Irony is a contrast of what is literally expected and what actually occurs. Irony is used to create unexpected moments that surprise the readers and works because it takes the assumed story formula, character stereotypes, or analogous comparisons and turns them on their heads. By doing this, irony has the ability to:
Understanding irony can be complicated because it requires a reader to understand a text well enough to both expect what will happen next and understand when the writer is intentionally subverting those expectations. According to DC Muecke, irony has three grades of comprehension: overt, covert, and private. Overt irony is easy to spot and understand, covert irony should "not be seen but detected" by the listener (meaning that the reader may miss it but will feel rewarded if they discover it), and private irony is not intended for anyone but the speaker to detect (making it a kind of in-joke for the speaker's own satisfaction). These three grades of irony occur both when a writer speaks to their audience and when a character speaks to another character.*
More important than the three grades of irony are the three classes of irony, and they work in different ways. Verbal irony plays with language, situational irony plays with plot and character, and dramatic irony plays with the relationship between text and audience.
- Add humor
- Create conflict
- Foreshadow events
- Increase tension and suspense
Understanding irony can be complicated because it requires a reader to understand a text well enough to both expect what will happen next and understand when the writer is intentionally subverting those expectations. According to DC Muecke, irony has three grades of comprehension: overt, covert, and private. Overt irony is easy to spot and understand, covert irony should "not be seen but detected" by the listener (meaning that the reader may miss it but will feel rewarded if they discover it), and private irony is not intended for anyone but the speaker to detect (making it a kind of in-joke for the speaker's own satisfaction). These three grades of irony occur both when a writer speaks to their audience and when a character speaks to another character.*
More important than the three grades of irony are the three classes of irony, and they work in different ways. Verbal irony plays with language, situational irony plays with plot and character, and dramatic irony plays with the relationship between text and audience.
VERBAL IRONY: Did you hear that?
Verbal irony uses wordplay to contrast between what is said and what is meant, usually to add humor to an exchange of words. Often in literature, verbal irony comes in the form of wit, which are clever and biting responses to others. When Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist everything except temptation," that's wit. At other times, verbal irony drifts into sarcasm, or the use of ironic statements to mock others or convey contempt ("Oh, I'll get right on that"). Wit is designed to amuse; sarcasm is designed to hurt. Wit is expressed with a positive tone; sarcasm, a negative one. Wit is intellectual and clever; sarcasm is direct and base.**
The most common verbal irony is antiphrasis, which is an analogy that should create a similarity but instead highlights a dissimilarity. If someone says that policy's clear as mud, their simile doesn't work as a simile should because mud isn't clear. Antiphrasis doesn't need to take the form of an ironic simile—it can be as simple as calling a hulking bodybuilder Tiny or saying, "Oh, what a day... what a lovely day!" while driving into a colossal sandstorm with the rest of the War Boys.
Another common type of verbal irony is hyperbole and its opposite, understatement. Both are types of analogies that rely on exaggeration. Writers use hyperbole to overexaggerate, making something bigger or more important for effect. I feel as big as a house and the whole world was laughing at me are examples of hyperbole. In contrast, understatement is an underexaggeration, making something smaller or less important for effect. Saying it's not a big deal… only a fatal wound or I'm pretty okay with Sheila dating my best friend and ripping my heart out are examples of understatement. While not all hyperbole is ironic, understatement is always ironic.
Often, understatement uses litotes, a type of solecism where the writer creates a double negative statement to create a juxtaposed conflict of meaning. For example, a character saying she's not unattractive is different than saying she's attractive—the use of understatement here is specifically avoiding the positive phrasing, leading the reader to understand that, while the speaker doesn't find the woman unattractive, it's questionable if the speaker does find the woman attractive. A similar juxtaposition that invites verbal irony is the oxymoron, which is a phrase that combines two words with opposite definitions (think jumbo shrimp, civil war, accurate estimate, awfully good, and Quiet Riot).
