English 1302 Essay: Round vs. Flat Characters in Kate Chopin's Stories

This essay provides a character analysis of the women in Kate Chopin's short stories, focusing on whether they are round/dynamic or flat/static. The essay examines three key characters: Mrs. Louise Mallard from "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Calixta from "The Storm," and Mrs. Baroda from "A Respectable Woman." Mrs. Mallard is analyzed as a round and dynamic character who undergoes significant emotional changes upon learning of her husband's death, while Calixta and Mrs. Baroda are presented as flat and dynamic characters. The essay uses textual evidence to support these arguments, highlighting the characters' traits and how they challenge societal stereotypes. The analysis considers the authors depiction of the women, and how they evolve throughout the stories. Ultimately, the essay argues that Chopin empowers women by providing diverse and complex characterizations.

Running head: ENGLISH
English
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH
The character, in literature, is defined as a representation of an individual being presented
in either a dramatic or a narrative work with the help of an extended or verbal representation.
The character that changes during the course of a story is known as a dynamic character. The
character that demonstrates one or two personality traits is called flat characters. A static
character is one that faces the same challenges but mainly remains unchanged. On the contrary,
Round character signifies characters that are well-developed, closely involved in responsive to
the action (Ehn Kao). In this essay, the characters of women in the novel of the well-known
stories of Kate Chopin will be performed. The three chief characters to be discussed here
includes Mrs Louise Mallard from the story “The story of an hour”,
Mrs Mallard can be considered as a round character since she has been described more in
the story compared to other major characters. For instance, while describing her, the author has
written "she was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain
strength”. Mallard’s character has also been demonstrated as dynamic in the story. The character
has gone through several changes in trait throughout the story. When her sister, Josephine told
Mallard about the death of her husband, she went through a good number of emotions. Initially,
she was sad. The author has demonstrated this by the lines, "she wept at once, with sudden, wild
abandonment, in her sister's arms". While initially, the character was repressed as well as bottled
up, after hearing the death of her Husband, Louis was found to unlock herself. A feeling of being
unburdened as well as free from oppression was seen within Louis. During the era of the 1890s,
times were controversial for women and according to a good number of researchers, Chopin,
through this character has reflected upon her personal life.
Another mention-worthy female character of the story, ‘the storm is Calixta. Unlike the
character of Mrs Mallard, her character is flat and dynamic. The story has portrayed Calixta who

2ENGLISH
is a wife and mother, bear the pain of unhappiness and restlessness due to her marriage. She had
committed adultery by fulfilling her sexual desires with another man and does not possess any
guilt feelings for the same. The flat character of calixta has been beautifully demonstrated. For
instance, for describing her, the author has uses lines like " her blue eyes retaining their melting
quality and her yellow hair dishevelled by the wind and rain, kinked more stubbornly than ever
about her years and temples.” This description of her helps the audience to paint a picture of
Calixta and assess what she looks like at that point of time. She demonstrated high anxiety and
calmness at the same time. Even as Alcee enters the home and sits, Calixta is trying to occupy
herself and not focus on Alcee to avoid the awkwardness, “Alcee flung himself into the rocker
and Calixta nervously began to gather up from the floor the lengths of a cotton sheet which she
had been sewing”. The author initially portrayed her as a typical housewife as she was sewing as
well as tending to Bobinot and Bibi’s clothes. The character demonstrated dynamic nature since
it goes from being a caring mother and wife to the extent of cheating over her husband.
According to the researcher, the character of Calixta acted as a protagonist since she is the chief
character of the story (Wilson). The nature of her character is flat since the majority of the
information is about her beauty and her surroundings. The audiences lack information about the
personality as well as other traits of Calixta.
Another major female character that has been analyzing in this paragraph is the character
of Mrs Baroda from Chopin’s short story ‘Respectable women’. Her character, like that of Mrs
Calixta is found to be flat and dynamic (Ruiz and Rosa). Her character is considered flat since
not a lot of information about her has been provided by the author. Nothing mention worthy has
been said about her physical aspects apart from the fact that she communicates with Gouvernail
wearing a "white gown" and she possesses a "pretty face". The dynamic nature of her character is

3ENGLISH
highly understandable (Drewery). In the initial portion of the story she has been shown as
pretentious as well as affected and as an individual who is really bothered by the prospects of
entertaining yet another guest while desiring to spend time alone with her husband. For instance,
the unrestful nature of her has rightly been demonstrated by the author with the help of the lines,
“She was looking forward to a period of unbroken rest, now, and undisturbed tête-a-tête with her
husband...”
Because Ms Baroda is the protagonist since she is the chief character of the story. Their
action and attitude in history can also prove it. For example, with her chatted desire to make him
feel at home ...... ' she spoke with Gouvernail. She also takes a dynamic role in addition to her
characterisation. From the start of the story, she gets a change from her dislike of being "... she
didn't like him," then she likes him ' ..she liked him more ’All these changes are clearly
described by the author so the reader knows how the character evolves visibly in the story.
From the above discussion, it can be clearly understood that Kate Chopin has provided a
unique characteristic to the women of her stories. Majority of the central character of her stories
are dynamic and possess several traits in their character. Thus it can be said that through her
writing, Chopin has definitely tried to empower women by providing numerous shades in their
character and going against the stereotypes of the society.

4ENGLISH
Reference List
Álvarez, Ehn Kao. "Leaving One’s Room: A Feminist Analysis of Kate Chopin’s Story of an
Hour-Abandonando el cuarto propio: Un Análisis feminista de La Historia de una Hora
de Kate Chopin." Revista Imago 10 (2016): 76-85.
Drewery, Claire. Modernist Short Fiction by Women: The Liminal in Katherine Mansfield,
Dorothy Richardson, May Sinclair and Virginia Woolf. Routledge, 2016.
Ruiz, Roldán, and Ana Rosa. "The Development of the Feminist Self and the Quest for Identity
in The Awakening and “The Storm." (2018).
Wilson, Robert Clifford McNair. "A Comparative Analysis of the Motives behind the Female
Suicides in" King Lear" by William Shakespeare and" The Awakening" by Kate
Chopin." (2016).