Types of Irony
Types of Irony
Types of Irony
SETTING PLOT
CONFLICT CHARACTER
POINT OF VIEW THEME
SETTING -- The time and location in which a story takes place is called the
setting. For some stories the setting is very important, while for others it is
not. There are several aspects of a story's setting to consider when
examining how setting contributes to a story (some, or all, may be present in a
story):
PLOT -- The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his basic
idea; It is the sequence of events in a story or play. The plot is a planned,
logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end. The short story
usually has one plot so it can be read in one sitting. There are five essential
parts of plot:
a) Introduction - The beginning of the story where the characters and the
setting is revealed.
b) Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated
and the conflict in the story is revealed (events between the introduction and
climax).
c) Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the
story. The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved
or not?
3) Man vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas,
practices, or customs of other people.
Characters are...
1. Individual - round, many sided and complex personalities.
2. Developing - dynamic, many sided personalities that change, for better or
worse, by the end of the story.
3. Static - Stereotype, have one or two characteristics that never change and
are emphasized e.g. brilliant detective, drunk, scrooge, cruel stepmother, etc.
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POINT OF VIEW
Point of view, or p.o.v., is defined as the angle from which the story is told.
1. Innocent Eye - The story is told through the eyes of a child (his/her
judgment being different from that of an adult) .
3. First Person - The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters
who interacts closely with the protagonist or other characters (using pronouns
I, me, we, etc). The reader sees the story through this person's eyes as
he/she experiences it and only knows what he/she knows or feels.
4. Omniscient- The author can narrate the story using the omniscient point
of view. He can move from character to character, event to event, having free
access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of his characters and he
introduces information where and when he chooses. There are two main
types of omniscient point of view:
a) Omniscient Limited - The author tells the story in third person (using
pronouns they, she, he, it, etc). We know only what the character knows and
what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and
feelings of characters if the author chooses to reveal them to us.
b) Omniscient Objective – The author tells the story in the third person. It
appears as though a camera is following the characters, going anywhere, and
recording only what is seen and heard. There is no comment on the
characters or their thoughts. No interpretations are offered. The reader is
placed in the position of spectator without the author there to explain. The
reader has to interpret events on his own.
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THEME -- The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central
insight. It is the author's underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to
convey. The theme may be the author's thoughts about a topic or view of
human nature. The title of the short story usually points to what the writer is
saying and he may use various figures of speech to emphasize his theme,
such as: symbol, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.
Some simple examples of common themes from literature, TV, and film are:
- things are not always as they appear to be
- Love is blind
- Believe in yourself
- People are afraid of change
- Don't judge a book by its cover
Irony
Definition of Irony
Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their
intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may
also be a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally
anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference between appearance and
reality.
Types of Irony
On the grounds of the above definition, we distinguish two basic types of
irony: (1) verbal irony, and (2) situational irony. Verbal irony involves what one
does not mean. For example, when in response to a foolish idea, we say,
“What a great idea!” This is verbal irony. Situational irony occurs when, for
instance, a man is chuckling at the misfortune of another, even when the
same misfortune is, unbeknownst to him, befalling him.
I posted a video on YouTube about how boring and useless YouTube is.
The name of Britain’s biggest dog was “Tiny.”
You laugh at a person who slipped stepping on a banana peel, and the
next thing you know, you’ve slipped too.
The butter is as soft as a slab of marble.
“Oh great! Now you have broken my new camera.”
We come across the following lines in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act I,
Scene V:
Juliet commands her nurse to find out who Romeo was, and says if he were
married, then her wedding bed would be her grave. It is a verbal irony
because the audience knows that she is going to die on her wedding bed.
Shakespeare employs this verbal irony in Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II:
Cassius, despite knowing the mortal flaws of Caesar, calls him “this god”.
“Upon the murderer I invoke this curse – whether he is one man and all
unknown,
Or one of many – may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom!”
The above lines are an illustration of verbal and dramatic irony. It was
predicted that a man guilty of killing his father and marrying his own mother
brought A curse on the city and its people. In the above-mentioned lines,
Oedipus curses the man who is the cause of the curse. He is ignorant of the
fact that he himself is that man, and thus he is cursing himself. The audience,
on the other hand, knows the situation.
Example #4: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (By Samuel Coleridge)
Irony examples are not only found in stage plays, but in poems too. In his
poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge wrote:
In the above-stated lines, the ship – blown by the south wind – is stranded in
the uncharted sea. Ironically, there is water everywhere, but they do not have
a single drop of drinkable water.
