Prof. Farve
Exemplification Essay
Types of Irony Is it strange how love can be a source of happiness, but also cause a lot of pain? Yet people tend to search for love, and once these people find love it comes with both pleasure and ache. Irony plays a role in love because love is what people perceive as joy but also causes hurt, yet people still search for love. In Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour, there are different forms of literary, situational, and dramatic irony used. The first type of irony which Kate Chopin uses is literary irony. Literary irony is expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. In The Story of an Hour, Louise says that her husband Brently is kind to her, yet she loves him sometimes. This is ironic because Louise states that she loves her husband only sometimes despite Brently being a kind husband. It is impossible to love a person sometimes because love is an intense feeling of deep affection; loving someone sometimes only means that person doesn’t love the other person at all. Another example of irony in the story is the fact that Louise is young and alive, yet young and emotionally dead. In the beginning, when Louise hears about her husband’s death, Louise falls into sadness “facing the open window.” This is ironic because despite Louise being young and full of life, she is emotionally dead because of brently’s death. The second type of irony is situational irony. Situational irony involves a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended. In Chopin’s story, Josephine and Richards think Louise is experiencing shock, but Louise actually experiences joy in her room. Josephine believes that Mrs. Mallard is going through heart ache because of Brently’s tragic death, but Louise is really joyful. Knowing that Brently is dead, Louise feels free and can now live life the way she wants. Another example of situational irony is when Louise