Another type of ironic understatement is euphemism, where an unpleasant word or phrase is substituted for something more appealing. He didn't die—he passed on. She isn't sick with diarrhea—she's under the weather. The dog isn't overweight—it's pleasantly plump or big-boned. Euphemisms are ironic because they attempt to hide what is obvious to those smart enough to see it.***
A cousin to euphemism is antanagoge, where an unpleasant idea isn't replaced by something more pleasant but counterbalanced with a more pleasant idea. Two examples of this are I've lost my job, but I'm looking forward to spending time at home and The best thing about the chemotherapy has been the weight loss—I'm three sizes smaller! Now, these are only considered antanagoge if said authentically—if the tone is bitter or derisive, it'd be sarcasm.
The same juxtaposition between what is pleasant and what isn't that fuels euphemism and antanagoge also creates the ironic logic behind the double entendre. Double entendres (also called adianoeta) are phrases that have a benign surface meaning and an often scandalous or sexual second meaning. For example, when Britney Spears sang, "If I said 'I want your body now,' would you hold it against me?" her words had two meanings: on the surface, she's asking if the listener would hold her bold language against her as a form of contempt; underneath, she's asking the listener to hold their body against her.
At the intersection of euphemism and double entendre is innuendo, or a vague suggestion toward a secondary, scandalous meaning. When Mae West famously said, "I was as pure as the driven snow—but I drifted," she used an innuendo to suggest that she drifted away from purity. Was it drugs or men or gambling that caused her drift? We don't know—that's what separates innuendo from double entendre, which has a complete and exact secondary meaning.
Finally, there are puns, which exploit different possible meanings of a word or its homophones. Most puns (short for paromonasia) are an ironic form of humor in that the joke of the swapped meaning tries to elicit a groan of frustration rather than a laugh. Puns often come in the form of what are colloquially known as dad jokes: "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." However, puns can be witty if the tone is sincere, as in Richard III's famous line, "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York."
The most common verbal irony is antiphrasis, which is an analogy that should create a similarity but instead highlights a dissimilarity. If someone says that policy's clear as mud, their simile doesn't work as a simile should because mud isn't clear. Antiphrasis doesn't need to take the form of an ironic simile—it can be as simple as calling a hulking bodybuilder Tiny or saying, "Oh, what a day... what a lovely day!" while driving into a colossal sandstorm with the rest of the War Boys.
Another common type of verbal irony is hyperbole and its opposite, understatement. Both are types of analogies that rely on exaggeration. Writers use hyperbole to overexaggerate, making something bigger or more important for effect. I feel as big as a house and the whole world was laughing at me are examples of hyperbole. In contrast, understatement is an underexaggeration, making something smaller or less important for effect. Saying it's not a big deal… only a fatal wound or I'm pretty okay with Sheila dating my best friend and ripping my heart out are examples of understatement. While not all hyperbole is ironic, understatement is always ironic.
Often, understatement uses litotes, a type of solecism where the writer creates a double negative statement to create a juxtaposed conflict of meaning. For example, a character saying she's not unattractive is different than saying she's attractive—the use of understatement here is specifically avoiding the positive phrasing, leading the reader to understand that, while the speaker doesn't find the woman unattractive, it's questionable if the speaker does find the woman attractive. A similar juxtaposition that invites verbal irony is the oxymoron, which is a phrase that combines two words with opposite definitions (think jumbo shrimp, civil war, accurate estimate, awfully good, and Quiet Riot).
Another type of ironic understatement is euphemism, where an unpleasant word or phrase is substituted for something more appealing. He didn't die—he passed on. She isn't sick with diarrhea—she's under the weather. The dog isn't overweight—it's pleasantly plump or big-boned. Euphemisms are ironic because they attempt to hide what is obvious to those smart enough to see it.***
A cousin to euphemism is antanagoge, where an unpleasant idea isn't replaced by something more pleasant but counterbalanced with a more pleasant idea. Two examples of this are I've lost my job, but I'm looking forward to spending time at home and The best thing about the chemotherapy has been the weight loss—I'm three sizes smaller! Now, these are only considered antanagoge if said authentically—if the tone is bitter or derisive, it'd be sarcasm.
