Which is not an example of irony in “the story of an hour” by kate chopin? in the midst of mrs. mallard’s grief, she sees and hears the signs of spring. when she sees her husband, mrs. mallard dies of heart failure. the doctors diagnose the death of mrs. mallard as “joy that kills.” mrs. mallard bursts out weeping when she hears the news of her husband’s death.

"the story of an hour" is full of irony.   as the story begins, we are told that  mrs. mallard has heart trouble. when her husband dies suddenly in a train accident, the news is broken to her gently so that she does not have a heart attack and die. she starts weeping when she hears the news  goes to her room to be alone. it is not ironic that she begins to weep upon learning of the death of her husband -- that is a normal response to the death of a spouse.once in her room, she begins to think. instead of being sad, as one might expect, she begins to think of all the possibilities ahead of her. rather than being a sign of irony, the  signs of spring symbolize her youth and all the life she has left in her. she keeps repeating the word "free! " as she thinks of her freedom. while she is sad at the death of her husband, she is no longer forced to be his servant.then, of course, a shocking event occurs. her husband comes home. it turns out that her husband was not on the train after all. mrs. mallard immediately collapses and dies of heart failure. this is not ironic as we are warned at the beginning of the story that mrs. mallard had heart problems. it comes as no surprise that the shock of seeing her not-dead husband would be enough to kill her.the doctors, however, are not quite right when they say that she died from the "joy that kills." the reader is very aware that mrs. mallard felt joy at the freedom the rest of her life would have. when her husband came through that door, she knew she wasn't free and must continue to live as his servant. therefore, her fatal heart attack was not brought on by joy, but rather by despair and sadness.due to the reader having knowledge that the doctors do not have, the best example of irony is diagnosing the death of mrs. mallard as "joy that kills."