 "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 is feeling joy, and is 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 dying marriages.

Chopin uses contrast to demonstrate how Louise feels 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. The bedroom is used to describe Brently and Louise's relationship. She is figuratively trapped in this room by Brently and her marriage to him. The living room however represents society's oppression of women. Women of the time period were expected to maintain the home and raise children, and very few women worked outside the home. This is why Louise never leaves the home in the story, and perfectly illustrates how she feels trapped by her role in society.  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. In addition, diction such as a "peddler crying his wares" and "sparrows twittering in the eaves" demonstrates a life for Louise outside the social constrictions of being a woman in the 1800's. 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." By saying this Louise, cements the fact that she feels trapped in her marriage and that her heart condition symbolizes that she no longer loves Brently. 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 feels grief for her husband's death until she sat in front of the window. Chopin describes this transformation by writing, "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 feels trapped by her husband in the house, and after his death she was free to allow the freedom from the window to 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 way she feels about 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. This is ironic because Josephine and Richards want to help her, and they believe that she is at a low point in her life; however, Louise is actually feeling the best she has in years. The second example of dramatic irony comes at the end of the story with Louise's death after her husband walks through the door. The doctor says "she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills" 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 how Louise is trapped 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. 