There are many examples of verbal irony, in which the speaker means the
opposite of what he says, in Othello by Shakespeare, as given below:
OTHELLO: “O, thou art wise! ‘Tis certain” (IV.I.87), “Honest Iago . . . ”
(V.II.88), (II.III.179) & (I.III.319), “I know, Iago, Thy honesty and love doth
mince this matter” (II.III.251-52).
These few lines tell us how Othello uses irony to talk about Iago.
This shows that Iago only uses this phrase superficially, with quite the
opposite meaning.
In the short story The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe, there are many
instances of irony as given below:
1. The murderer poses that he is a wise and intelligent person, who takes
each step very carefully to kill the victim. However, the way the old’s
man eye prompts him to murder the victim is very ironic. He behaves
absolutely insanely throughout the story.
2. Another instance of irony in the same story is that the killer himself
confesses his crime without being asked by the police. The police are
there just to investigate the shriek some neighbor has reported.
However, their delayed stay makes the killer very nervous, and he
confesses his crime of murder in their presence. He even tells where he
has buried the dead body.
Function of Irony
Like all other figures of speech, irony brings about some added meanings to a
situation. Ironical statements and situations in literature develop readers’
interest. Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing, and forces the
readers to use their imaginations to comprehend the underlying meanings of
the texts. Moreover, real life is full of ironical expressions and situations.
Therefore, the use of irony brings a work of literature to the life.
Situational Irony
Definition of Situational Irony
Situational irony is a literary device that you can easily identify in literary
works. Simply, it occurs when incongruity appears between expectations of
something to happen, and what actually happens instead. Thus, something
entirely different happens from what audience may be expecting, or the final
outcome is opposite to what the audience is expecting. Situational irony
generally includes sharp contrasts and contradictions. The purpose of ironic
situations is to allow the readers to make a distinction between appearances
and realities, and eventually associate them to the theme of a story.
The Harry Potter series is one of the most popular novel series having
employed situational irony. Through seven novels, the audience believes that
Harry can kill Voldemort, the evil lord. However, the audience is thrown off
guard near the end of this series when it becomes clear that Harry must allow
the evil lord to kill him, so that Voldemort’s soul could become mortal once
again. Hence, Harry allows himself to be killed in order to defeat Voldemort,
which is exactly the opposite of the audience’s expectations. By using
situational irony, Rowling has done a great job of adding a twist to the story to
further a complex conflict.
A very famous example of this form of irony occurs toward the end of the short
story, The story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin. In this story, the wife of Mr.
Brently comes to know that he is no more alive and has died from an accident,
so she feels contended to live a long life of freedom with no restrictions.
However, at the end of the tale, her husband comes back unexpectedly and,
upon seeing him, instantly she dies from shock.
Dramatic Irony
Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is an important stylistic device that is commonly found in plays,
movies, theaters, and sometimes in poetry. Storytellers use this irony as a
useful plot device for creating situations in which the audience knows more
about the situations, the causes of conflicts, and their resolutions before the
leading characters or actors. That is why readers observe that the speech of
actors takes on unusual meanings.
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.”
This is one of the best examples of dramatic irony. In this case, Duncan says
that he trusts Macbeth, not knowing about the prophecy of witches that
Macbeth is going to be the king, and that he would kill him. The audience, on
the other hand, knows about the prophecy. This demonstrates dramatic irony.
This is another very good example of dramatic irony, when Iago manipulates
Othello, and Othello puts his faith in Iago as an honest man. However, Iago is
plotting against him without his knowledge. Again, the audience knows that
Iago is deceiving, but Othello does not.
Oedipus Rex presents one of the best examples of dramatic irony of all time.
In the play, Oedipus seeks to expose the murderer of King Laius to solve
a riddle; nonetheless, he himself is the murderer. Here, he declares that the
murderer, who has killed Laius, might also kill him, not realizing the fact that
he himself is the murderer.
“To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and
romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have
everything just as Torvald likes it!”
Nora is delightedly looking forward to those moments when she would be able
to pay off her debts to Krogstad. This reflects that she would be free.
However, her speech shows the use of dramatic irony when the readers know
that her freedom is, in fact, bondage, which she comes to realize by the end of
the story.
More often, this irony occurs in tragedies, where readers are lead to
sympathize with leading characters Thus, this irony emphasizes the fatality of
incomplete understanding on honest and innocent people, and demonstrates
the painful consequences of misunderstandings.
