The reason behind why nearly fifty percent of marriages result in a brisk divorce is one that has fascinated many for years. “The Story of an Hour” seeks to answer that. This work of fiction by Kate Chopin, is about a young widow, Mrs. Mallard, who at first laments the death of her husband, but then begins to foresee a new life full of freedom awaiting her. After her husband is revealed to actually be alive, she undergoes immense shock and dies instantly. Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” argues that the restrictions accompanying marriage lead to a miserable life, through the use of irony and natural imagery. Chopin uses irony to compare the intense restrictions that accompany marriage, to the freedom that results from being spouseless. After receiving the news of her husband, Mrs. Mallard first mourns his death, but then begins to cry of joy after imagining the long “precession of years” that would belong to her. One would not expect a woman to experience such a “monstrous joy,” after the death of her husband. Chopin’s use of situational irony describes Mrs. Mallard’s unexpected happiness to illuminate the misery she feels while being under the restrictions of marriage. As Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room, she begins to foresee her new life as she looks out through an “open window.” The “open window” is symbolic of the new liberty that accompanies death of her husband. Her vision of the future is then juxtaposed to the misery she must have felt during her marriage, this being ironic since she is literally trapping herself in her room. Finally, when Mr. Mallard is found to be alive, Mrs. Mallard dies suddenly of shock; the doctors claim she dies from "the joy that kills.” Since the audience is aware that Mrs. Mallard is nowhere near joy from seeing her husband alive, that is dramatic irony. By analyzing Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death, it is made clear that the restrictions of marriag