Irony In The Story Of An Hour

The idea of marriage, matrimony; in American society is normally viewed with having its positive benefits. Living with your soul mate for the rest of eternity should be the ideal couple’s dream, assurance of financial stability, promise to loyalty, and an oath sworn over the bible to love one another through darkness and light. However, marriage can also can feel more like confinement and pressure to obligate to the stereotypic roles played in a traditional relationship, especially for the woman. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, the author’s use of literary techniques creates an effective and intuitive approach on how oppressive one’s marriage can be. In just the short span of an hour in the life of Mrs. Mallard, a married woman with
a weak heart, goes through a variety of emotions after believing that her husband has just died and fantasizes about a whole new life of freedom for herself.
The literary device of imagery used in “The story of an Hour”, is prominent throughout the story. The first thing the audience is told about Mrs. Mallard is that she is “afflicted with a heart trouble”. (Chopin 278) Hearts are symbolic in American society for love, and the fact that she already has a weak heart coincides with her depressive marriage with Mr.Mallard. The descriptive imagery INSERT HERE When she is told about her husband’s death, she grieves and weeps, and immediately retreats to her room and locks the door. However, once in there, she goes to the open window and notices “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with new spring life” this imagery helps the audience sense that Mrs.Mallard is taking a new approach on her husband’s death, the transition from winter to spring, of new life symbolizes her new life as a single woman to be. (Chopin 278). The change of tone automatically uplifts the mood of the story as if Mrs. Mallard were beginning to notice the simple things of life. The imagery used sets a tone that begins to reflect “a fresh start” when Mrs. Mallard starts to have a melancholy calmness looking outside the window. She notices “the notes of a distant song which someone was singing” and “countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves” (Chopin 278). This strong descriptive imagery is used to appeal to the sight and sound senses which explain Mrs.Mallards emotions. Her noticing the birds chirping could also mean that birds were a sign of freedom, the common saying “free as a bird” coincided with what Mrs. Mallard was oppressed of, freedom. This is when Mrs. Mallard’s grieving turns into a frantic realization of her soon to be independent new beginning. She is no longer an oppressed wife, but a free woman.
The literary device of repetition of freedom used throughout the story highlights just how confined Mrs.Mallard must have felt being married. Chopin argues in her story that Mrs.Mallard discovers her self identity only after being “mentally-freed” from her marriage’s confinement. She chants “free, free, free!” She begins to realize that her marriage is over now that her husband is dead. At first, Mrs. Mallard does not want to accept this feeling of happiness that is beginning to captivate her, “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will”(Chopin 278). This figurative “thing” that was coming to her was freedom and joy. She soon stopped grieving and became frantic with joyfulness of her husband’s death. “And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 279). Her relationship with her husband must have been rocky for a long period of time to the point where she barely had love for him anymore. Mrs.Mallard was more out of love with Mr.Mallard than in love with him. When she realized of her new life that she would soon bestow upon, it brought her feelings that she had never experienced or hadn’t experienced for an elongated amount of time. She shouted “free! Body and soul free!” She was more infatuated with the thought of bring free, than with her own husband’s death. The thoughts of her fresh start, brought back something as immense as her yearning to live again in happiness.
Chopin’s use of irony brings the whole story together.
Mrs. Mallard sudden change of heart is ironic because it was suddenly snatched away by something as everlasting and serious as death, but yet her grieving stopped almost as quickly as it started. The author coincides Mrs. Mallard’s death with her husbands “supposed” death. She does this to ironically elucidate the fact that after the one time Mrs.Mallard was finally free again, and could have unaffected glee that her confining marriage had ripped away from her, her freedom was short lived as it was devoured by death of her own. “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her…..all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 279) This short amount of time before Mrs. Mallard’s death seems to be the only time in Mrs. Mallard’s marriage that she truly seems to feel unrestricted and independent, when she finds out that her husband is dead. The author creates this ironic truth to explain that, before Mrs.Mallard’s heartbreaking death, she never felt like a person who was free to make her own choices, and do what she wanted to do because of the stereotypical role expected of being a wife. Her sense of independence and self-worth became lost in her marriage and ultimately became responsible for her
death.
In conclusion, Chopin uses several literary devices to create and illustrate an effective story. In the end Mrs. Mallard dies. However, the doctors say that she did not die from heart trouble, but from “the joy that kills.” It was ironic, that it was not the joy of seeing her husband alive, but her recognition that the joy she felt is the short span of an hour would be her only hour of true happiness. Her happiness killed her. Chopin integrates repetition, imagery, and irony to put an unforeseen twist on marriage and death to firmly substantiate what happens when a woman is oppressed of her happiness and freedom.