Mallard's Irony

Tremendous freedom and joy is what overflows Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she copes with the shocking news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has died. Despite the feeling Mrs. Mallard encounters, there is an ironic ending to this short story when Brently Mallard walks through the front door untouched and unaware of any railroad disaster. In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin uses diction through Mrs. Mallard’s emotional changes to show how the significance of dramatic irony portrays throughout Mrs. Mallard’s emotional changes. In the short story, the author uses the phrase “sudden wild abandonment” to give the reader an insight of how Mrs. Mallard first feels after she receives the sudden news of her husband’s death (38). When Chopin …show more content…
Mallard continues her feeling of being free. In the story, Chopin continues to show the readers through diction, how Mrs. Mallard’s emotions are ironic considering her husband have died. Throughout the story Chopin uses the statement, “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of victory” (41). The diction “goddess of victory” gives the readers an insight that Mrs. Mallard feels she has overcome the tragedy that has occurred (41). This also gives a hint that Mrs. Mallard is glad her husband is dead and does not feel the abandonment she felt earlier. Chopin also reveals in her story about Mrs. Mallard, “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (41). This shows how Mrs. Mallard was thinking about a life with Brently Mallard and how it was going to be long. This statement might be hinting that Mrs. Mallard was dreading life with Brently Mallard because she did not want to be with him. The ironic aspect in the “goddess of victory” phrase is that Mrs. Mallard feels as if she has won the life she has dreamed of without her husband (41). Her emotions are now to the point where she feels no more sadness, but above the emotional state where she was at the beginning of the story. As the story continues, Chopin keeps showing how Mrs. Mallard’s emotional changes are ironic through …show more content…
Mallard’s emotional changes are ironic. At this point, Mrs. Mallard is still feeling as if she had won a victory from her husband. However, Chopin surprises the readers with a shocking ending to the story. In the story, Chopin reveals, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- joy that kills” (41). The readers learn that Mrs. Mallard dies unexpectedly of heart disease right after her husband, Brently Mallard, walks through the front door not aware of any accident and the fact that his name was on the killed list. This is ironic because the reader does not expect for Mrs. Mallard to die or Brently Mallard to walk through the front door. The phrase “joy that kills” shows how Mrs. Mallard’s joyous emotions lead to her heart attack (41). She is so happy to be free for once and then the appearance of Brently Mallard overwhelms her and her body just cannot handle the surprise showing of Brently Mallard. In the beginning of the short story, Chopin states, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (38). Chopin uses this statement as the first sentence of the entire story. With this statement in the first sentence of the entire short story, readers are more than likely to forget this statement by the end of the story. Chopin gives an insight to the readers