Lesson video

Hello everyone, it's great to see you again.

My name is Mr. Pryke, and today, we're going to be looking at form and structure in "The Story of an Hour".

All you will need for today's lesson, is a pen and paper, or something to write on and with, and if you can, try and move yourself away from any distractions.

When you're ready, we'll begin.

In today's lesson, we're going to remind ourselves, of what happens in "The Story of an Hour".

Next, we're going to look at the purpose of twists in stories, and why writers use them.

Next, we'll look at the form and structure, of "The Story of an Hour" and finally, we'll look at dramatic irony and think about how Kate Chopin uses it, to create her dramatic final twist.

So, let's remind ourselves of what happens in "The Story of an Hour".

We told at the beginning of the story, that Mrs. Mallard suffers with a heart trouble, that means that great care has to be taken, when delivering the news of her husband's death to her.

When she hears that her husband Brently Mallard, has died in a railroad disaster, she weeps in her sister Josephine's arms. When she stops crying, she decides she wants to be alone.

She goes to her bedroom, and won't have anyone else follow her.

Once in her room, she sits exhausted, motionless, in her armchair.

Her grief has made her incredibly tired.

When she's sitting in her chair however, a strange feeling begins to overcome her.

She's not entirely sure what this feeling is, but she mutters the same word, over and over again to herself, "Free, free, free!" Upon hearing the news that her husband has died, it turns out that Mrs. Mallard feels liberated from their marriage, she's no longer under the control of her husband.

She thinks about her future, about all those days, where she doesn't have to live under his control, and she spreads her arms wide and welcomes them.

Josephine, however, is banging on the door, begging Mrs. Mallard to let her in, she's worried that Mrs. Mallard will make herself ill.

Mrs. Mallard eventually opens the door, and goes to meet her sister Josephine, she carries herself like a goddess of victory.

However, as both of them are walking downstairs, someone comes in through the front door, that person is Brently Mallard, Mrs. Mallard's husband.

In a surprising twist, it turns out that Brently Mallard, was nowhere near the railroad disaster, he didn't even know it had occurred.

Mrs. Mallard is so shocked, to find him walking through the door, that she dies.

Her heart is too weak to cope with the shock.

Here's the final line of the story.

When the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease, of the joy that kills.

Everyone around Mrs. Mallard, believes that she was so overjoyed to see her husband, that she dropped down dead, of course, we know, that's not the case.

Now that we've reminded ourselves of the story, let's have a go at this retrieval grid.

On your screen, are six questions, each question is worth a different number of points, the higher the number of points, the more challenging the question.

Let me read the questions to you.

Number one, what does the term liberation mean? Number two, what is the name of Mrs. Mallard's husband? Number three, what does the term affliction mean? Number four, what are the two big ideas explored in the story? Number five, what is the name of the story? And number six, why is it important the reader learns of Mrs. Mallard's heart affliction in the first line? Try and have a go at answering all six of these questions, but if you can't, please don't worry, just do the ones that you can do.

You can see, I've given you some hints, on five of the six questions.

Number six, is an extra challenge question.

When you're ready, pause the video, and complete the questions, and then press play, to hear the answers.

Well done, let's go through the answers.

Question number one, what does the term liberation mean? You should have the act of freeing someone, or something from another's control, if you've got one or both of those words, brilliant work.

Number two, what is the name of Mrs. Mallard's husband? The answer is Brently Mallard.

Number three, what does the term affliction mean? The answer, is a cause of pain and suffering.

If you've got one or both of those words, fantastic work.

Number four, what are the two big ideas explored in the story? The answer is love, and liberation.

Remember, liberation means, to free from control.

Number five, what is the name of the story? It's called "The Story of an Hour", because the events take place over the course of an hour.

And number six, why is it important the reader learns of Mrs. Mallard's heart affliction in the first line? And the answer is, it is important we learn of Mrs. Mallard's affliction in the first line, because we then understand the truth behind her death at the end.

Give yourself ticks for the answers you got correct, very well done.

For the next part of the lesson, we're going to focus on plot twists.

What is the purpose of a twist? Most stories will include twists, sometimes they're big, sometimes they're small, sometimes they're hinted at throughout the story, and sometimes they are completely unpredictable.

Some plot twists, will completely change a reader's understanding of the events that have taken place before it, and other plot twists, will disprove theories that the readers have made as to how they think the story is going to end.

That's certainly the case, with "The Story of an Hour".

We all believed Brently Mallard to be dead, yet he walks through the front door alive, at the end of the story, and Mrs. Mallard is the one who dies instead.

With that in mind, I'd like you to answer two questions on story twists.

Number one, what is the purpose of a twist at the end of the story? And number two, can you think of any twists from a book you may have read, a film you may have seen, or a game you may have played? If you need to, you can use the sentence openers to help you, but pause the video to complete the activity, and then press play when you're ready.

