In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, one of the greatest events of irony unfolds within a single hour. Mrs.Mallard (the main character) is unaware of her husband’s death due to her heart troubles. Her sister and her husband’s friend gently brake the news to her without her becoming sick, and she rushes to a nearby room to grieve alone. Her sister worries she will become sick, but Mrs.Mallard experiences her first taste of freedom because she is no longer held by the chains of marriage. When Mrs.Mallard finally opens the room door, the apartment door opens and Mr.Mallard walks in causing Mrs.Mallard to die from shock. Even though this all takes place in an hour, three main examples of irony take place in the story. These main …show more content…
Immediately after she was made aware of the tragic death, she felt the normal emotions that are associated with grief. After the initial shock wore off, Mrs.Mallard began to think of what her life will be like soon, without her husband. During the time she spent thinking, she realized she would no longer be tied down by the bond of marriage. Mrs.Mallard began to feel relief and joy after she realized she would be free once again. She can relax, have fun, and enjoy life now that she is freed from the responsibilities of marriage. This is a form of irony because she feels emotions many people don’t feel after the death of a loved one and because as the reader will learn, Mr.Mallard isn’t …show more content…
After Mr.Mallard walks into the room, where he is visible to everyone in the apartment, Mrs.Mallard drops dead. The sudden change from her husband being dead, to him walking into the room alive without warning, had caused her heart troubles to fall over the edge. When the doctor examined her, he concluded she died of a heart attack that was triggered by the events that happened in the short span of an hour. The last line of the story ends with the doctor saying “the joy that kills”. This is considered irony because Mrs.Mallard died from her husband being alive instead of her husband being dead. Her sister, and the reader, were under the impression Mrs.Mallard was clear and would not experience any heart trouble because she felt
She learns of her husband’s death in an accident and falsely finds a renewed joy for life as she is free from the burden of marriage. Tragically she goes to the front door as it is being opened with a key, to find Mr. Mallard still alive, causing her to die of heart
In the beginning Mrs. Mallard finds out about her husband’s death, weeps over it, and isolates to her room to mourn. In her room she realizes she is finally a free woman and gets this overbearing feeling of joy. At the end of the story she realizes the story was false and her husband is alive. She ends up dying of “joy that kills”, and leaves her husband
The surprise endings makes the works compelling and exciting to read. “The Story of an Hour” uses both dramatic and situational irony. The dramatic irony comes at the end of the story. The characters believe that Mrs. Mallard died of “joy that kills,” but the reader knows differently (168). The reader is able to understand that Mrs. Mallard felt free of her husband when she thought he was dead because the narrator took the reader inside of Mrs. Mallard’s room.
Once Mrs. Mallard had come to terms with her husband’s death, she was ready to start her new life. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (2). Her marriage with her husband, Brently, was something that was always holding her back. So, now there was a new found hope and opportunities for her now that she could see the world in a different perspective. That new perspective is the freedom.
Literary Analysis “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to the sudden death of her husband. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as sad, yet happy that her husband has been killed. Kate Chopin’s “ The Story of an Hour” argues that when a person is controlled and made to live under another person their mental state of mind is affected. The story also argues that when that person is freed from the controlling person their true self can finally be achieved. Kate Chopin portrays these themes by the use of character development; plot control, and irony throughout the story.
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.
“The face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But 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.” This moment in “The Story of an Hour,” is relatable to Kate Chopin's own life. Though Kate loved her husband dearly, she was restricted from a lot of the things she wanted to pursue.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” readers are dropped into a deep conflict. A man must tell a woman that her husband is dead. In the beginning there is a subtle hint at the ironic twist ending, but the story goes on cooly in spite of it. Readers start to feel connected to Mrs. Mallard and begins to pity her situation, all because of irony. The effect of irony in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” enhances the protagonist’s situation, it introduces the effect of the foreshadowing, and indirectly characterizes the protagonist.
“The Story of an Hour” is a great short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. This story is full of ups, downs, and surprises that keep the reader on the edge of their seat. Chopin begins the story by introducing the main character Mrs. Mallard, who upon learning that her husband has been killed in a tragic railroad accident does not respond the way the reader anticipates. Instead of trying to process what has happened, or even denying it, Mrs. Mallard immediately begins crying hysterically. After a few minutes she decides that she needs to be alone.
Family and friends are an important part of life. In the case of Mrs. Mallard she saw her husband as more of someone that holds power over her In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, the story Mrs. Mallard has to deal with her husband allegedly dying, just to figure out at the end of the story that nothing happened to him and he is still alive. The use of Irony is really what makes this story great. Irony enhances the total effect of Kate Chopin 's "The Story of an Hour" by characterizing the protagonist, supporting the exposition and timeline, and building tension leading to the twist ending.
" she kept whispering. The diction that is being used by Mrs.Mallard shows how she is actually feeling about the death of her husband. Mrs. Mallard feels as if she will be free now, freer than she was before since her husband’s death. This provides evidence of male dominance in a patriarchy through diction by Mrs.Mallard stating that she is ready to start a new life right after her husband passes away and the fact she states her body and soul are
Every person has the right to be and feel free. They have the right to be independent and live happily. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences a revelation about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive.
The Short Story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin explores the emotions of Louise Mallard a woman with a heart disease. In the hour that the story is told, it ranges from showing Mrs. Mallard different reactions to learning of her husbands death to him surprisingly showing up alive and eventually her untimely death from a heart disease. Although only a brief period of time is shown, many emotions are revealed through the third person omniscient point of view. This point of view shows more than just the protagonists thoughts and is not limited to one person. It allows the readers to know something about Mrs. Mallard that she does not as the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already died.
The Contrast of The Story of an Hour While Mrs. Mallard is just starting a new life, so to say, for herself, her life she has known comes to an end. She is just able to become “free, free, free!” (57) when she loses her life. Kate Chopin uses contrast with the news Richard’s gave, the way Mrs. Mallard felt in the room and the doctor’s news to show how women perceived marriage in the 19th century in her story The Story of an Hour.
In the beginning of the story, she heard the news of her husband’s death in train accident from her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend, Richard. She was shocked by the news and showed sad feelings in the story. However, when I was reading through the story, I could infer that Mallard had a terrible marriage life with her husband because the story later said that Mallard was happy because she had freedom. In the beginning of the story, she was shocked and sad but later on, she was happy because of in dependence. These evidences prove that she is a dynamic character.