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“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
Literary Analysis: Irony
Irony is a contrast or a difference between what is stated and what is meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Situational irony occurs when a result turns out differently than expected. For example, from the actions of Mrs. Mallard and her friends, readers expect that she will be overcome with grief at the news of her husband’s death. Instead she exults in her freedom. Dramatic irony occurs when readers know something a character does not know. Readers know a few seconds before Mrs. Mallard, for example, that her husband is actually alive.
DIRECTIONS: Read through the quotations from the story and determine if they are examples of verbal, situational, or dramatic irony. Explain your reasoning.
1. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.”
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2. “She arose at length and opened the doors to her sister’s importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself like a goddess of Victory.”
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3. “But Richards was too late. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.”
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4. “When she had abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath; ‘Free, Free, Free!’ The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.”
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Grade 11, Unit 3