Irony In Literature
The definition of Irony as a literary device is a situation in which there
is a contrast between expectation and reality. For example, the
difference between what something appears to mean versus its literal
.meaning. Irony is associated with both tragedy and humor
"The Story of an Hour“
:We have three types of irony
Verbal Irony: This occurs when someone says something that is contrary to what he-1
.actually means. It often involves sarcasm or a form of humor
Situational Irony: This type of irony is when the outcome of a situation is contrary to-2
.what was expected
Dramatic Irony: This occurs when the audience or reader knows something that the-3
characters in a story do not. It can create tension or anticipation
”The Story of An hour“
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as -1
.gently as possible the news of her husband’s death
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half -2
concealing. Her husband’s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the
newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name
leading the list of ‘’killed.’’ He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second
.telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its -3
significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of
.grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her
”The Story of An hour“
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed -4
.down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new -5
spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.
The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were
.twittering in the eaves
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one -6
.above the other in the west facing her window
”The Story of An hour“
She sat her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her -7
.throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never -8
looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of
.years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome
There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself . There would be no -9
powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a
private will upon a fellow creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked
.upon it in that brief moment of illumination
”The Story of An hour“
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer-10
days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life
might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be
.long
Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who-11
entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had
been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood
amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view
.of his wife. But Richards was too late
.When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease of joy that kills
”The Story of An hour“
.Analyze irony is a contrast between appearance and reality
What examples of irony do you find in the story? Stating the kind of
.irony used in the story