The same juxtaposition between what is pleasant and what isn't that fuels euphemism and antanagoge also creates the ironic logic behind the double entendre. Double entendres (also called adianoeta) are phrases that have a benign surface meaning and an often scandalous or sexual second meaning. For example, when Britney Spears sang, "If I said 'I want your body now,' would you hold it against me?" her words had two meanings: on the surface, she's asking if the listener would hold her bold language against her as a form of contempt; underneath, she's asking the listener to hold their body against her.
At the intersection of euphemism and double entendre is innuendo, or a vague suggestion toward a secondary, scandalous meaning. When Mae West famously said, "I was as pure as the driven snow—but I drifted," she used an innuendo to suggest that she drifted away from purity. Was it drugs or men or gambling that caused her drift? We don't know—that's what separates innuendo from double entendre, which has a complete and exact secondary meaning.
Finally, there are puns, which exploit different possible meanings of a word or its homophones. Most puns (short for paromonasia) are an ironic form of humor in that the joke of the swapped meaning tries to elicit a groan of frustration rather than a laugh. Puns often come in the form of what are colloquially known as dad jokes: "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." However, puns can be witty if the tone is sincere, as in Richard III's famous line, "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York."
SITUATIONAL IRONY: Did you see that?
Situational irony occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected to happen. With comedy, something that should result in failure results in success, like Don Quixote fighting a windmill and being praised rather than thrown into an institution. With tragedy, something that should result in success ends in failure, like Willy Loman going to his boss to ask for a raise and ending up getting fired. Situational irony is often used for humorous effect and to create or intensify conflicts. There are three different flavors of situational irony: historic irony, cosmic irony, and poetic justice.
Historic irony is the most common type of situational irony: the character tries to stop or start something, but their success leads to the opposite of their objective happening due to unintended consequences of their actions. Guy Montag of Fahrenheit 451 is a firefighter charged with burning books, which is ironic because his job allows him to access a forbidden book and become a fan of (gasp!) reading. Romeo tries to stop Tybalt and Mercutio from killing each other by jumping between them, but his actions result in Tybalt stabbing Mercutio and, to avenge his friend, Romeo killing Tybalt. Odysseus is the only member of his crew to not ask the gods for safe passage home, and he ends up being the only one to make it home alive (albeit 20 years later).
A more traditional literary form of situational irony is cosmic irony, where a higher power (gods, magic, fate) intervenes in a character's story to take matters out of their hands. No matter what the character tries, nothing can change their outcome. In Oedipus Rex, King Laius learns his son will kill him, so he does whatever he can to kill his son... but fate intercedes so the prophecy comes true. The prophecy is key here: for cosmic irony to work, the character must be aware of their fate and actively try to prevent it. Laius knows of his fate, so he faces cosmic irony; however, in the same play, Oedipus does not know his fate, so his irony is actually dramatic in nature.
If the cosmic force the character can't escape is the author of the text themselves, it is called romantic irony—an example of romantic irony is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, where the storyteller (Death) frequently interrupts their story to speak directly to the reader and comment about their own storytelling. While structurally the same as cosmic irony, romantic irony is more comedic than tragic and typically involves breaking the fourth wall.
Finally, there is poetic justice, which occurs when a character receives an unintended or unwanted outcome due to their hubris or flaws in their character. Victor Frankenstein chooses to rebel against his father and devotes his life to bringing a dead body back to life, but he runs away from his responsibilities when he finds his creature too grotesque. In turn, Frankenstein's "son" rebels against him, devotes its life to destroying his happiness, and eventually causes his death. When Antonio borrows money from Shylock to help his friend Bassanio woo Portia in The Merchant of Venice, he promises Shylock a crazy thing in return: that he will give him a pound of flesh if he defaults on the loan. After Antonio defaults and Shylock comes to collect his flesh price, he is blocked by Portia (acting as Antonio's lawyer) arguing a crazy defense—that Shylock can only collect his pound of flesh if he can do so without illegally spilling Antonio's blood or getting the weight off by a hair.**** Often, poetic justice reflects the hubris of the character, which is a personal trait that gives them so much pride that it becomes a character flaw.
