 "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin tells the story of Louise Mallard, a young woman whose husband has died in a railroad accident. When the news is broken to her she immediately breaks down with grief, and runs into her bedroom. She sits in an armchair looking out the window, when she feels something overcoming her. Louise realizes she was feeling joy, and was looking forward to a life free from the restriction from her husband. After the pleas of her sister, Louise opens the door and goes back downstairs. Shortly after, Brently Mallard, Louise's husband, opens the door. Louise collapses and the doctors say she died of heart disease. "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin uses contrast, symbolism, and dramatic irony to create a story about a dying marriage.

Chopin uses contrast to demonstrate how Louise felt trapped in her marriage. Throughout the short story the settings inside of the house are extremely limited, only the bedroom and living room were used. This leads the reader to assume that during her marriage to Brently, she felt trapped inside both inside the house and in the relationship. The idea of an unhappy marriage is strengthened by the contrast of Louise's feelings after she knows of her husband's death. While sitting in the armchair, Louise stares out the window and Chopin writes "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver the new spring. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." The diction Chopin chooses leads to the idea that outside represents freedom. For example, the uses of words such as the open square, new spring life, and the delicious breath all lead to the idea that without the restriction of her husband Louise would have a new, free, and joyful life. To summarize Chopin contrasts Louise's life with and without her husband by using limited setting inside the house and diction to transform the outside world into a source of freedom. 

The author also uses symbolism to create doubt in the reader's mind about Louise's love for her husband. The primary example comes when Chopin writes "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death." While it is clear that Louise has some form of heart condition, perhaps the heart trouble that she is afflicted with is not just a medical condition. Instead the heart trouble refers to Louise's dying love for her husband. Louise admits that she does not always love her husband when she says "And yet she loved him--sometimes. Often she had not." The second example is the open window. The house represents the marriage that Louise feels trapped by, and the window was her only escape.  Louise felt grief for her husband's death until she sat in front of the window. Chopin describes this transformation by writing "Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!" This demonstrates that Louise felt trapped by her husband in the house, and after his death she was free to allow the freedom from the window consume her. As the reader can see, Louise's heart trouble symbolizes her love for her husband, and the window symbolizes her escape from the entrapment she felt from her marriage. 

The final literary tool Chopin uses is dramatic irony.  Dramatic irony exists throughout the story; however, it is strongest towards the end. The first instance of dramatic irony occurs when Louise's sister, Josephine, says "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." Both Josephine and Richards, a friend of Brently, believe that Louise is grief stricken; however, the reader knows that Louise is excited about her husband's death. The second example of dramatic irony comes at the end of the story with Louise's death after her husband walks through the door. Josephine, Richards, Brently, and the doctors all believe that Louise's heart condition prevented her from handling the joy of seeing her husband alive. The reader knows that it is instead the dread of being trapped again that kills Louise.

In summary, Kate Chopin uses contrast, symbolism, and dramatic irony within "The Story of an Hour" to create a story about a dying marriage. First, Chopin uses contrast between the house and the outside world to show Louise's entrapment in her marriage. Secondly, the use of symbolism demonstrates Louise's heart condition as her faltering love for her husband, and the the window as her escape for her marriage. Lastly, the author uses dramatic irony to reveal the true reason why Louise died. 
