Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
Introduction
Story of an Hour refers to a short story by Kate Chopin. In this short story, the author aims at revealing her skills by showing the exquisite control that she has over styles and themes. The short story revolves around Mrs. Louise Mallard. She receives news that her husband has been involved in a train accident and died. She opts to mourn the husband privately in the bedroom. While mourning the death of the husband, she had mixed emotions.
She is happy because the death of the husband means that she now has soul and body freedom. However, the husband who is supposedly dead appears and this shocks her leading to her death. The idea brought out in this story is that life has ironies that are caused by terror, unclear expectations, pompous superiority and misconstruction. The question of marriage as an institution is also brought up by this story. The story has a great deal of writing techniques and themes.
This essay aims at analyzing the use of verbal, dramatic and situational irony by the author in developing this story. This story uses an ironical tone.
Plot Summary
Mr. Mallard’s death news starts the story. Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition. Therefore, Richard and Josephine look for an appropriate way of delivering the news without worsening her condition. On receiving the news, she goes into her bedroom where she locks herself in and starts mourning the dead husband. Her emotions are mixed as she mourns the husband in the bedroom. She accepts that the husband is dead that that she should let his memories leave her despite being sad. All over sudden, she is engulfed by a sense of freedom. This is the first time in life that her soul and body feel liberated. She is expecting that the days that lie ahead will be great. While still in epiphany, her sister Josephine asks her to unlock the door. She finally hears her plea and opens the door then she start walking towards them with a new resolution. However, Mr. Mallard, the husband who is supposedly dead enters the house. Although Richard tries to bar her so that she does not see him, she sees him and this shocks her after which she dies.
Body Paragraph
The author uses irony in several instances in this story. Irony occurs when the used words express something that is not what they are used to express. Thus, the words express something different from their right connotation. In this story, Kate Chopin employs different types of irony. These are verbal irony, dramatic irony and situational irony.
For instance, the author employs situational irony when revealing to the audience that things do not happen the way they always expect them to. This irony is used in the situation where Mrs. Mallard gets the news of the death of her husband. The news causes her bitterness and agony and this is what it seemed to everybody and it was expected. However, when mourning in her room, the reader learns that Mrs. Mallard is actually relieved rather than sad. Josephine thinks that she is sad and she begs her to unlock the door because she thinks that she might hurt herself. This is not what happens since what Mrs. Mallard does is contrary to the expectation of everyone. She feels relieved and independent rather than remorseful.
The author uses dramatic irony in revealing to the reader what the characters within the story are not aware of. For instance, Chopin uses dramatic irony to show that instead of bringing agony, the death of Mr. Mallard brings freedom to his wife. Mrs. Mallard realizes that marital rules no longer bind her and therefore she can do anything she pleases. Nobody knows this but the readers. Other characters in this story think that the loss of the husband depressed and saddened her.
Verbal irony works as one of the figures of speech. It is expressed when one says something opposite to what they mean. The Story of Hour, which is the title of this short story, is a form of verbal irony. The way an hour is used in this story appears like it is a lifetime. Mrs. Mallard who is one of the main characters in the story experienced mixed emotions within that hour. She is sad, grief, relieved, hopeful and happy. The reader observes many occurrences in a period of one hour.
Conclusion
Although it is a short story, this story by Kate Chopin depicts irony in different forms. These include dramatic, verbal and situational irony. This story by Kate Chopin appears to be parallel to the kind of life that she had. The title of this story, Story of an Hour, shows how she underwent an experience which had mixed feelings majority of which brought her suffering.
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Reference
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/