Irony In Kate Chopin's 'The Storm'

“The Storm”, by Kate Chopin was written by Kate Chopin in the eighteen hundreds, but was not published until the late nineteen hundreds. A possible reason why Chopin’s book was not published in the same year as was written is because in the eighteen hundreds, women had few rights of freedom, whether it was to speak, vote, let alone write a short story that involves the adultery. In that time, it was completely looked down upon, and if Chopin had published it as soon as she had finished it, she was sure to be looked down upon and possibly exiled. Throughout the story, cases of irony are shown. “The Storm” includes ironies such as dramatic irony and situational irony.
The intro we are thrown into is taking place in the middle of a huge storm …show more content…
The Alce is seen writing to his wife, Clarisse, to tell her that he is doing just fine without her, and that if she wishes to stay away for a couple more days then he is completely at ease with that. The after math of the storm ends up being a favorable one. Calixta is the lovable, doting wife, Alce is happier than he was, and Clarisse gets more time to herself, whereas, if she had gone back to Alce, she would have to deal with her wife obligations and feeling like the entrapped wife she was. The irony that most of this story points to is situational irony and a tad bit of dramatic irony. It is situational irony because at one point Bobint is hoping for his wife to get help, and instead of getting help from a neighbor or someone he’s comfortable with, she ends up with her past lover, who she later shares a passionate encounter with. Bobint wasn’t hoping for that kind of help for his wife, he was hoping for the exact opposite, which is why this situation is situational irony. As far as dramatic irony goes, when Bobint goes home to think his wife is angry with home, he actually comes home to find her happy and lovable as ever. The readers knows that Calixta is actually all smiles and love because of her affair with Alce, but Bobint doesn’t know that and is left in the dark to think that Calixta is just happy to see him. Dramatic irony is something that is known by the reader, and not fully grasped by the character, and this is why this is dramatic