Story Of An Hour Situational Irony Essay

The Story of an Hour Essay

In the story, “The story of an Hour” there are many types of irony, but there were two types that stood out the most throughout the whole story. That is situational irony and dramatic irony. Situational irony is when something happens that you don’t expect to happen. For example, if someone meows in the middle of class, you wouldn’t expect them to do that but you would expect them to be quiet. Dramatic irony is different, it is where you know something that a character in a book, show, movie, or story doesn’t. Like, when you are watching a scary movie and you know that there is someone in the closet while that character doesn’t know there is someone in the closet, you know something they do not. That is dramatic irony.

There are many throughout this story but I will only be talking about three of them. In paragraph 11 it states, “She said it over and over under her breathe: ‘free, free, free!’” (Chopin “The Story”). This was situational Irony because it is something that she did that you wouldn’t expect. One of the questions I asked myself while reading this sentence in this story is, “Why would she feel free if her husband just died?” Another reference to situational irony is in paragraph 13, where it says, “And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (Chopin “The Story”). This also is situational irony because if you think about it, it is a metaphor saying she is happy and excited with him being gone. You would never think that someone who just lost someone else close to them would be happy that they are gone. My final reference towards situational irony is in paragraph 20 where it indicates, “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (Chopin “The Story”). This last piece is also an example of situational irony because it shows she feels like she is winning after he dies but why would she feel like she has victory over someone’s