Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour: Id, Ego, and Superego

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour represents a narrator’s perspective on her marriage that doesn’t make her contented at all. The story represents a woman who is thrilled to know the death of her husband. This is expressed throughout the story and Chopin manages to portray Louise’s emotions in her new freedom. Likewise, the story covers only one hour of Louise Mallard’s life–from the moment she learned about her husband’s death to the time when he was, in fact, not yet dead. In this short story, the narrator’s emotions accurately describe the tension that exists between the three competing parts of the human psyche, which are the id, ego, and superego. Sigmund Freud set these three variables as controlling factors for an individual’s life. From birth to death, Freud argues that an individual’s id and superego are at odds with one another, always trying to be the dominating force; the ego tries to balance the two forces (Freud, 1989). Oftentimes, triads do not consciously emerge, but they tend to operate unconsciously (Freud, 1989). In consequence, this writing aims to see the thoughts and actions of Louise Mallard through Sigmund Freud’s id, ego, and superego.

In the first place, when Louise first reacted to the news of her husband’s death, she was in so much pain that it could be seen as the superego taking over. The superego is the part of the unconscious that tells an individual what is right and wrong in a given situation (Pennington & Cordell, 2013). When Louise heard the news of her husband’s death, she “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one to follow her” (paragraph 3). This quote shows the emotional tension that happened to Louise. At this point, Louise’s superego allowed her to act in a way that is expected from society, which is why she started crying. Moreover, Louise moved into her room only to mourn her husband’s death. As far as I’m concerned, it describes how regular people should react if our loved ones have left, even when we know the truth that Louise was just pretending. Both of these actions show the actions of Louise’s superego and their effect on her emotional well-being.

Furthermore, Freud’s theory of the id can be applied to the story when Louise had time to process information about her husband’s death, and she began to realize her freedom — the id began to dominate the superego that caused Louise to feel delighted and relieved. The id, Freud suggests, is the superego’s counterpart; it is moral-driven (Freud, 1989). The id constantly seeks gratification, regardless of what is morally correct (Pennington & Cordell, 2013). There is a scene when she looks out of the window but the description allows the reader to notice the shift from superego to id. As it was stated, “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares” (paragraph 5). Through this description, we can see that the connotations of “new spring life” and “delicious rainy breath” are some of the kinds of relief she gets due to she thinks she is free to express herself now. We realized that the real problem was her marriage — which made it impossible for her to live alone. With this, Chopin provides the reader with a clear picture of the inherent freedom she gained when she realized that she no longer had to spend her time with her husband anymore — she was no longer trapped in her oppressive marriage. Besides, “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window” (paragraph 6). The blue sky here refers to feelings of happiness and hope. All of this was Louise’s identity that had begun to reveal herself — slowly gaining power against the superego that caused her emotions to change drastically.

Apart from that, we can also see that his ego tries to balance the tension between id and superego. The ego, according to Freud, is the balance between the id and superego; it is their arbitrator. In other words, the ego is how an individual copes with their unconscious desires (Pennington & Cordell, 2013). The ego could be seen when Louise sat down and started thinking in her room. As stated, “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought” (paragraph 8). In this quote, Louise does not immediately think about her husband’s death, but she tries to think about the freedom she will get after knowing that her husband is no longer in her life.

To summarize, The Story of an Hour is about the struggle between a series of human souls and the harmful effects it has on a person’s emotional health. The id, ego, and superego all manifest themselves through Louise’s actions and thoughts revolving around the news of her husband’s death. The id can be seen as forcing the idea of freedom on Louise, while the superego can be seen forcing Louise’s idea of love. Trying to understand the two, the ego tries to balance the opposing nature of the id and the ego but ultimately fails. When applying Freudian psychoanalysis to Louise’s story, one can see how the triad of the human psyche interacts with one another to cause emotional tension.

REFERENCES

• Freud, Sigmund. (1989). The Ego and the Id. Ed. James Strachey. Trans. Joan Riviere. New York: Norton, 1989. Print.
• Pennington, John, and Ryan Cordell. (2013). Writing about Literature through Theory. Vol. 1. Flat World Knowledge. 1 Feb 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.