I chose Option 3 for the use of irony in Poe's and Chopin's stories because both stories had outcomes that were crazy, weird and more importantly unexpected. In both The Story of an Hour and The Cask of Amontillado the authors use irony to keep their readers suspended. This allows the reader to plug in their own thoughts for the outcome and keeps the reader guessing to what is going to happen.
In the beginning of The Story of an Hour, Chopin’s uses irony in such a way in which she gives out little “kernels” to keep up interested and curious. Almost like that of eating popcorn at the movie theatre wondering what is going to happen next. This happens in the beginning of the story where Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband’s death by his friend Richards who saw Mrs. Mallory’s husbands name on the list of “killed” and Richards “had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by second telegram…” (337). This lead me to believe that Brently Mallard is dead because the second telegram confirms that it was the truth when in fact in the end we learned that he is alive and “had been far from the scene of the accident, and didn’t even know there had been one.” (338). Chopin also states in the text that Mrs. Mallard “was afflicted with heart trouble…” (337). This sentence gave me the impression that her condition was serious but yet isn’t mentioned continuously throughout the story. The irony in this story is that she had heart trouble and didn’t die from the symptoms of her heart trouble; she in fact died of---“a joy that kills.” (339). The joy that killed Mrs. Mallard/Louise is the joy that she experienced when she found out that her husband had died in a train accident. She was happy and relieved and shares that by whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!” (338). It is the very moment when Mrs. Mallard’s own joy made her happy knowing that her husband died and is the same joy that kills her when she sees her husband is alive standing behind Richards who tried to stand in front of him so that his wife wouldn’t see him.
In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, the story uses irony to exemplify symbolism. A clear example of this is the name of Montresor’s friend/victim “Fortunato”; which is an Italian name that symbolizes a fortunate or lucky person. This is interesting because the narrator describes his friend stating that, “He had a weak point---this Fortunato---although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared.” (525). Fortunato’s name implies that he is a man with good fortune or is lucky, but Montresor states again, “Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack…” (525) He is implying that Fortunato is a con artist, a fraud, a man that is to be feared; the total opposite of what any person might think that of his name. Furthermore Fortunato isn’t so fortunate at the end when he was buried alive in the cask. Another example of irony in this story is when Fortunato told Montresor, “You are not of the masons” (527) and he wants Montresor to prove that he is. Montresor answers by jesting to Fortunato, “Is it this” (527) and pulls out a trowel from beneath the roquelaire (cloak). What Montressor is asking him is if is if he is with the Free Masons and Montresor knows what he his asking but jokes with him and says he is some sort of craftsman. He talks of his masonry in the text that proves that he is a craftsman. He states on page 528, “I had scarcely laid the first tier of my masonry …” and as he is finishing his work he said, “…holding the flambeaux over the mason work…” This is ironic because with all the materials that he has, he is building a burial for his victim, alive!
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