IRONY
…Or ironically many of the ironic
sayings in Alannis Morrisette’s
song “Isn’t It Ironic?” may not be
ironic… which is ironic.
Definition
 Definition:
A Figure of speech. A
contradiction of expectation
between what is said and what is
meant or an incongruity between
what might be expected and
what actually occurs. Often
connected to a fatalistic or
pessimistic view of life.
Types of Irony – Dramatic Irony

Definition of Dramatic Irony A situation in which the audience
knows something about present or
future circumstances that the
character does not know.
Sometimes referred to as “tragic
irony”
Types of Irony – Dramatic Irony
 Dramatic
example: Oedipus Rex by
Sophocles in which Oedipus searches
to find the murderer of the former
king of Thebes, only to discover that
it is himself, which is known to the
audience all along.
Types of Irony – Verbal Irony
of Verbal Irony- A
contradiction of expectation between
what is said and what is meant
 Definition
Types of Irony – Verbal Irony
Verbal example: Julius Caesar by William
Shakespeare
"Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honorable man“
 Other examples (similes):

– “As soft as concrete”
– “As clear as mud”
– “As pleasant as a root canal”

Sometimes verbal irony is linked to
“sarcasm” and other literary devices such
as “hyperbole and understatement”
Types of Irony – Situational Irony

Definition of
Situational Irony
- A contradiction of
expectation between
what might be
expected and what
actually occurs often
connected to a
fatalistic / pessimistic
view of life.
Types of Irony – Situational Irony
 Situational
example: The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner by Coleridge:
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink
 It’s all SALT water and is
undrinkable.
Subsets of Irony – Cosmic Irony
One subset of Situational Irony is Cosmic
Irony. It is based on the assumptions that the
gods or fates are toying with human beings.
In art:
 In O. Henry's story The Gift of the Magi, a
young couple are too poor to buy each other
Christmas gifts. The man finally pawns his
heirloom pocket watch to buy his wife a set
of combs for her long, beautiful, prized hair.
She, meanwhile, cuts off her treasured hair
to sell it to a wig-maker for money to buy
her husband a watch-chain.

Subsets of Irony – Cosmic Irony
In history:
 In 1974 the Consumer Product Safety Commission had to
recall 80,000 of its own lapel buttons promoting "toy
safety", because the buttons had sharp edges, used
lead paint, and had small clips that could be broken
off and subsequently swallowed.
 Importing Cane Toads to Australia to protect the
environment only to create worse environmental
problems for Australia.
 Jim Fixx, who did much to popularize jogging as a form
of healthy exercise in his 1977 book The Complete
Book of Running, died at the age of 52 of a heart
attack (a death associated with sedentary, unhealthy
lifestyles) while out jogging
Subsets of Irony – Historical Irony
Historical irony is, in essence, cosmic
irony with the addition of time. It is also a
subset of Situational Irony.
 Example: World War I (sometimes called
“The Great War”) was also referred to as
“The War to End All Wars”… which led to
WWII.
 Example: Alfred Nobel invented TNT
(dynamite) to help save lives in mines and
it was later used to take far more lives as
a military explosive (hence, the invention
of “The Nobel Prize” to encourage peace).

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