Structural irony

Irony

“All roads lead to tone and irony”

Definition of Irony

• Laurence Perrine defines irony as “a term with a range of meanings, all of them involving some sort of discrepancy or incongruity.”

• The Riverside Anthology of Literature records , “a mode of writing in which truth appears in a mask that disguises it.”

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Reminder and Disclaimer

• All forms of irony depend on the unexpected in some way

• Irony relies on the reader or audience to intelligently perceive the slight smile as the author says one thing and means another

• Irony relies on the reader’s interpretation of the writer’s tone and of the elements that contribute to the tone


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Associated with Irony…

• Mode of Discourse: Satire

• Tone: Sarcasm

• Literary Vocabulary: hyperbole, litote,

• Paradox, euphemism


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Origins of Irony

• In Greek comedy, the character called the eiron was a dissembler, who spoke in understatement and deliberately pretended to be less intelligent than he was, yet triumphed over the alazon, the self-deceiving and stupid braggart.


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Three Types of Irony

• Verbal

• Dramatic

• Situational

• Each is achieved in a different way by an author


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Verbal Irony

• A figure of speech in which the opposite is said from what is intended (Perrine 201).

• Usually an explicit expression of one attitude or evaluation

• Indications in the overall speech situation that the speaker intends a different or opposite attitude or evaluation.


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Verbal Irony

• The surface meaning may be false, or it may be a level of meaning that is different from the underlying one (which is usually more significant).

• Words should not be taken at face value by the context in which they occur--which includes the speaker's character, the situation, particular word associations, and a common ground of assumptions shared by the speaker and the reader.


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Verbal Irony: Everyday Use

• When Sally looks out the window during a rainstorm and says, “Nice day!” (Birkcerts 578).


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Verbal Irony: Literature

• Hamlet's character as a brooding intellectual produces language that is loaded with ironic witticisms, as when he tells his hated stepfather, "I am too much in the sun" (pun on "son").


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Verbal Irony

• In the first three chapters of

Wuthering Heights, Lockwood’s use of verbal irony gives the reader a strong impression of the tone and attitude of

Lockwood as the narrator.


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Verbal Irony

• What is the purpose?

• Think---What is the purpose, and how do you know?

• The purpose ---universal idea/theme, tone, purpose

• How do you know?---elements that contribute to the purpose


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Verbal Irony and Sarcasm

• Verbal Irony: Much more subtle use of language

• Generally not intended to cause pain

• Satire: Aim is to cause pain by using language which causes embarrassment or wounded emotions


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Verbal Irony

• Conveys an implicit compliment to the intelligence of the readers

• Many literary ironists are misinterpreted and sometimes get into trouble with authorities (Abrams 135).


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Dramatic Irony

• Occurs when an author creates a

“contrast between what a character says and what the reader or audience knows to be true” (Perrine 202).


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Example from Oedipus Rex

• Oedipus is called upon to find the murderer of King Laius in order to end the plague in Thebes. Oedipus vows to find and punish the Killer, never considering that he might be the guilty party.


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As for the criminal, I pray to God —

Whether it be a lurking thief, or one of a number —

I pray that that man’s life be consumed in evil and wretchedness.

And as for me, this curse applies no less

If it should turn out that the culprit is my guest here,

Sharing my hearth

You have heard the penalty (Scene I, lines

29 -35).


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Irony in Oedipus Rex

• Audiences familiar--like the original Greek spectators--with the legend of Oedipus know that the hero of Sophocles' tragedy is guilty of the evil he seeks to punish; therefore, they fully appreciate

Oedipus' blindness as he self-righteously hunts the murderer of Laius--not only blind that he is the murderer, but also that Laius is his father and that he is presently married to his own mother.


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Abrams on Dramatic Irony

• “involves a situation in a play or a narrative in which the audience or reader shares with the author knowledge of present or future circumstances of which a character is ignorant…”


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Abrams on Dramatic Irony

• “…in that situation, the character unknowingly acts in a way we recognize to be 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 that the character intends” (136).


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Dramatic Irony

• Also known as Tragic Irony

• May produce comic effects when the ignorance of characters merely makes them appear ridiculous , or when the unintended results of their actions are humorous.


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Structural Irony

• Structural irony occurs when a double level of meaning is continued throughout a work by means of some inherent feature such as a hero, narrator, or persona who is either naive or fallible (a participant in the story whose judgment is impaired by prejudice, personal interests, or limited knowledge).


