The Story Of An Hour
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Sometimes situations in life can so oddly come together that it is almost humorous. Irony is what spices up a story and can cause the reader to change his or her thinking on many aspects of the story. Irony is seen all throughout “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin.
In the first line of the story, it is stated that Mrs. Mallard is a woman with heart trouble. The author specifically mentions the precautions taken when Mrs. Mallard was being informed of her husbands death so that it would not affect her heart. After the news is broken to Mrs. Mallard, situational irony is seen by her reaction to everything she has just taken in. She was so delighted by the news that her husband was dead that she saw herself as completely healthy and more alive than she had ever been in life. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” In all actuality, Mrs. Mallard was weak and did not posses the strength she felt she had. The news she heard gave her the spirit of a healthy, young lady with days and days of freedom from her husband in her future. “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her.” Cosmic irony also comes into the story as she dies in the end despite her new hope of living a long life as opposed to her previews hopes of life ending soon. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.”
Kate Chopin builds “The Story of an Hour” entirely around irony. She way she pays special attention to the wording of the main character and how the story plays itself out. This tactic results in an increase in ironic tone of the story.