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Literary Devices
Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Key Examples in The Story of an Hour
Dramatic Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Louise in the Bedroom:
After Louise has locked herself in her bedroom, her sister Josephine’s attempt to coax Louise out of the bedroom is an instance of dramatic irony.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.” “
Go away. I am not making myself ill.” No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Brently Lives:
The revelation near the end of the story that Brently is alive is a moment of dramatic irony.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who 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.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Louise's Death:
Louise’s death at the end of the story is both situationally and dramatically ironic. Believing that her husband Brently was killed in a railroad accident, Louise is so shocked when he walks through the front door that she dies of a heart attack:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who 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.
Related Themes:
