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Story Of An Hour Situational Irony Essay

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In the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husband’s death, which she initially feels sad about but later sees beyond the bitter moment and feels joyous and free instead. In the end, Mr. Brently Mallard surprisingly enters, alive and well, while Mrs Mallard dies of shock and “happiness”. During these events, the three types of irony ( situational, verbal and dramatic) are prevalent and demonstrated.. Firstly, the short story has many instances that display situational irony. For example, Mrs. Mallard is sorrowful once she finds out about her husband’s passing. This feeling of grief would normally be long-lasting, considering that “she had loved him -- sometimes”. Nevertheless, she undergoes …show more content…

Secondly, verbal irony is presented in the story although minimally. It is mentioned in the beginning that Mrs. Mallard is afflicted with a “heart trouble.” It is automatically assumed by the audience that the affliction is physical, and is solely related to her organ. Yet, as the story progresses, it can be seen that her “heart trouble” is not only physical, but also related to her mental well-being. The pun exemplifies that Mrs. Mallard is discontent with her life, and is exhausted of “powerful will[s] bending hers”. Her “heart trouble” is alleviated with her husband’s death, as she is finally able and ready to live with the freedom that she has been longing for. Lastly, several occurrences in the story suggests dramatic irony. When Mrs. Mallard is locked up in the room, Josephine implores admission and begins to worry about her as she will make herself ill. While Josephine begs her, the audience is conscious of Mrs. Mallard’s true feelings of happiness. Mrs. Mallard has seemingly become depressed and been mourning, and Josephine does not want to leave her alone. Ironically, it is divulged to the readers that Mrs. Mallard has long desired to be alone. To her, solitude does not connote being lonely, but rather being free and

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Mallard life, has been miserable and she felt as she was a slave of her own place she is living, the room is basically her life and identity. The news of her husband death was still roaming in her head; she went in her room alone to reflect the situation around her. She stands in front of an open window, staring at “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air.” Louise Mallard felt as this is the time where she felt like a whole new person someone who finally reborn and start all over again in life and that she has a promising future ahead of her as Choplin describe, “There were many 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” (Para 6).

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In addition irony is also used in these stories. In "The Story of an Hour" situational irony occurs. "When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: 'free, free, free! '" (527)

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The reader soon discovers, this feeling that comes to Mrs. Mallard is joy and relief, she feels this because she can now finally be her own person. Mrs. Mallard comes to the realization that her husband had been oppressing her for years, “There would be no powerful will bending..”, and she was finally free of that. Before the passing of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was scared of living a long life because of the treatment she received from him. After his passing she had a much different outlook, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This shows that Mrs. Mallard was excited to now live her own life without being told what she was to do.

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The irony used in “The Story of an Hour,” is dramatic irony. The dramatic irony in the story is the story's characters not knowing that Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble. This led to the unanticipated ending of her death from heart disease. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease.”

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He goes into her room alone and does not allow her sister, Josephine or her husband’s friend, Richard, to follow her into her room. Inside her room, there is a comfortable roomy armchair that stands to face the open window. Mrs Mallard occupies this chair overwhelmed by the state of her physical condition. This exhaustion seems to not only tire her body but also her soul. The view from the roomy armchair offers her sight to an open square showing the top of trees quivering with the new life brought by the spring season.

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Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Page 499).

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Irony is a literary device used to indicate that a character’s choice of actions or words bring a certain implication to the reader or audience but quite unknown to the characters themselves (Wellek & Warren, 1956). In the story, the aspect of irony had been expressed at the start of the story the narrator says, (...long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother…) This is an aspect of irony because when we analyze the story, we get to understand that both the mother and the daughter lived a similar life before she went to school and became educated (Edward, 1950). Also when she was a small child, she depended on her illiterate mother for everything without being shameful. It is also ironic because the same mother she feels ashamed of is the one who helped her go to a school that in the end helped her shift her class in the society.

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When Richard’s heard the news of her husband’s death, he assumed Mrs. Mallard would be devastated. While everyone knew Mrs. Mallard was “afflicted with heart trouble” (57), him and her sister, Josephine, wanted to give her the news with “great care” (57). Josephine broke the news to Mrs. Mallard in “broken sentences”

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‘Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill.’ said Louis”(Chopin). It is ironic that Josephine is so worried about Mrs. Mallard when in reality she is in her room dreaming of how her new life will be. The short story is rather entertaining because you have to think past what the author writes, and create for yourself your own depiction of what the meaning is.

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Further, situational irony is present through the reaction that Louise Mallard has after learning about her husband’s death. Upon first learning of her husband’s death she is very devastated and distraught. As soon as she is alone in the bathroom however, it is clear to the readers she is not as upset. In fact she is slightly relieved in that “she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (235).

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