Verbal Irony
Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when a speaker speaks something contradictory to what
he intends to say. It is an intentional product of the speaker, and is
contradictory to his/her emotions and actions. To define it simply, it occurs
when a character uses a statement with underlying meanings
that contrast with its literal meaning; it shows that the writer has used verbal
irony. Writers rely on the audience’s intelligence for discerning the hidden
meanings they intend to convey. Writers also use ironic similes to convey
exactly the opposite of what they intend to say, such as “soft as concrete.”
“Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it
up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: ‘I am sure they are sour.’
”
“I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you
know I hate, rather than Paris.”
Juliet does not like the decision of her father to marry with Paris, whom she
dislikes and instead adores Romeo. Hence, she makes a decision to marry
Romeo and tells her mother about it ironically that whenever she would marry,
it would be Romeo – whom she dislikes – and not Paris, thus confusing her
mother.
We can find many fine examples of verbal irony in Pride and Prejudice. In this
example, we relish ironic flavor of Darcy’s statement, as we later find out that
the woman he found unsuitable to dance with, ends up taking a place in his
heart.
The title of the poem, The Unknown Citizen, employs verbal irony, as the poet
describes a person whom everyone knows, yet he is still unknown. Also, by
deliberately capitalizing common words, the speaker makes them sound
meaningless, ironic, and sarcastic: “the Greater Community,” “Social
Psychology,” “Union,” “Public Opinion,” and “High Grade Living.” All of these
terms sound formal, pompous, bureaucratic, and arrogant. Simply, through
verbal irony, the poet shows how governmental agencies, which should serve
human beings, have rather enslaved them.
TIRESIAS:
“You are all ignorant. I will not reveal the troubling things inside me, which I
can call your grief as well.”
OEDIPUS:
“Do you intend to betray me and destroy the city?”
All types of ironies are prevalent throughout the entire play, Oedipus Rex. One
fine example of verbal irony occurs when Tiresias refuses to reveal the
prophecy to Oedipus.
“I rather recommend buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the
knife, as we do roasting pigs.”
Verbal irony is a dominant literary device in this novel by Swift. For instance,
in the above statement the author intends to point out that the government
should not treat Irish people like animals. In irony, he compares the Irish to
animals.
“Today was a very cold and bitter day, as cold and bitter as a cup of hot
chocolate; if the cup of hot chocolate had vinegar added to it and were placed
in a refrigerator for several hours.”
“It is an unspoken hunger we deflect with knives – one avocado between us,
cut neatly in half, twisted then separated from the large wooden pit. With the
green fleshy boats in hand, we slice vertical strips from one end to the other.
Vegetable planks. We smother the avocado with salsa, hot chiles at noon in
the desert. We look at each other and smile, eating avocados with sharp silver
blades, risking the blood of our tongues repeatedly.”
“The woman raised her hands and stared at them; stared through them.
Her voice was soft but tense. ‘Blood on his hands.’ Her own hands were clean
and pale.”
When we read these lines, they immediately bring to our mind an emotional
response, and draw our attention. This is exactly what atmosphere does in a
literary work.
Within this, the author gives attributes to these places with different concepts
and ideas. For instance, when Jerry goes to find Dover mail, to convey a
message to Mr. Lorry, Dickens creates a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere,
alluding to the darker end. Another type of atmosphere we see in the
courtroom towards the end. During the scene, you would notice the public is
searching and buzzing for victim after victim. Thus Dickens links the
atmosphere of this place with death.
Function of Atmosphere
The purpose of establishing atmosphere is to create emotional effect. It
makes a literary work lively, fascinating, and interesting by keeping
the audience more engaged. It appeals to the readers’ senses by making the
story more real, allowing them to comprehend the idea easily. Since
atmosphere makes the audience feel in an indirect way, writers can convey
harsh feelings with less severity. Writers control the impact of prevailing
atmosphere by changing the description of settings and objects.
Setting and Atmosphere, Part 1: How Setting and Atmosphere
Change a Story
Save
By the time I turned fourteen, my family and I had lived in six different houses, in three
different states. Like many kids whose families move frequently, I failed to develop a
strong attachment to or sense of place. This never bothered me-until I began to write
fiction.
My characters lived and breathed in the netherworld, an unidentifiable time and place, a
sort of white space in the fictional world. While I wouldn’t call the lack of tangible
setting a story killer, necessarily, it certainly detracted from my work. Setting and
atmosphere evoke an emotional response. Consider how you emotionally different you
feel on a dazzling May morning and a dismal day in November. You may feel terrific on
both (my husband loves November days), but the specific emotions each atmosphere
evokes-hopeful vs. reflective, perhaps?-likely differ.
