First, Chopin uses a powerful irony, dramatic irony. The first instance of irony is found in the sixteenth paragraph when Josephine is desperately trying to get Mrs. Louise Mallard to open the door. By her saying, “‘I beg;open the door-you will make yourself ill,’” the reader can gather the irony because Louise is not making herself ill, but rather drinking the elixir of life that is freedom. When Louise is in her room, she is becoming aware of her newborn freedom. By the reader knowing this and Josephine being ignorant of it this becomes dramatic irony. …show more content…
Mallard’s sad story strikes again, even after her death. The second instance of irony can be found at the very end of “The Story of an Hour,” when the doctors are diagnosing what caused her death in the final paragraph. When the doctor's final diagnosis of her death is, “joy that kills,” the reader can observe the irony dripping off the page. The reader knows it was the fall from freedom that killed her, but the characters believe it to be the great relief of her husband’s life. With his new life in the eyes of the characters, Louise finds ultimate death, loss of new found freedom. It was his life that brought her death, making this dramatic