THE TYPES OF IRONY

THE TYPES OF IRONY

by Keion Beard

What is Irony?

It is a literary device in which words are used to express a contradiction between appearance and reality. In irony, the reality is usually the opposite of what it seems.

In literature, there are 3 types of irony

What are the 3 Types of Irony?

• Verbal Irony

  Situational Irony

• Dramatic Irony

​Verbal Irony

It is when a speaker or writer says one thing but actually means the opposite.

Sarcasm is one type of verbal irony.

For example, when your mom walks into your filthy bedroom and says, "I see you've cleaned your room!"

Situational Irony

It is when the outcome of a situation is inconsistent with what we expect would logically or normally occur.

It is the reverse of what we expect will be or happen.

An example of situational irony would be a Pepsi company selling Coca-Cola bottles.

Dramatic Irony

It is when the audience or the reader is aware of something that a character does not know.

For example, when Romeo believes Juliet is dead, but the audience knows that she has only been given a potion to sleep.

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More Examples of Verbal Irony

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• Mother: “I see you ironed your shirt.”

  Boy: “But I just dug it out of the bottom of the hamper.”

• A man commenting on the beautiful weather you’ve been having just five minutes before a tornado rips through your house.

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More Examples of Situational Irony

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• • A rat infestation at the Department of Sanitation.

  • A thief's house being broken into at the same time he was robbing someone's house.

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More Examples of Dramatic Irony

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• • • In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet stabs through a curtain thinking his traitorous, murdering uncle is there, only to learn that he actually stabbed and killed the father of the woman he loves, and a man for whom he had the utmost respect and admiration.

    • In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor lies and tells the investigator that her husband never had an affair (in fact, he had), right before John Proctor publicly declared that his wife never had—and never would—lie.

Multiple Choice

Now its your turn! What irony is shown below?

You are in a hurry in making your homework but then your laptop starts to lag, you would definitely say “Excellent! I’m surely going to pass this subject!”

• Verbal Irony

• Situational Irony

• Dramatic Irony

Multiple Choice

What irony is shown below?

When Andy thinks Woody and other of his toys are inanimate, while the reader knows they are animate.

• Verbal Irony

• Situational Irony

• Dramatic Irony

Multiple Choice

What irony is shown below?

On the news headlines, you see a fire station on fire and a police station robbed.

• Dramatic Irony

• Situational Irony

• Verbal Irony

​RECAP

Irony is a literary device in which words are used to express a contradiction between appearance and reality. There are 3 types of irony.

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Verbal irony is when a speaker or writer says one thing but actually means the opposite.

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Situational irony is when the outcome of a situation is inconsistent with what we expect would logically or normally occur.

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Dramatic irony is when the audience or the reader is aware of something that a character does not know.

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