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What is Irony?

Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth

The term irony is derived from a Greek word that means "one who dissembles." There are three important types: verbal, dramatic, and situational. Each signals a difference between appearance and reality.

Verbal irony involves figures of speech, in which what is said is not what is meant. There are several kinds:

  • Sarcasm: In sarcasm, the speaker means the opposite of what is said. Suppose someone walks out the door in the morning, hoping for sunshine, and finding sleet and freezing rain exclaims, “What a great day!” This is sarcasm, and irony results because the opposite of what is literally said is what is actually meant. The contempt in this particular kind of sarcasm is for the event described: it is not personal criticism — the speaker is disgusted by the lousy weather.

  • Equivocation: In equivocation, the speaker says something that is true if understood properly, but at the same time, does everything possible to ensure that it will be misunderstood. This allows a speaker to tell the truth but to avoid revealing certain matters. For example, in Macbeth, Act 2, scene 3, upon hearing Lennox refer to the strange and prophetic events of the previous night, Macbeth responds "'Twas a rough night." He may seem to be simply affirming Lennox's observations, but having seen the discussions surrounding the murder of Duncan, the audience knows that there is another meaning to Macbeth's statement that Lennox cannot understand.
Shakespeare's play,"Macbeth", demonstrates several types of irony.
Shakespeare's play,"Macbeth", demonstrates several types of irony.

In Dramatic irony, the author, narrator or playwright reveals to the reader or audience information about a character's situation of which the character is not aware. Portents and foreshadowing are two ways in which an author or playwright can accomplish this; another way is by allowing the reader or audience to witness scenes or situations that a character does not have access to. For example, when the audience first sees Macbeth in Act 1, scene 3 of the play that bears his name, and the witches hail him as Thane of Cawdor, they know — but he does not — that the Thane of Cawdor has been condemned to death and his title been designated for Macbeth by King Duncan. For the audience, this happened in Act 1, scene 2, but Macbeth receives the news later, after the prophecy, creating a gap between what the audience knows and what he knows.

In Dramatic irony, the author reveals information about a character's situation of which the character is not aware.
In Dramatic irony, the author reveals information about a character's situation of which the character is not aware.

Situational irony results when well-founded expectations — either a character’s or the audience’s — appear to be secure but fail to manifest; this is another way in which appearance and reality can wind up in contradiction. Again, Macbeth’s road to keep the throne and overthrow Malcolm’s claim seems certain to him, since "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth," and he is safe until "Birham wood be come to Dunsinane" — two assurances that give him a fair certitude of success. Both of these promises turn out to have been equivocations, however, and his success is by no means assured. In the final scenes of the play, Macbeth's expectations are overturned, and he is killed.

Irony is often used to incite laughter.
Irony is often used to incite laughter.

Though irony has a well-established presence in literature and fine arts, it is also a staple of many forms of pop culture. One outstanding example of this is super hero fiction, either in comic books or in movies, which repeatedly use it to twist the plot, creating engaging and dramatic situations. The 1989 film Batman serves as an example in pop culture. In this movie, Bruce Waynes's choice to engage in crime fighting is a direct result of the murder of his parents when he was young. The murderer, at the time a two-bit thug, would later be pushed into a vat of acid by Batman during a robbery of a chemical plant. After plastic surgery and recovering from the acid burns, the two-bit thug reinvents himself as one of Batman's greatest adversaries, the Joker. The irony that each of these two characters are actually responsible for creating their enemy leads to dark, engaging plot lines.

Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth

Mary Elizabeth is passionate about reading, writing, and research, and has a penchant for correcting misinformation on the Internet. In addition to contributing articles to LanguageHumanities about art, literature, and music, Mary Elizabeth is a teacher, composer, and author. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago’s writing program and an M.A. from the University of Vermont, and she has written books, study guides, and teacher materials on language and literature, as well as music composition content for Sibelius Software.

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Mary Elizabeth
Mary Elizabeth

Mary Elizabeth is passionate about reading, writing, and research, and has a penchant for correcting misinformation on the Internet. In addition to contributing articles to LanguageHumanities about art, literature, and music, Mary Elizabeth is a teacher, composer, and author. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago’s writing program and an M.A. from the University of Vermont, and she has written books, study guides, and teacher materials on language and literature, as well as music composition content for Sibelius Software.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

anon328514

@anon281024: Stating no one understands irony while making a wrongful claim that the only thing ironic about the song

"Ironic" is the title.

Situational irony is rife throughout the song. There is also at least one verbal irony expressed through sarcasm. If one buys into Cosmic Irony, then the entire song is ironic.

Funnily enough, the supposed explanations people come up with to make the situations in the song truly ironic often don't make the situations any more ironic. Which goes to show you, people don't understand irony since they cannot recognize it, unless it is spelled out in excruciating detail.

anon281024

It's ironic that no one understands irony. Just like Alanis Morissette, her song was only ironic because she is singing a song about irony and has no clue what it means. Now that is ironic, don't ya, think?

anon221042

I love that the writer used a Batman example.

anon120788

This page is a great educational tool for when attempting to differentiate between the three types of ironies.

anon117934

i can't understand anything about irony.

ostrich

I have noticed that there are many people out there who don't seem to understand irony. It drives me a little bit crazy.

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    • Shakespeare's play,"Macbeth", demonstrates several types of irony.
      By: Claudio Divizia
      Shakespeare's play,"Macbeth", demonstrates several types of irony.
    • In Dramatic irony, the author reveals information about a character's situation of which the character is not aware.
      By: michaeljung
      In Dramatic irony, the author reveals information about a character's situation of which the character is not aware.
    • Irony is often used to incite laughter.
      By: Antonioguillem
      Irony is often used to incite laughter.