Historic irony is the most common type of situational irony: the character tries to stop or start something, but their success leads to the opposite of their objective happening due to unintended consequences of their actions. Guy Montag of Fahrenheit 451 is a firefighter charged with burning books, which is ironic because his job allows him to access a forbidden book and become a fan of (gasp!) reading. Romeo tries to stop Tybalt and Mercutio from killing each other by jumping between them, but his actions result in Tybalt stabbing Mercutio and, to avenge his friend, Romeo killing Tybalt. Odysseus is the only member of his crew to not ask the gods for safe passage home, and he ends up being the only one to make it home alive (albeit 20 years later).
A more traditional literary form of situational irony is cosmic irony, where a higher power (gods, magic, fate) intervenes in a character's story to take matters out of their hands. No matter what the character tries, nothing can change their outcome. In Oedipus Rex, King Laius learns his son will kill him, so he does whatever he can to kill his son... but fate intercedes so the prophecy comes true. The prophecy is key here: for cosmic irony to work, the character must be aware of their fate and actively try to prevent it. Laius knows of his fate, so he faces cosmic irony; however, in the same play, Oedipus does not know his fate, so his irony is actually dramatic in nature.
If the cosmic force the character can't escape is the author of the text themselves, it is called romantic irony—an example of romantic irony is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, where the storyteller (Death) frequently interrupts their story to speak directly to the reader and comment about their own storytelling. While structurally the same as cosmic irony, romantic irony is more comedic than tragic and typically involves breaking the fourth wall.
Finally, there is poetic justice, which occurs when a character receives an unintended or unwanted outcome due to their hubris or flaws in their character. Victor Frankenstein chooses to rebel against his father and devotes his life to bringing a dead body back to life, but he runs away from his responsibilities when he finds his creature too grotesque. In turn, Frankenstein's "son" rebels against him, devotes its life to destroying his happiness, and eventually causes his death. When Antonio borrows money from Shylock to help his friend Bassanio woo Portia in The Merchant of Venice, he promises Shylock a crazy thing in return: that he will give him a pound of flesh if he defaults on the loan. After Antonio defaults and Shylock comes to collect his flesh price, he is blocked by Portia (acting as Antonio's lawyer) arguing a crazy defense—that Shylock can only collect his pound of flesh if he can do so without illegally spilling Antonio's blood or getting the weight off by a hair.**** Often, poetic justice reflects the hubris of the character, which is a personal trait that gives them so much pride that it becomes a character flaw.
DRAMATIC IRONY: Did you know that?
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something a character doesn't. Sometimes other characters also know the vital information, and other times, all of the characters are left in the dark. A classic example of dramatic irony is the end of Romeo and Juliet: the audience knows that Juliet isn't really dead, but Romeo believes it and kills himself. Another noteworthy example occurs in Oedipus Rex, as the audience knows that Oedipus accidentally married his mother, but he and the others have to discover it on their own. In fact, dramatic irony is found in all stage plays (hence the drama in dramatic), as it helps increase tension for a live audience to wait for something they know will happen to occur.
In literature, dramatic irony most often is used for foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a deliberate hint left by an author as to what events will occur later in the narrative.
Structural irony is the most common type of dramatic irony outside of foreshadowing and occurs when a character is unaware of their surroundings and circumstances and thus makes mistakes and is divorced from reality. For example, Jay Gatsby spends all his time, energy, and money pursuing Daisy Buchanan when, from the very start of the novel, it's clear that his nouveau riche status cannot gain him permanent entry into the old money world of Tom, Daisy, and Nick. Pip in Great Expectations is the comic version of this irony: he is thrust into high society and, as a "fish out of water," makes embarrassing and laughable mistakes trying to impress Miss Havisham and Estella. Structural irony isn't a momentary scene in a text but a throughline tied to the central conflict of the story, and it often coincides with an unreliable narrator.