Let's have a look then at some answers.

An acceptable answer might read, twists are usually included at the end of a story to surprise a reader.

A twist is exciting, because readers do not usually see them coming.

A good answer may read, twists are usually included at the end of the story, to shock, surprise, and astonish a reader.

A twist is exciting, because readers can sometimes work out how a story will end.

A twist ensures this does not happen.

It shows the writer is having fun, by fooling their readers.

This is a good answer, because it gives more than one purpose of a plot twist.

As always, if what you have at home is different, what you see on your screen, please don't worry.

Have a look to see if there are any similarities between our answers, and if there are, give yourself a tick.

Question number two, asks you to share your own favourite plot twists from a book you may have read, a film you may have seen, or a game you may have played.

We're all going to have different favourite plot twists, so instead of giving a definitive answer to question two, I'm going to share with you my favourite plot twist.

That means there are huge spoilers about to appear, so if you haven't seen "Star Wars", or "The Empire Strikes Back", please look away from your screen, put your fingers in your ears, because my favourite plot twist is when Darth Vader, reveals to Luke Skywalker, "I am your father." It is such a shocking moment, a brilliant end to that film, and I didn't see it coming at all.

So there you go.

That's my favourite plot twist, and if you were looking away from your screen, and you had your fingers in your ears, it's absolutely fine to look back at the screen now.

So, the next part of the lesson, is going to focus on structure.

We're going to be answering the question, what is structure? For plot twists to be effective, the writer needs to have structured their text in the right way.

Structure is how a text has been put together by a writer, I like to think of it as a builder, building a house.

A builder will lay out the bricks they need, and then build upon those bricks, one on top of the other, until they have a finished house.

It's exactly the same with a writer, a writer will lay out their big ideas, their characters, and their setting, and then they will build on these things, with the events that occur in the plot, all the way up to the final plot twist and the stories end.

With that in mind, I would like you please to pause the video, and copy and complete the definition for structure, using the diagram to help you, when you're ready, press play, and we'll go through the answers.

Well done, structure means, how a text has been put together by a writer, if you got any of the words on the screen, give yourself a tick.

"The Story of an Hour", is a short story, so now we're going to look at its structure.

I hope you're ready for your next task, because here it is.

Below I've got five events that occur, in "The Story of an Hour", let me read them to you.

Mrs. Mallard weeps in her sister's arms, Mrs. Mallard is told her husband has died in a railroad disaster.

We are told Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition.

Mrs. Mallard is overcome by a feeling of liberation, and Mrs. Mallard goes to her room alone.

I would like you to pause the video here, and put those events in the correct order, when you're done, press play, and we'll go through the answers.

Well done, let's have a look up the answers.

So, here is the correct order, for the events of "The Story of an Hour".

Number one, we are told, Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition, we're told that in the first sentence.

Number two, Mrs. Mallard, is told her husband has died in a railroad disaster.

Number three, Mrs. Mallard weeps in her sister's arms. Number four, Mrs. Mallard goes to her room alone, and number five, Mrs. Mallard is overcome by a feeling of liberation.

Give yourself a tick for the ones you got correct, if you've got any wrong, you might want to pause the video here, and just copy down the correct order, they'll help you with the next activity.

So, here's your next set of events, I'd like you to do exactly the same thing, but these events are from the second half of the story, let me read them to you.

The doctor believes it was the joy of seeing her husband that killed her.

Brently Mallard walks through the door.

Josephine asks Mrs. Mallard to open the door.

Mrs. Mallard dies, and Mrs. Mallard opens the door to go downstairs.

Once again, pause the video, and put those events in the correct order, when you're finished, press play, and we'll go through the answers.

Brilliant work, let's go through the correct order for these events.

So, the sixth event in the story, Josephine asks Mrs. Mallard to open the door.

Number seven, Mrs. Mallard opens the door to go downstairs.

Number eight, Brently Mallard walks through the door.

Number nine, Mrs. Mallard dies, and number 10, the doctor believes it was the joy of seeing her husband that killed her.

Well done, give yourself a tick for the ones you got correct, and as before, if you did get any incorrect, you might want to pause the video, just so you can make any corrections.

Now that we know the order of events, let's look at how Kate Chopin has structured her story, so that it builds up to that final exciting plot twist.

The story begins, and we are told that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition.

That means, great care has to be taken, when telling her, her husband has died in a railroad disaster.

She weeps in her sister Josephine's arms, upon hearing the news, and she goes to her room alone.

There, she feels a strange sensation, it's a feeling of liberation, of freedom from her marriage.

Josephine asks Mrs. Mallard to open the door, fearing that she's making herself ill.

Mrs. Mallard eventually opens the door and goes downstairs.

When they're walking downstairs though, they see Brently Mallard, Mrs. Mallard's husband, walking through the door.

The shock is so great that Mrs. Mallard dies, her heart cannot cope with the surprise of seeing her husband.

