Irony At Its Best

Do you know what irony is? Irony is defined as the difference or distance between appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention. In the short story " The Story of an Hour" there are a number of ironic situations when dealing with Mrs. Mallard. The quote made by Mrs. Mallard " Free. Body and soul free !" is one example. Ironically Mrs. Mallard's husband is not dead, matter of fact he did not even know …

…because the doctors say she died of joy, when the reader knows that she actually died because she had a glimpse of freedom and could not go back to living under her husbands will again. Kate Chopin is also suggesting that in certain situations, the death of a loved one may be a blessing. The theme of the story is that you are not really free from the troubles of life until you are dead.