Another type of dramatic irony is categorical irony, sometimes called meta-irony. Categorical irony occurs when, because they are aware of the genre of the text, the audience knows what awaits characters based on genre tropes. For example, sitting down for a horror movie, one can expect to see characters brutally die at the hands of an unnatural force or monster even before the characters realize they shouldn't spend the night in that abandoned cabin in the woods. The two most common types of categorical irony in literature are tragic irony (no matter how initially successful the characters are, the audience knows that bad things will befall them) and comic irony (no matter how confident a character is in their success, they will hilariously fail to achieve their goal).
The final type of dramatic irony is Socratic irony, which occurs when someone who knows the answers to a question feigns ignorance to see what others say. Socrates did this as a teaching tool, as his students would endeavor to refine their answers to his questions as he kept asking narrowed questions. In literature, a character knows something (and the audience knows they know it) but pretends to not know to get information, such as motives or knowledge, from other characters. In The School for Scandal, Joseph talks with Sir Peter about Lady Teazle's affair and feigns knowledge of it to see how much Sir Peter knows; of course, the audience knows that Joseph is already aware of the affair, and he is the one participating in the affair with Lady Teazle... and Lady Teazle is, at that moment, even hiding behind the curtain in Joseph's study.
In literature, dramatic irony most often is used for foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a deliberate hint left by an author as to what events will occur later in the narrative.
- Indirect foreshadowing occurs when an object or piece of knowledge is introduced so it can come into the conflict later and play a prominent role. Also called Chekhov's gun in drama, indirect foreshadowing occurs in Act II, scene iii of Romeo and Juliet: Friar Lawrence discusses his knowledge of medicinal plants that "when tasted / stays all senses with the heart," which he eventually gives to Juliet to fake her death in Act IV.
- Direct foreshadowing occurs when the story narrator or character outright says what will happen later in the story. The prologue to Romeo and Juliet reveals that the "pair of star-crossed lovers take their life" before the story even starts. In Macbeth, the three witches recite their prophecy to Macbeth and Banquo. In Friday the 13th, Crazy Ralph tells the counselors that they'll all be doomed if they stay at Camp Crystal Lake. Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride makes good by his repeated oath of "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die" by indeed killing his father's murderer by the story's end.
- Symbolic foreshadowing occurs when an event, setting, or image hints to the tone or events later in the story. Unlike indirect foreshadowing, these occurrences don't factor into how future events unfold, like the gun introduced that is later fired—they merely create parallels between past and future. For example, in Of Mice and Men, Candy tells George he regrets having Carlson put down his dog instead of him doing it himself, which foreshadows George doing the same to Lenny at the end of the novel. The Hunger Games begins with Katniss in bed reaching out for Prim and finding she had nightmares about the reaping and left, which foreshadows the reaping later taking Prim away from Katniss until she volunteers. Frederic Henry's first words in A Farewell to Arms are "The leaves fell early that year," an image of loss happening before its natural time—the book is full of characters dying young as a result of the war, including his lover Catherine.
- Invisible foreshadowing occurs when a story sets up elements that telegraph the ending that the audience only realizes foreshadow events after the story ends. Invisible foreshadowing is critical to mystery stories, as the solution to a mystery is only satisfying if the answer is not obvious but could be discovered by focusing on the right clues. In Beartown, the first chapter states, "Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead, and pulled the trigger. This is the story of how we got there." While the story keeps the identity of the shotgun-wielding teen until the climax, the first character the reader is introduced to in Chapter 2 in Maya, who ends up being the one behind the shotgun.
