Irony is defined as a contradiction between the way something appears to be and what it actually is. It can take several forms. However, in general, there are three types of irony:
Situational irony
Verbal irony
Dramatic irony
Irony is used as a literary device to surprise the audience and even characters in a play or story with unexpected outcomes or incongruity.
What is situational irony?
Situational irony describes where events contradict expectations. It is usually employed to reveal a surprise or shock to specific characters and the reader.
An example of situational irony: The Appointment in Samarra
A good example of situational irony is “The Appointment in Samarra.” It is an allegorical tale that originates from the Middle East. The narrator of the tale is “Death.” Here it is as adapted by W. Somerset Maugham:
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
The situational irony in the tale is related to the contradiction of the merchant’s servant believing that he is escaping death when in fact he is speeding toward his appointment with death. The moral of the allegory is clear. However, the artifice presented in the situational irony gives it a satisfying and surprising twist.
What is verbal irony?
Verbal irony occurs when someone says something while meaning the exact opposite of what is said. Verbal irony occurs frequently in everyday speech and language. For example, saying “How original!” to an uninteresting observation is an example of verbal irony.
However, this type of hackneyed irony does not work quote well in literature. It has to be more subtle. Let’s look at an example.
Example of verbal irony: A Man for All Seasons
A good example of verbal irony is Bolt, “A Man for All Seasons” (1954), Act 1, Scene 7. Let's lay the scene. The conversation is between King Henry and his chancellor Thomas More.
King Henry: What an evening! A man could fight a lion. Eh!
Thomas More: Some men could, your grace.
What’s going on here? King Henry plans to divorce his current wife — Queen Catherine — and wants support from his chancellor Thomas More to do so. The king has arrived at More's Chelsea home to discuss the divorce. More, because of his personal convictions, sees no way to support this divorce.
The exchange that I quoted is the start of their conversation. In the scene, the king shamelessly attempts to bully More and warns him to either support the divorce or not stand in the way. Below is a clip from the movie version of the play:
More has no intention of either supporting the king’s divorce or stepping out of the way and is willing to die before he does. The verbal irony here is that More is not responding to Henry’s extravagant compliment of fine evening weather that makes him want to fight a lion.
He is implying that the lion in question here is King Henry. When he says, “Some men could,” he means that he is willing to lose his life in this battle with the king.
What is dramatic irony?
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience is in on information that specific characters are unaware of. This creates tension between what the character knows and expects and what the audience knows. Such a plot devise could be used either for comedic or tragic effect.
The most famous tragic example of dramatic irony is Romeo and Juliet where Romeo mistakes Juliet for dead when we all know that she is simply unconscious and ends up killing himself.
Example of dramatic irony: Twelfth Night
Another example of dramatic irony from Shakespeare is in The Twelfth Night. This plot includes a woman called Viola disguised as a man who falls in love with Orsino. Orsino is in love with Olivia, who in turn falls in love with Viola, while Viola is disguised as a woman. In short, it’s a complicated love triangle.
Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 4:
VIOLA: But if she cannot love you, sir—
ORSINO:
I cannot be so answered.
VIOLA:
Sooth, but you must.
Say that some lady, as perhaps there is,
Hath for your love as great a pang of heart
As you have for Olivia. You cannot love her;
You tell her so. Must she not then be answered?
ORSINO:
There is no woman’s sides
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion
As love doth give my heart; no woman’s heart
So big, to hold so much; they lack retention.
Alas, their love may be called appetite,
No motion of the liver but the palate,
That suffer surfeit, cloyment, and revolt;
But mine is all as hungry as the sea,
And can digest as much. Make no compare
Between that love a woman can bear me
And that I owe Olivia.
In this passage, Viola is trying to reason with Orsino to accept that perhaps there is a possibility that Olivia will never return his affection. He claims that no woman can love as well as he does. This is dramatic irony as Viola is a woman who is in love with him and is trying to express such while disguised as a man.
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Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, November 28). What Is Irony? https://www.eminentediting.com/post/what-is-irony |
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