Types of IronyTypes of Irony

Mrs. Caruso

Please copy all notes in RED

Verbal Irony

The use of words to convey something other than, and especially the opposite of the literal meaning of the words, to emphasize, aggrandize, or make light or a circumstance or subject.

A common example of this is the scenario of a man staring out a window looking at a miserably muddy rainy day and remarking, "lovely day for a stroll.”

It is purposeful, and the speaker is in on the joke!

Dramatic Irony Dramatic irony is contingent upon a third party witnessing the

actions of others and interpreting them as ironic, thus you see it most regularly in artistic productions.

Dramatic irony is a big bundle of miscommunication, manufactured by a character or circumstance clandestine to another character, and revealed to the audience. Having this type of concealed action be available to the audience gives it the ability to know more than what certain characters know.

It is the disconnect, or the contrast between what the character says, thinks, or does and the true situation that is being faced.

Tragic Irony

Essentially a subset of Dramatic Irony. In this form of irony the words and actions of

one character or more betray the real situation and tragic results ensue from those words and/or actions, about which the spectators are aware before the actors.

Tragic irony is any circumstance in which dramatic irony is rampant and leads up to a final and tragic event or realization.

Situational Irony

Situational Irony occurs in literature and in drama when persons and events come together in improbable situations, creating a tension between expected and real results.

Situational irony results from recognizing the oddness or unfairness of a given situation, be it positive or negative.

Even though a person typically cannot justifiably explain this unfairness logically, the coincidental nature of the situation is still very obvious to those evaluating it. For example, if the president of Microsoft, Bill Gates, were to win a contest whose grand prize was a computer system, the irony would be situational because such a circumstance would appear ridiculous or "funny" for a number of reasons.

Litotes

An ironic type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite.

e.g., “She’s not bad-looking.” “It was not a pretty picture.”