The Story of an Hour

In “The Story of An Hour” we are opened up to Mrs.Mallard’s sister,Josephine preparing

to break the news of Brently Mallard’s alleged death.We are told in the very first few lines that

Mrs.Mallard has had heart trouble in the past and great care has been taken to break the news to

her.Most of the story takes place in the Mallard’s home,mainly in Louise’s bedroom.The setting

takes place there because right after the news of Brently’s death Mrs.Mallard goes to her room to

celebrate.

In the story Irony is shown when Louise reacts to the new’s of Brently’s death.As a

reader you expect her to fall down sobbing over his death,but instead she goes to her

bedroom,sits in her chair,and looked out the window.The window starts to whisper

“Free,Free,Free!”,Louise then realizes that Brently really loved her.Louise is overjoyed that she

has a “Free!Body and soul!Free”.The reader see that Louise excited about Brently’s death,but

Josephine does not see this.This is a case of Dramatic Irony as we read how happy Louis is and

how Josephine begs her to open the door thinking she is grieving.

As we get near the end of story Situation Irony occurs as we expect Louise to live happily

ever after,but this does not happen.As we know great care was taken to break the news to her,as

we were informed of Louise’s heart troubles.Basically we the readers know she was almost

being protected with caution when finding out about her husband’s said death,in which she

unexpectedly was happy about secretly.All her happiness was burned away when she finally left

her room only to see Brently shockingly stepping through the door.She have a heart attack and

later the doctor says she died of the joy that kills which is a very unexpected end to the story.