Irony in Story of an hour

Irony is linguistic apparel often used by the poets and authors in their poems, drama, novel and literary writings of their own to focus on deriving an abstract outcome of the actual event which has happened. It is a useful device for providing stories some unforeseen entwine and turn. Irony is of many types of which the dramatic irony and situational irony are of quite relevance in the contemporary and traditional writings. In the following essay, the use of irony has been done by Kate Chopin in his text “The Story of an Hour” to show that how irony has been used to describe the unhappy marriage during the time and also how joys regarding freedom prevailed by keeping them quiet.

In the “The Story of an Hour”, there have been many moments when the author Chopin has been using the irony and it has been quite prevalent from the very first notion like “assure himself of its truth by a second telegram”. Through the following line it is clearer there is a second thought about Mrs Mallard’s husband’s death. When the reader acknowledges of the fact that Mr Mallard has been dead, from the sentence it turns into a believer. But eventually the readers are acquainted that Mr Mallard had never died. It can be identified that a situation irony is that which is basically used to show the audience sometimes which is expected does not happen in reality. There has also been use of the situational irony in the reaction of Mrs Mallard about her husband’s death as well as the description of her adjoining background. Death has been represented ironically in the surrounding settings to be full of warmth and friendliness in nature.

In the “The Story of an Hour”, there has been also use of the dramatic irony and this is represented through Mrs Mallard’s realization after her husband’s death. She is implicated to be free from her husband’s captivity as well as in the later part with her own death. Moreover the implications of both dramatic and situation irony has been generated through Josephine’s reaction. Josephine shows her worry about Mrs Mallard locking herself in the room will make her ill; but on other hand, she also contemplates about Mrs Mallard’s life to be wonderful after her husband’s death who was oppressive in their conjugal life. Another important dramatic irony has been used by Chopin through Mrs Mallard’s dying of shock after seeing her husband alive and this depicts that she is nothing near to think her life full of joy as it has been presumed.

Adding more to the context of ironical literature in “The Story of an Hour”, it can be interpreted that there has been use of other types of irony like central irony. One central irony which has been observed throughout the short story is that Mrs Mallard is portrayed as a woman who always feels the anxiety of being a subjugated wife. Due to this approach in her married life, she has been grown old in an early age. Moreover, the use of verbal irony has also been used in the short story like the last statement by the doctor about Mrs Mallard’s death that she has died of “heart disease of joy”. This depicts that a person is trying to say something which is totally reverse of his way of understanding or interrelating to the audience.

From the overall analysis of the essay, it can be depicted that the use of irony in “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin has been extremely vigorous to make the readers more intricating to the main theme of the short story that is the married life of an oppressed woman in the contemporary society.

Works Cited

James, B; Griffin, J. “The Story Teller: Short Stories from Around the World.” Nelson, Canada, 1992.