In the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, society was oriented around men authority in the United States. Women were nothing except a kind of tool used to execute the will of their husband. Kate Chopin used this perception of women during that time in many of her stories and novels to write about the quality of life of women and their status. That brings us to one of her short story, "The Story of an Hour", where Chopin's use of irony is very effective and describes well the feelings of all those women repressed by their husband at that time.
Firstly, the ambiguous emotions and the extreme joy that felt the protagonist, Mrs Mallard, when she learned that her husband had died is ironic. The reaction of that woman when she heard about this bad new is quite surprising because you don't anticipate it. When you marry someone, it's a very normal and expected thing to be extremely sad when you learn that your beloved is dead. Well, not for Mrs Mallard it seems. On the contrary, she felt free and, maybe for the first time since her marriage with Brently Mallard, she felt that she would entirely live for herself. In that case, Chopin used irony to describe how repressed and completely possessed were the women at that time.
Secondly, the death of Mrs Mallard in the ending of " The Story of an Hour" is also very ironic. The main character passed by many emotive steps during his short mourning, which ended by a great feeling of freedom and joy. "Free! Body and soul free!" were the words the widow whispered when she realized how huge was and would be the impact of her spouse's death on her life. However, the unexpected return of Mrs Mallard's husband had spoiled all her plans for her sweet years to come. Therefore, she didn't die because she was extremely and happily surprised to see Brently Mallard alive; she died because the reason of her sudden happiness fell apart.
Finally, Kate Chopin used with
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