Love Me Not Unit

Irony abounds greatly in Kate Chopin's piece called the "Story of an Hour". She utilizes both dramatic and situational irony to show that as humans, we make mistakes. Dramatic irony appears when Louise's cousin Josephine knocks on the door. After they discovered that Louise's husband is dead, she locks herself away from Josephine and Richards, who told her the news. Josephine worries about her cousin by imploring that she opens the door. She believes that she will sicken herself by thinking about the death. However, Louise finally feels free from her husband that she only loved some of the time. She asks God for a long life because now she possessed "self-assertion", which is more important to her than her husband's assumed death. Also, situational irony appears when the supposedly dead man walks in the front door. Throughout the short story, the audience and the other characters believe that he died in a "railroad disaster". However, he is far away from the incident. Then, his wife dies from the surprise. Both were very unexpected. In an irony all of its own, Louise is free to make her own choices. She is free from his love and desires.