Irony

M.H Abrams defined dramatic irony as a situation wherein: “the audience or reader shares with the author knowledge of present or future circumstances of which a character is ignorant; in that situation, the character unknowingly acts in a way we recognize to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or expects the opposite of what we know that fate holds in store, or says something that anticipates the actual outcome, but not at all in the way the character intends.”(137) The tragedy…

Irony is a disagreement between what is actually being said and what is misunderstood, or what is expected it happen compared to what actually occurs. Authors will usually use this in their stories intentionally to make their audience stop and think about what was just said. The readers must realize when irony is taking place or what is being said in order for the use of irony to be successful. Dramatic irony is most found within books in which they put their characters in certain situations. In…

Understanding the Irony in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” When someone wins the lottery they should win money or prizes or maybe even an expense paid vacation. No one ever dreams of being the winner of your own stoning. Shirley Jackson wrote about a cold blooded murder that the reader would not be prepared for and would lend to the shock value of becoming emotionally involved in this story. The reader is gently pushed in the direction of comfort and safety when the story begins through Jackson…

overlooked and still readers can have a decent picture of what the story is about, but without doubt, the one element that cannot be overlooked is the irony utilized by Montresor. This character uses his irony in addition to malevolent intelligence through the entire story, when the readers finish the story they are able to reminisce all the ironies and the malicious planning by Montresor, revealing his identity between the lines. Per example, when Montresor says “My dear Fortunato, you are…

technique of using irony. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, various kinds of irony are on display from beginning to end in this illusive tale through the characters, Montresor and Fortunato. Poe emphasizes on three different types of irony in this story to heighten the reader’s engagement: verbal, dramatic, and situational irony. Beginning with verbal irony, it is clear throughout the story that Poe utilizes this irony to communicate one facet, but mean another. One example of verbal irony is when…

The Irony Of It All Ironies come in many forms and are vital in helping a reader understand what is happening in the story. To better understand the various ironies I will provide an example used daily for each one. First, verbal irony is when someone says “sooner or later,” but really means preferably now. Next, Dramatic irony can be found when a reader figures out who committed the murder before it is revealed. Then situational irony can be seen when the character we thought committed the…

In this story, there are many different forms of irony. The three forms of irony are verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal irony is when someone says something, but they mean the opposite of what they say. Situational irony is when something happens, but it isn’t what we expected. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that the characters in the story don’t know. An example of verbal irony, is when Miss. Strangeworth begins writing one of her letters. In her letter she writes…

the heart of the story, this is clearly not the case. Looking within the pages, one can see how Wharton uses irony to tell her tale. The irony brings the story to life and makes it an exciting, passionate story of romance and revenge. Wharton uses irony as a way to draw the reader in, with twists and turns and flare that make the story unique and addicting. Imagine the story without irony; it would be a story about a love triangle that ended in a pregnancy and was a secret for many years until…

Different types of irony are used throughout the book, but the situational irony that takes place at the end stands out. It relates to what really happened during the Russian Revolution in 1917. When the animals rebel against Mr. Jones, their main goal is equality, but after everything that occurred…

Ruth Filik’s article “The Emotional Impact of Verbal Irony: Eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process” explores people’s emotional processing of verbal irony, specifically sarcasm. The article investigates a reader’s emotional response to a short story in which a character receives either sarcastic or explicit criticism. At the end of the anecdote, the reader is made aware of either the critic’s motivations behind the critique or the victim’s emotional response to the criticism. The goal is…