Before this point, it feels that Louise is actually mourning the death of her husband: "She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat..." (p. 259)
The author has indeed tried to give away Louise's Id even before this point of revelation but full blown discovery is made when Louise finally allows herself to rejoice her freedom. As shocking as it might have been for some to accept in the 19th century, the truth is that many women actually feel stifled in their married lives. It is not that their husbands are cruel or bad in any sense but the mere fact that women cannot live a life of their own is what makes many women feel imprisoned. Every individual has his or her own dreams. They want to be able to pursue those dreams but most women fail to achieve them because of numerous responsibilities. That's when like every human being they too feel trapped. That's exactly what Mrs. Mallard is going through.
In the privacy of her room, she allows readers to get inside her head and see her dreams through her eyes. It is here that she exposes her Id for us to see and understand Louise as a person and not just as a married woman. Her sister begs her to open the door because she thinks Louise must be crying and she is certainly concerned. But inside the room, it's a completely different scene. Louise is not making herself sick as she tells Josephine but instead, "she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window." (p. 261) She was dreaming of the completely free life that lied ahead of her: "How fancy was running riot along those days ahead...
Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." (p. 261)
Now she suddenly wanted life to be very long. She wanted to enjoy every single second of it. She was no longer afraid of living. Louise had finally got a chance to pursue her dreams and she didn't want a life cut short by death. It is amazing how one hour had changed her perspective on life completely.
Her joy was however short-lived. It went away as quickly as it had arrived. While lost in her dreams, she decides to go downstairs to meet the people who had gathered to offer consolation. Louise was still flying on cloud nine when the door opened and in came Mr. Mallard who had apparently never been in an accident. It was a horrifying "back to reality" moment for Louise as she could see all her dreams of a new life flying out of the window- for good. It was too much to bear for her and before anyone could do anything, Louise had collapsed. "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease -of joy that kills." (p. 261)
The psychological analysis appealed to me because it can be tested with everyday observation. As we observe people we often learn that they are not what they seem. This is in tandem with Freud's view that self is composed to three parts and just looking at the tip of the iceberg could never reveal the whole personality.
REFERENCE
Kate Chopin, the Awakening, and Other Stories, ed. Pamela Knights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)
