In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin we saw many instances of irony. Iron is the use of other words to express something different from the opposite to their literal meaning. In the story there are three types of irony situational, dramatic and verbal.

Situational irony is used in the story through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When she first heard that her husband died she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment. It seem to everyone there that she was very sad and went upstairs to be alone in her room. This is a normal reaction after hearing that a loved one has passed. However, once Mrs. Mallard is alone in her room, we see that she is not sad by the loss of her husband but relieved. It turns out Mrs. Mallard is happy her husband died and instead looks forward to her coming years to be free.

Dramatic irony is used in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour through Mrs. Mallard’s realization that she is free from her husband and with her death. While she was alone in her room she realized that she would no longer be bound to her husband but rather free to do whatever she choose. However, no one else in the story knew they all believed that she was very sad and depressed. Another example is when Mrs. Mallard dies. When she finds out her her husband is still alive she dies from an immediate heart attack. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease of the joy that kill’s.

Verbal irony is found in the story’s tittle The Story of an Hour. These words suggest a shot period of time in which not a lot of events tend to occur. However in the story the hour feels like a life time. Mrs. Mallard experiences a lot of emotions in the time span of an hour. Through the title we can see that a lot of things can happen in a short period of time.