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Example of Structural Irony

• In Swift's

Gulliver's Travel's

(1726), the narrator who recounts his own travels is both naive and fallible: he idealizes some of the people he encounters despite their follies; and his judgments are biased by conservative morality and personal pride.


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Structural Irony

• Narrow conventional morality also biases Nelly Dean, the narrator of

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

(1847), and in Shakespeare's As You

Like It, the continuing disguise of

Rosalind as the young man Ganymede leads to multiple levels of dramatic and structural irony.


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Irony’s Purpose

• Irony is used in a play for several reasons:

– to heighten suspense

– to assist in developing the depth of characters

– to assist in foreshadowing.


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Oedipus Rex o With Oedipus always making the wrong move, Sophocles heightens suspense.

The audience knows what is happening.

o When the audience knows what is happening, suspense increases. The audience waits for the crucial moment.

o Sophocles teases his audience with dramatic and verbal irony.


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Oedipus Rex

• Often present in Oedipus’ long speeches.

• Oedipus constantly sees things incorrectly and is in denial that he has, in fact, killed his father and married his mother.

• This is first apparent when he demands the death of the man who killed Laius.

Oedipus calls the man who did this an evil murder.

• In another speech, Oedipus accuses Creon of framing him as the murderer, in order to get the throne.


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Oedipus Rex

• At this point, Oedipus is in denial that he is guilty, even though all of the evidence points to him. In reality, Creon does not want to be king at all; he enjoys his current position of wealth and power without having much responsibility.

• A third occasion of irony in the speeches is

Oedipus’s firm belief that the people who raised him were his biological parents. Oedipus refuses to believe that Jocasta is his mother, and that by escaping to Thebes, he did not escape the fate he was told of at Delphi.

• Because of Oedipus’s denial and stubbornness, he did suffer greatly and ‘commit the greatest sin’.


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Use of Dramatic Irony

• Some of the most powerful uses of dramatic irony are associated with tragedy

– Emphasizes how limited human understanding is

– Emphasizes how painful the costs of misunderstandings are


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Effects of Dramatic Irony

• It is this discrepancy between what

Oedipus understands his words to apply to and what the audience understands their scope actually to be that constitutes the effect the dramatic irony.


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Situational Irony

• Occurs with the author is able to hide or disguise the true state of affairs from the reader

• Then, gives the reader a surprise!

• A moment in the story when we are

“led to expect or believe one thing, we suddenly confront a different outcome” (Birkerts 577).


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Perrine’s Thoughts on Situational

Irony

• Usually the most important kind for the story writer because the discrepancy is between

– appearance and reality or

– expectation and fulfillment or

– what is and what would seem appropriate

(203).


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Situational Irony

• Excellent example: The Story of an

Hour


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Note

• * It is important to remember that nothing is inherently ironic.

• The author must write in a way that can be interpreted as ironic, and the reader or audience must be skilled enough to understand the irony.


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Exercises in Irony

Answer on your own paper

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe

Shelley (1817)

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sun, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal these words appear:

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.


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Questions

• 1. Shelley has embedded one speaker’s voice (the traveler’s) inside another’s.

Ozymandias’ words are embedded in the traveler’s. How do these voices differ?

• 2. Characterize Ozymandias. Can you think of any historical or contemporary figures who might see themselves as Ozymandias saw himself?


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Questions

• 3. What is the traveler’s response to the ruins and words of Ozymandias?

• 4. What kind (s) of irony are used in this poem?

• What is the theme? (lines to support)

• How does the irony communicate this message to the reader?


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Structural irony

Irony

Definition of Irony

Reminder and Disclaimer

Associated with Irony…

Origins of Irony

Three Types of Irony

Verbal Irony

Verbal Irony

Verbal Irony: Everyday Use

Verbal Irony: Literature

Verbal Irony

Verbal Irony

Verbal Irony and Sarcasm

Verbal Irony

Dramatic Irony

Example from Oedipus Rex

Irony in Oedipus Rex

Abrams on Dramatic Irony

Abrams on Dramatic Irony

Dramatic Irony

Structural Irony

Example of Structural Irony

Gulliver's Travel's

Structural Irony

Irony’s Purpose

Use of Dramatic Irony

Effects of Dramatic Irony

Situational Irony

Perrine’s Thoughts on Situational

Irony

Situational Irony

Note

Exercises in Irony

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe

Shelley (1817)

Questions

Questions

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