Structural irony is the most common type of dramatic irony outside of foreshadowing and occurs when a character is unaware of their surroundings and circumstances and thus makes mistakes and is divorced from reality. For example, Jay Gatsby spends all his time, energy, and money pursuing Daisy Buchanan when, from the very start of the novel, it's clear that his nouveau riche status cannot gain him permanent entry into the old money world of Tom, Daisy, and Nick. Pip in Great Expectations is the comic version of this irony: he is thrust into high society and, as a "fish out of water," makes embarrassing and laughable mistakes trying to impress Miss Havisham and Estella. Structural irony isn't a momentary scene in a text but a throughline tied to the central conflict of the story, and it often coincides with an unreliable narrator.
Another type of dramatic irony is categorical irony, sometimes called meta-irony. Categorical irony occurs when, because they are aware of the genre of the text, the audience knows what awaits characters based on genre tropes. For example, sitting down for a horror movie, one can expect to see characters brutally die at the hands of an unnatural force or monster even before the characters realize they shouldn't spend the night in that abandoned cabin in the woods. The two most common types of categorical irony in literature are tragic irony (no matter how initially successful the characters are, the audience knows that bad things will befall them) and comic irony (no matter how confident a character is in their success, they will hilariously fail to achieve their goal).
The final type of dramatic irony is Socratic irony, which occurs when someone who knows the answers to a question feigns ignorance to see what others say. Socrates did this as a teaching tool, as his students would endeavor to refine their answers to his questions as he kept asking narrowed questions. In literature, a character knows something (and the audience knows they know it) but pretends to not know to get information, such as motives or knowledge, from other characters. In The School for Scandal, Joseph talks with Sir Peter about Lady Teazle's affair and feigns knowledge of it to see how much Sir Peter knows; of course, the audience knows that Joseph is already aware of the affair, and he is the one participating in the affair with Lady Teazle... and Lady Teazle is, at that moment, even hiding behind the curtain in Joseph's study.
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*Additionally, Muecke identified four modes of irony based on the tone and delivery of the speaker. Impersonal irony is delivered by the speaker with a deadpan seriousness; self-disparaging irony happens when the speaker makes themselves the target of ridicule to ridicule something else; with ingenue irony, the speaker takes on the tone of innocent ignorance (whether feigned or legitimate); and dramatized irony is delivered not by the speaker themselves but by characters performing for an audience. A majority of written texts employ only the last mode of irony while film, drama, and personal interactions vary more in modes of irony.
**At least successful wit is intellectual and clever. Attempts at wit that fail to be clever or original are called quips. Quips are often derided by audiences as lazy attempts at witticism for being too cliche, too glib, and for coming off as too forced into the writing. ***Just as understatement has its opposite in hyperbole, euphemism has its opposite in dysphemism, where a word or phrase is substituted for something more unpleasant. He didn't die—he's six feet under. She isn't sick with diarrhea—she's out with the chocolate squirts. The dog isn't overweight—it's a chonkin' cow or tub of lard. ****This is an oversimplification of the situational irony at play. First, Shylock is asked to take the financial equivalent of the flesh, but he refuses—then, upon learning he cannot claim his pound of flesh, he asks for the monetary equivalent but is denied because he already turned it down. This is additionally ironic because, as a Jew, Shylock's faith requires him to answer a wrong not with violence but with monetary compensation. If he would have followed the teachings of his faith, he would not gotten into the "pond of flesh" situation in the first place. Speaking of his Jewishness, his status as a Jew in Venice makes Shylock an alien, not a citizen, and the law states that if an alien attempts to kill a citizen, he will die and his fortune will be divided equally between the city and the wronged party. However, Antonio offers to spare Shylock's life and let him keep his fortune (with the stipulation that he supports his daughter Jessica and new son-in-law Lorenzo) if he converts to Christianity, and Shylock—despite flaunting his religious devotion at the top of the scene—quickly agrees. However, his conversion means that he is out of business, as Christians cannot lend money, yet he accepts this despite saying a few lines earlier that if his means of living were taken away, then he might as well be executed. The whole scene is layer upon layer of situational irony. |
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Works Referenced
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