Story Of An Hour Irony Essay

Situational irony is used in "The Story of an Hour" through Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death and the description of the settings around her at this time. Upon

I chose to do my analysis on the short story, “The Story Of An Hour”. The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters’ arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband’s death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words “free” and her heart

The Story of an Hour takes place in the beginning of spring, and that plays a very important role in symbolizing the renewal of life. When one thinks about Spring they imagine flowers blooming, leaves reappearing, and the animals coming out of their dens. Spring is when all the flowers, plants, and trees come back to life after staying dead in the cold and harsh winter. The winter symbolizes Mrs. Mallards life before her husband “died”. It was very cold and dull no flowers to bring out the color and joy in life. Then, when she heard the news winter was finally over and her Spring was finally starting. She began to feel like she was coming back to life. She felt as if there was an explosion of joy that had suddenly come into her

The characterization shows irony from the very start when Josephine and Richards are there to tell Mrs. Mallard news about her husband but are careful to do so because of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition. They assume that she is happily married and that this news will sadden her, so they try to hide and vaguely tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband is dead. At first there are tears that come from Mrs. Mallard, which most of us assume are sad tears, and not tears of joy. Mrs. Mallard goes up to her room away from everyone else and starts to feel something inside of her – joy. Josephine (Mrs. Mallard’s sister) comes up to the room and tells Mrs. Mallard not to make herself ill, but the matter of

In the story, the label that Chopin gives to Mrs. Mallard’s problem is “heart trouble’ which involves both physical and emotional factors. Similarly, I think it’s very ironic for the writer to use the phrase “joy that kills” in the last sentence of the story because it is actual joy that Mrs. Mallard feels when she realizes her husband is dead, and pain so great that kills her when she sees her husband walking through the door. However, other characters are unaware of the transformation that has occurred in Mrs. Mallard. The dramatic irony in the end is that Louise doesn’t die because of joy as the doctor claims but actually because of loss of joy. Her husband’s death gives her a glimpse of new life and when that new life is swiftly taken away, the shock and disappointment kills her. Therefore, the main character, Mrs. Mallard

Irony used in “The story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin is dramatic irony. All characters in the story believe that the cause of Mrs. Mallard’s death is “joy” of seeing her husband, whom she was told he is killed by railroad accident. However, it is not true, but actually she is died from shock and disappointment.

Following her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard decided to start visualizing all the possible new outcomes that would come. Correspondingly, Chopin emphasizes her theme by setting the story on a specific season. When the author states, “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air…” She tries to portrait the atmosphere with a positive ambient. In the story, spring clearly represents a fresh life with new hopes for the future. Hence, the use of symbolism offers a different representation to develop the theme of the

“Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” (Chopin 476) Consequently, this is also the first introduction of irony as it pertains to the allegoric meaning of death. The narrator use of an omniscient third person denotes descriptive details of Mrs. Mallard’s heart as a trouble heart not as a heart problems associated/cause of death. The unfortunate news of her husband’s death awakens Mrs. Mallard’s hidden inner conflict within herself and towards her marriage. This hour of reflection takes place in a comfortable roomy armchair facing a window. The window represent an opening into her soul and the scenic view symbolizes new spring life. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of tree that were all aquiver with new spring life.” (Chopin 476) Her view of this new life does not come in the form of a reflection but rather a rationalized thought. A thought of truth about the life she had lost at a young age stolen by the bonds of matrimony. The presence of this truth was fearful and met with much resistance. When Mrs. Mallard relinquished herself from the inner conflicts that had held her in such bondage her fear turned to joy. This act of submission changed everything about her from her countenance, strength, body and soul. “When she abandon herself a

First of all, the story begins with stating that the main character, Mrs. Mallard, struggles with heart issues. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin). Her husband’s friend and her sister notice the issue she has, making them extremely cautious. Because of her health, they present the news of her husband’s passing very carefully. In

Situational irony, when the effect is opposite than what is intended, or in other words, the outcome is contrary to what is expected. When Madame Loisel is picking out the necklace because she is afraid of looking poor, what she does not know is Mme. Forestiers necklace is fake. Maybe for the same reason, she wishes to look wealthier than she actually is. She has always looked at her friend as rich; so she never questions the necklaces authenticity. “What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels? Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!” This quote shows how the couple starts to question the outcome they never expected. Another case of irony is how beautiful she had been that night wearing the necklace and years before, but after a night of guilty pleasure she has to work to repay for the necklace, and after working for so long she lost her beauty. Irony in the story is that after working for so long, the old life she had dreaded for so long, now seems to be luxurious. These events lead her into very minimal change in her life. She only has a slightly more abundant adoration for the life she used to live, and craves wealth less.

Mrs. Mallard began to feel joy toward her husband’s death because “she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her” (13). Josephine begins to worry about her sister being locked in her room telling her she was going to “make herself ill” (16). Mrs. Mallard decides to open the door and heads out, but tries her best to not show how she truly felt about her husband’s death. Unexpectedly, someone was at the door and it was her husband, Brently Mallard. She fell when she saw her husband alive, and when the doctor came to check on her it was too late. The cause of Mrs. Mallard death was death “of heart disease of joy that kills” (22). The cause of her death shows how individuals are unaware of how other truly feel. Mr. Mallard died of joy because her husband had died and not because her husband was back home alive.

The author describes the intricacy of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is disheartened yet glad of her husband’s death. She seems to take her husband’s death pretty hard as “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin par. 3) Then she storms off to her room, wanting to be alone – realizing that “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence . . .” (Chopin par. 14). This illustrates that Mrs. Mallard had been devoid of emotion to the point that, perhaps, she has even wondered if life is worth living. Her emotional void could be the result of her tyrant husband, who had, up until that point, overpowered and silenced her will. The fact that she was unable to experience life for herself resulted in her craving desire for freedom. This contributed to Mrs. Mallard’s overwhelming enjoyment of her newfound liberty as

The second short story that uses irony in such a magnificent way is The Necklace. Maupassant creates such great irony through Matilde. Most certainly the main irony in this story is when Matilda losses the diamond necklace on the way back home from the party. Once she discovers that the necklace she had borrowed is gone, she spends the next 10 years paying off an expensive replacement. Finally, she meets her friend, Mrs. Forestier, of which she borrowed the necklace and she explains to Matilda that the necklace that she borrowed for the party that night was merely a fake, it was only costume jewellery.

The symbols of Story of an Hour link the protagonist with the pressures of her time period. This short story, published in 1894, written by Kate Chopin features a main character named Louise Mallard. Throughout the story, which takes place over the course of a single hour, Mrs. Mallard's weak heart along with her death symbolize the societal pressures of the time period, and depict the life of a 19th century woman.

The first form of irony is quite dramatic in the way Mrs. Mallard reacts upon hearing of her husband’s death. -- “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance”. Given her demeanor before she retreats to her room one would have never guessed that her outburst of dismay would turn into that of overwhelming joy. We can see her revel in her unexpected freedom as she sits in her armchair and gazes through the window. The big roomy armchair resembles a throne and gives Mrs. Mallard the resemblance of a queen who had just won a war against her tyrannical husband. -- “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and woman believe they have