The doctors say, that Mrs. Mallard was overjoyed at seeing her husband alive, and it's the joy that killed her.

So why are we so surprised by that plot twist at the end? I've highlighted the plot twist for you here, Brently Mallard walks through the door, and Mrs. Mallard dies, because the shock of seeing him is too great.

The plot twist is effective, because of what Kate Chopin has told us before the plot twist takes place.

We are told from the very beginning, that Brently Mallard has died in a railroad disaster, and as a result, Mrs. Mallard begins to feel a sense of liberation.

She feels free from their marriage, and free from her husband's control.

That's why the plot twist is so effective, because suddenly, that freedom is taken away from her.

It wouldn't be the same, if this bit of information had been given to us, just before Brently Mallard walks through the door.

And then we have the final part of the story, the doctors say, it was the joy of seeing her husband alive, that caused Mrs. Mallard's weak hearts to kill her.

We know that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, we were told that at the very beginning of the story, however, Mrs. Mallards feeling of liberation, tells us that her doctors are wrong.

She feels free from her husband, she doesn't want to live under his control anymore, so she's not overjoyed when she sees him walk through the door at the end of the story.

This means we know more about a situation, than the characters in the story, and we call that dramatic irony.

Let's take a closer look, to see how Kate Chopin has cleverly structured her story, to include dramatic irony at the end.

Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows something, that is going on in a situation, but the characters are unaware of what is going on.

Mrs. Mallard is not overjoyed to see her husband walk through the door, at the end of the story, but the other characters are unaware of this, which means we know more about Mrs. Mallard than they do.

The reason we know more about Mrs. Mallard, is because we are invited in to see her personal thoughts and feelings, when she's in her room by herself, but the other characters are not allowed to see this.

So, can you remember what dramatic irony means? Pause the video here, copy and complete the definition, and when you're ready, press play, so we can go through the answers.

Well done, dramatic irony occurs, when the reader knows something that is going on in a situation, but the characters are unaware of what is going on.

It's that final line, which really creates the dramatic irony, when the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease, of the joy that kills.

We know, Mrs. Mallard was not happy to see her husband, because of all of the information, we've been given beforehand.

Kate Chopin, cleverly structures her story, to really create impact with that final twist.

Here's your final task, what is the twist at the end of "The Story of an Hour", and how is it an example of dramatic irony? I would like you to answer that question for me, if you'd like, you can use the sentence openers, you can see in the box on your screen, or you can ignore the sentence openers, and for an extra challenge, write your own answer.

Let me read the sentence openers for you.

Kate Chopin has structured her story, to include a twist at the end.

The twist is that.

This twist is an example of dramatic irony.

Dramatic irony is where a reader knows something, that is going on in a situation but.

And finally, Chopin uses dramatic irony, when the doctors say it was the joy of seeing her husband, that shocked her heart, and kills Mrs. Mallard.

However, in reality, we know it was because.

Pause the video here, to write your answer to this question, and when you're ready, press play, so we can go through what you might have put.

Well done, here's an acceptable answer to that question.

Kate Chopin has structured her story, to include a twist at the end.

The twist is that Mrs. Mallard's husband is still alive.

This twist is an example of dramatic irony.

Dramatic irony is where a reader knows something that is going on in a situation, but the characters in the story do not.

Chopin uses dramatic irony, when the doctors say it was the joy of seeing her husband, that shocked her heart, and killed Mrs. Mallard.

However, in reality, we know it was because she thought she was free of him, and now she is not.

This is an acceptable answer, because it shows clearly that the person who has written it, understands dramatic irony.

A good answer might read, Kate Chopin has structured her story, to include a twist at the end.

The twist is that Brently Mallard, was nowhere near the railroad crash, and is still alive.

This twist is an example of dramatic irony.

Dramatic irony is where a reader knows something that is going on in a situation, but the characters in the story do not.

Chopin uses dramatic irony, when the doctors say it was the joy of seeing her husband, that shocked her heart and killed Mrs. Mallard.

However, in reality, we know it was because she thought, she had been liberated from her marriage.

She was excited that she could live out the rest of her life without being under his control.

The rest of the characters do not know this, thinking she was extremely upset, that her husband had died.

This is a good answer, because it tells me that the person who has written it, knows what dramatic irony is, and it also goes into a little bit more detail as to how dramatic irony has been created.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson, a really big well done, on everything you have achieved today.

I want you to do two things now.

Firstly, don't forget to complete the exit quiz on the next slide.

And secondly, if you're able to, please take a picture of your work, and ask your parent or carer to share it with your teacher, so they can see all of the brilliant things you've learned today.

If you'd like, you can also ask a parent or carer, to send a picture of your work to @OakNational on Twitter, so that I can see what you've been completing too.

Thank you for joining me today, take care, and I look forward to seeing you next time.