Story Of An Hour Irony Analysis

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“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about a woman named Mrs. Louise Mallard who just receives news that her husband had died in a terrible train accident. The story goes on to reveal her ambiguous feelings about her husband and marriage. Just as she finally accepts the fact that her husband is really gone and starts to look ahead as to what the future holds, she dies. Throughout the story, many instances of irony are shown in various forms. Dramatic irony is shown when Mrs. Mallard's sister Josephine is begging her to come out of her room so she doesn't make herself ill with grief. Dramatic irony is also chosen when the doctor claims that heart disease was the cause of Mrs. Mallard's death. Another type of irony shown in the story is situational irony. This was exemplified with Mrs.Mallard's reaction towards hearing the news of her husband's death. These examples of irony all come together to reinforce the overall theme that others’ perception of marriage does not always align with the reality of how things …show more content…

Mallard death, and the doctor comes to determine the cause of her death and concludes that Mrs.Mallard “died of heart disease-the joy that kills”(chopin 3). This is ironic because of the outsider, in this case, the doctor thinks she died of the happiness of seeing her that husband wasn't really died. During that time period, it was automatically assumed that women should be simply happy and in love with their marriage. The reader knows that Mrs.mallard marriage was everything but simple. Although her husband didn't mistreat her and “she had loved him--sometimes” but even with that she felt that in the marriage she was losing her self-assertion. And that's what made their marriage so complicated because things seemed good to the outsiders but it wasn't until Mr.mallard supposed death that caused her realize that she wasn't as happy in her marriage as both she and the outsiders

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