Character Analysis of Mrs. Mallard in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” explores a woman’s unexpected reaction to her husband’s assumed death and reappearance, but actually Chopin offers Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to reveal problems that are built-in to the marriage. By offering this depiction of a marriage that confuses the woman to the point that she celebrates the death of her kind and loving husband, Chopin challenges her readers to look at their own views of marriage and relationships between men and women. Each readers judgment of Mrs. Mallard a