Farnaz Michelle Inanlou
Craft Talk
Irony (Situational Irony)
Irony, in its broadest sense, is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or event, in which what appears, on the surface, to be the case, differs radically from what is actually the case.
This discrepancy between expectation and reality occurs in three forms: situational irony, where a situation features a discrepancy between what is expected and what is actualized; dramatic irony, where a character is unaware of pivotal information already revealed to the audience (the discrepancy here lies in the two levels of awareness between the character and the audience); and verbal irony, where one states one thing while meaning another. The difference between verbal irony and sarcasm is
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This is also called an irony of events. The outcome can be serious or humorous. The function of situational irony is to lay emphasis on important scenes and make strange and unusual images vivid. It creates an unexpected turn at the end of a story and makes audience laugh or cry. Therefore, situational irony could be tragic or funny. Usually writers employ strong word connections with situational irony and add fresh thoughts, variations and embellishments to their works. It may range from the most comic to the most tragic situations. Its comical use usually creates unexpected turnaround in a plot for the betterment. Sometimes, these forms of ironies occur, because people identify certain events and situations as unfair or odd. Common examples of situational irony are, a fire station burns down, the marriage counselor files for divorce, the police station gets robbed, a fertility counselor has difficulty getting pregnant, posting on Facebook complaining how useless Facebook is.
Examples of Situational Irony from Literature:
Example one:
A very famous example of this form of irony occurs towards the end of a short story “The story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In this story, the wife of Mr. Brently comes to know that he is no more alive and has died from an accident, so she feels contended to live a long life with freedom, with no restrictions. However, at the end of the tale, her husband comes back unexpectedly
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Dorothy moves to the wizard in order to find a way to go her home just to learn that she was capable of doing so persistently. Scarecrow wished to become intelligent, but he discovers himself a perfect genius. Woodsman considers himself as not capable of love; nevertheless he learns that he has a good heart. Lion appears as a coward and then turns out to be extremely fearless and courageous.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum)
Example three:
Romeo strives to bring out peace between Tybalt and Mercutio, and eventually between the Capulets and the Montagues. However, Mercutio’s death and subsequently Romeo’s pledge to kill Tybalt escalates a situation leading to his banishment and finally to the death of both Romeo and Juliet. Romeo finds Juliet drugged and assumes she is dead. He kills himself then she awakens and sees that he is dead and kills herself.
(Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
Example
In the poem "Casey at the Bat" the author uses humor explain Casey's experiences while he is at the bat. He also uses irony. The author of "Casey At The Bat" uses both humor and irony to explain Casey's experiences when he is at the bat. The author uses all sorts of techniques when he wrote this poem. For example he use hyperbole, idioms, irony, humor and many more.
Irony brings about some additional meanings to a situation. Ironical statements and situations in literature develop readers’ interest. Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the underlying meanings of the texts. Moreover, real life is full of ironical expressions and situations. Therefore, the use of irony brings a work of literature closer to the life.
Firstly a great example of irony would be Miss Gates. Miss Gates plays the role of scouts teacher in to kill a mocking bird, she lectures her students on Hitler’s doings and how persecuted millions of Jews. She says she doesn’t understand what the Jews did to Hitler that gave him the right to slaughter and persecute them. Miss Gates vilifies Hitler for targeting one ethnic group and compares the American society with Germanys. “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody.
Edgar Allan Poe creates horror and suspense in his use of irony -including verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony-in his short story “ The Tell-Tale Heart”. Verbal irony is when something that is said means the opposite of what is meant. Poe uses verbal irony when he states, “ I loved the old man.” Situational irony is similar. It is defined as when what happens is different from or even the opposite of what we expected.
Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic.
Another example is when Charlie writes down the words the doctors are saying, but he is not understanding them. This is irony because everyone else do understand the words. He is the only one. This irony is called dramatic irony. The last example I have is when Ms.Kinnian ran out of the room, this irony because Ms. Kinnian knows why she ran
You wouldn’t expect the sweetest and most trustworthy guy in town to go out and start committing terrible acts, would you? That is an example of situational irony because it is demonstrating the opposite of what you would expect. In another situation, the audience already knows that Dr. Jekyll is the evil one, when the town actually thinks that it’s Mr. Hyde. This would be dramatic irony because the audience is more aware of what’s happening than most of the characters do. The third type of irony found in the movie would be when Dr. Jekyll said that “I would never hurt her”, however he is clearly aware that his evil side is the one who attacked her.
In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. relies on the use of irony to indicate where our country will stand once we have gained total equality amongst each other. The theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that the government cannot enforce equality within the people. The author creates a fictional visualization of the future in the year 2081, where the government controls the people and tortures them in order to maintain “equal opportunity” in their world to prove why it is impossible to achieve absolute equality in the world. Vonnegut dives into a whole other level of uniformity in Harrison Bergeron by focusing on eliminating advantages in appearance, intelligence, strength, and other unique abilities rather than focusing on
One example of situational irony is first, the name “Fortunato” means “Fortunate” in Italian, but Fortunato is actually very unfortunate. Next, the word “cask” means “wine barrel,” but coffin also comes from the same word. So in other words, Fortunato believes he will reach a cask of wine, but in all actuality he will reach his coffin. Also, another great example of situational irony comes when Montresor has just dismembered Fortunato and exits the catacombs. Then, Montresor claims, “My heart grew sick-“(240).
Like I had mentioned before, situational irony is involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended. In
Situational Irony is a very important element in literature and can be found in many famous literary works including Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains. Situational Irony adds drama to the story and engages the reader. There are three specific examples of situational irony in There Will Come Soft Rains: The house continues to perform its daily tasks even though no one lives there, the house is destroyed by a tree branch that starts a fire yet it survived a nuclear fallout, and Mrs. McClellan’s favorite poem describes the situation in the story. The first example of situational irony can be seen in the fact that the house continues to do its everyday tasks even though all of the humans that used to live there are dead.
Furthermore, an example of irony in Trifles can be found at the end of the story when the women decide to hide the evidence from the men. This decision is an example of situational irony, as the situation's outcome differs from the expected outcome of them giving the evidence to the men. Both of these instances are examples of the use of irony in the story to create suspense and better emphasize the theme of both
The Ironic Truth Irony is a complex and important element of literature that can help discover hidden perspectives within characters or hide the truth in plain sight. The story by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example the dark ironic twist that happen in the story. The main character, Montresor, is hell-bent on getting his revenge on the man who shamed him, Fortunato. The verbal and dramatic irony that is being used in the story “The Cask of Amontillado” helps hide the true intentions that Montresor has planned for Fortunato. Verbal irony happens when one character says one thing but actually means something completely different.
Situational irony is when the outcome is opposite or completely different then what was expected by the reader. Heynen uses situational irony to convey the theme of empathy. In the text Heynan writes “ Some farmers went ice-skating
Irony is an outcome of events contrary to what