading

O’

Henry.

At

the

beginning

of

the

story

she

lays

out

suspense

to

the

readers

and

immediately

seizes

their

hearts.

The

news

of

her

husband’s

death

evokes

the

readers’

deep

sympathy

for

the

heroine

with

heart

disease.

They

worry

about

that

she

can’t

survive

the

fatal

blow.

Like

the

other

characters

in

the

story,

they

all

thought

that

she

would

be

heart-broken

and

swooned

on

the

spot

like

other

women

encountering

the

same

situation.

But

she

didn’t.

Of

course

she

wept

too.

However,

she

wept

not

because

she

felt

sad,

although

her

sister

Josephine

and

other

people

believed

that

she

did

because

she

found

it

hard

to

face

the

music.

But

unexpectedly,

as

they

read

on,

they

find

they

have

been

deceived

because

what

she

(the

heroine)

rejoiced

for

is

that

she

could

be

free

from

that

moment

on;

and

the

repressed

emotions

can

be

at

last

released.

Some

intense

psychological

changes

have

undergone

quickly

in

her

body.

The

initial

response

to

her

husband’s

death

is

that

she

felt

free

instead

of

feeling

sad,

which

shows

she

must

have

been

inhibited

for

ages.

Thus

she

has

a

sense

of

emancipation

as

if

a

man

were

taken

out

of

the

suffocating

dungeon

where

he

had

been

imprisoned

for

ages

and

finally

could

breathe

fresh

air.

At

this

moment,

the

lawless,

asocial

and

amoral

id

has

controlled

her

and

the

instinct

to

pursue

pleasure

temporarily

got

the

upper

hand

of

her

reason.

She

became

so

excited

and

ecstatic

that

she

couldn’t

hold

back

happy

tears

trickling

down

her

cheeks.

But

with

her

sister

Josephine

and

her

husband’s

friend,

Richards

in

her

presence,

she

couldn’t

reveal

happiness

to

their

faces

because

the

conscious

mind

reminded

her

that

she

had

to

observe

the

reality

principle.

If

they

have

discovered

the

secret

and

real

reason

of

her

sudden

cry,

she

would

be

surely

condemned.

Here

the

superego,

which

yields

to

the

morality

principle,

defeated

the

id,

which

is

subject

to

the

pleasure

principle.

As

a

lady

who

was

asked

to

learn

all

the

social

graces

since

childhood,

she

must

find

it

immoral

and

guilty

to

be

happy

at

the

news

of

her

husband’s

death,

but

meanwhile

she

found

it

irresistible

to

feel

excited,

so

she

decided

to

stay

alone.

However,

Josephine

and

Richards

misinterpreted

her

weeping

and

mistook

that

she

wanted

to

stay

alone

because

she

was

heart-broken.

But

neither

of

them

knew

that

a

violent

conflict

had

occurred

inside

her.

For

the

time

being

she

retreated

to

a

realm

of

freedom.

Once

she

entered

into

the

room

and

was

left

alone,

she

did

no

longer

need

to

wear

a

mask

so

that

she

could

do

what

she

just

wanted.

Now

she

was

again

conquered

by

the

pleasure

principle.

She

was

so

exhausted

that

she

sank

into

the

armchair

and

immediately

returned

to

the

unconscious

state.

She

let

herself

follow

the

imagination

like

an

unbridled

horse.

Here

is

the

vivid

description

of

her

mind,“There

she

stood,

facing

the

open

window,

a

comfortable,

roomy

armchair.

Into

this

she

sank,

pressed

down

by

a

physical

exhaustion

that

haunted

her

body

and

seemed

to

reach

into

her

soul.

She

could

see

in

the

open

square

before

her

house

the

tops

of

trees

that

were

all

aquiver

She

was

so

happy

that

everything

in

her

eyes

looked

so

lovely

and

sounded

pleasant.

An

unspeakable

anticipation

took

her

by

storm.

Although

she

was

a

little

bit

fearful

of

it,

she

could

hardly

conceal

her

pleasure

that

she

wanted

to

‘drink

in

the

very

elixir

of

life

through

the

open

window’.

She

murmured

to

herself

over

and

over,

“Free,

free,

free!”

“Free!

Body

and

soul

free!”

Her

seemingly

inappropriate

pleasure

formed

a

striking

yet

discordant

contrast

with

the

death

of

her

husband.

All

these

show

that

she

was

no

other

than

a

beast

in

the

cage

and

she

had

repressed

herself

for

so

long.

But

now,

she

could

at

last

live

a

kind

of

life

she

wanted.

Though

sometimes

she

felt

she

had

love

for

her

husband,

she

often

denied

it.

Maybe

this

kind

of

love

was

only

out

of

her

responsibility

as

a

wife.

So

this

was

the

so-called

happy

marriage!

Here

the

authoress

elaborated

a

vivid

picture

of

the

working

mind

of

the

heroine

as

if

she

were

directing

a

movie.

She

faithfully

presented

a

series

of

snapshots

like

montage

to

her

readers.

Though

she

never

commented

on

it

from

the

moral

standpoint,

we

still

can

draw

the

conclusion

that

the

superficially

lucky

and

happy

marriage

is

a

castle

in

the

air;

that

is,

it

might

lack

nothing

but

love.

Perhaps

Mr.

Mallard

did

love

her

too,

but

he

often

ignored

her

existence

as

an

individual.

In

another

word,

he

loved

and

treated

his

wife

as

a

pet.

And

then

we

can

imagine

that

how

many

women

of

that

day

would

suffer

the

fate

of

Mrs.

Mallard!

While

Mrs.

Mallard

was

indulging

herself

in

the

sweet

daydreams,

her

sister

Josephine’s

knock

at

the

door

took

her

back

to

the

real

world.

Josephine

had

thought

that

her

sister

locked

herself

in

the

room

to

vent

her

grief.

She

worried

about

that

her

sister

would

drive

crazy

and

probably

commit

suicide

on

impulse,

so

she

insisted

on

her

opening

the

door.

However,

ironically,

Mrs.

Mallard

still

wanted

to

taste

the

sweetness

of

freedom

a

little

longer

and

even

began

to

make

a

blueprint

of

her

future

carefree

life,

so

she

dragged

on

deliberately

to

open

the

door

for

her

sister.

When

she

went

out

and

descended

the

stairs

with

her

sister,

she

refreshed

herself

and

‘she

carried

herself

unwittingly

like

a

goddess

of

victory’.

But

her

sweet

dream

was

doomed

to

be

fulfilled

because

that

the

news

of

her

husband’s

death

turned

out

to

be

a

rumor.

When

she

saw

her

husband

came

back

safe

and

sound,

she

was

so

shocked,

and

maybe

also

so

despaired

that

she

couldn’t

stand

the

blow

brought

by

the

trick

God

played

with

her.

She

was

so

psychologically

weak

that

her

heart

disease

suddenly

attacked

her

and

sent

her

directly

to

the

no-return

road.

Interestingly,

the

doctor

arbitrarily

declared

that

she

died

because

of

exhilaration,

and

probably

the

cause

of

her

death

could

only

be

rendered

this

way.

Sadly,

even

until

her

death,

no

one

could

understand

what

Mrs.

Mallard

was

thinking

about.

The

death

of

Mrs.

Mallard

is

far

from

an

individual

tragedy.

It

is

a

true

reflection

of

the

common

fate

of

women

in

the

19th

century.

Simultaneously

it

is

also

a

eulogy

dedicated

to

them.

Although

all

Mrs.

Mallard’s

efforts

and

desires

end

in

vain,

she

echoes

the

second

women

movement

in

full

swing