Story Of An Hour Rhetorical Analysis

Betrayal in “The Story of an Hour” leads to Mrs. Mallard being better off alone, as her own person. Mrs. Mallard commits a treacherous act by thinking of the good in her husband's passing. “And yet she loved him- sometimes. Often she had not...’Free! Body and Soul free!’” (“The Story of an Hour” 13). Chopin is using irony to make a paradox in this quote. She loves her husband on the outside but deep down she knows she will be more fulfilled with her life alone without him. In the passing of her husband, she is looking forward to her new life ahead.

In the story, “The Storm”, Chopin also uses betrayal in the female character's personality. “Calixa, on the gallery, watched Alcee ride away. He turned and smiled at her with a beaming face; and she lifted her pretty chin in the air and laughed aloud” (“The Storm” 35). Calixa is showing that she has no regrets and she obviously has an affair with Alcee. She is laughing and she knows that she is better off with him but she has a husband that is out. Calixa is happy at this time and she is acting carefree. She knows what she did was not right but it is all about what makes her happy. Chopin is using enlightening words to show the reader

that Calixa has feelings for someone other than her husband.
Chopin uses irony in both of her stories.

In the beginning it mentions that Mrs. Mallard has a heart disease. “When the doctors came they said she has died of a heart disease- of the joy that kills” (“The Story of an Hour”). Chopin starts and ends with the same characters. When she says, “the joy that kills”, it’s a paradox because she dies of disappointment. Mrs. Mallard is grieving because of the passing of her husband but when she is alone in the room she starts to realize that she shouldn’t grieve. She realizes that she does love him but she wants to be free from him in a sense. Maybe she didn’t feel secure around him or with him. She is so over come of happiness because she thinks that she is free and alone now, that when she see’s her husband still alive she passes away in

shock.
Kate Chopin grew up in a house dominated by women: her mother, great-grandmother and the female slaves her mother owned (Kate Chopin Biography). This shows in both of her stories, “The Story of an Hour” and in “The Storm”. Chopin shows how strong the females feelings are towards the men. “And when he possessed her, they seemed to swoon together at the very borderline of life’s mystery” (The Storm”). She is showing how passionate and mysterious Calixta and Alcee are acting. She is letting this happen while her husband is out getting her favorite shrimp. Calixta is going behind her husbands back because of what their marriage lacks. She is just trying to satisfy herself.