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Irony in The Story of an Hour


            "The Story of An Hour" is full of ironic twists and situations. For example, She leaves to her room by her self, and while everyone else believes she is mourning she is actually experiencing a revelation of freedom. Another example would be the weather, which is bright, warm, and beautiful, contrasting the situation of her husbands death and the grief most people would be experiencing in her situation. The story tells of Mrs. Mallard's heart trouble in the beginning, yet it doesn"t linger with the readers as they move on in the story. This story contains three types of irony: Situational, cosmic, and dramatic.
             The example of situational irony in this story is how she believes her husband has died although he actually has not. She has all these ideas of freedom and liberation of her wifely status. Her husband is dead. Although he had been a kind man, who had loved her, she sees his death as a gift. "And yet she had loved him - sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count in the face of possession and assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being?!"(394). She never comes to live the life she had been dreaming of. All the plans she had made during this minute amount of time are taken from her when her husband walks through the door.
             The cosmic irony of the story lies in the simple misfortune of the situation. When Mrs. Mallard's husband dies, she can see the rest of her life improving. She looks forward to a better life where she is in control. It seems as if there is some twist of fate involved in his death, while the actual outcome is hers. The story foreshadows her death in stating." It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder life might be long" (395). She finally finds something to live for and dies when it is taken from her.
             Everyone believes that Mrs. Mallard is grieving although quite the opposite is happening behind closed doors.


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