Carefully written, setting and atmosphere have a similar effect on your characters, and
also on plot.
Although they work together, setting and atmosphere are not interchangeable. Before
we go further, let’s take a moment to define the terms:
Setting: specific place, time period, and weather and time of day in which the story
takes place.
Setting and atmosphere are central to your story: they both rely on and influence the
plot. In a romance set in the protagonist’s hometown, for instance, her familiarity will
affect her behavior. If your parents still live in your childhood home, consider the
changes in you when you walk in the front door. When your protagonist drives through
her hometown, she’ll recognize people and places. She may feel safe, protected, or
childlike; if she grew up in a hostile place, she may feel threatened. If her love interest
grew up in the same town, they’ll share a bond-they may have attended the same high
school, know the same people; they’ll be accustomed to local traditions.
Now imagine: at the annual Fourth of July celebration in her hometown, Anna meets a
handsome young man from Mumbai, on his first trip to the U.S. To Anna, the town is
familiar, comfortable. For her, the child of a Vietnam veteran, the celebration evokes
deep national pride-or shame; or maybe the picnic on the common is a time for
gathering with family and friends, celebrating summer. For the young man, in town on
a short job assignment, his surroundings are unfamiliar, alien. These differences may
draw them together-she introduces him to family and friends, explains customs, pulls
him into her circle. Or create conflict-he’s bored, finds the pie-eating contest silly, feels
out of place with the people. Either way, the setting sets the story in motion.
What if, instead of a hometown celebration, Anna meets the same young man at night,
in a bar in downtown L.A.? At a professional conference in Vegas? On a scotch tour in
Edinburgh? On a plane, during a turbulent cross-country flight? In a hotel lobby during
a category 4 hurricane?
Each setting would create a particular atmosphere, and from each a different story
would emerge.
Consider the novel The Kite Runner or the memoir Under the Tuscan Sun. Could the
same stories be set in the U.S.? If so, in what way or ways might the plots have to
change? How does a thief who breaks into homes at night, when the occupants are
asleep, differ from one who enters in broad daylight, when he knows the homeowners
are gone? How might their motives differ?
Again, these choices make an enormous difference to the outcome of your story.
Depending on your preference and goals, you may choose setting based on plot, or you
might put characters in a particular setting and let the story play out. In a book,
settings are likely to change. As you write, try to be aware of this and consider the
behaviors and emotional responses settings evoke.
Exercises
Rewrite an important scene from your novel or memoir or the opening pages of a story
or essay.
Each exercise below asks you to change a particular aspect of setting. Note: drastic
changes will produce the greatest emotional responses in your characters and have the
most influence on plot. Don’t worry about the veracity of setting details. Focus on your
characters and their behavior.
2) Change the historical time period-set your story 50 years before or after it currently
takes place; 100 years; 250 years; 1000 years
4) Change the time of day-again, create drama; move from afternoon to predawn; late
night to midday; early morning to midnight; mid-morning to the witching hour, in late
afternoon.
After you complete these exercises, assess the changes to your characters and story.
How did these changes influence the ways your characters behaved? How does this
influence your plot?
Symbolism
Definition of Symbolism
Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them
symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.
Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. “A
chain,” for example, may stand for “union” as well as “imprisonment”. Thus,
symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by when, where,
and how it is used. It also depends on who reads the work.
Blake uses a sunflower as a symbol for human beings, and “the sun”
symbolizes life. Therefore, these lines symbolically refer to their life cycle and
their yearning for a never-ending life.
“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it; I’m well
aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the
eternal rocks beneath a source of little visible delight, but necessary.”
The phrase “foliage of leaves” for is a symbol for Linton’s fertile and civilized
nature. On the contrary, Heathcliff is likened to an “eternal rock,” which
symbolizes his crude and unbendable nature.
In the above lines, “spring” and “daisies” are symbols of youth. “Brown and
barren” are symbols of transition from youth to old age. Moreover, “Bitter
autumn” symbolizes death.
In this beautiful poem, William Davies who has used the symbol of rain to
show the different classes of society. He does this by describing the way the
upper leaves benefit from the rain first, and then hand down the rest to the
lower leaves. The same way, rich people pass on the leftover benefits to the
poor people.
In this poem, the poet uses rainbow as a symbol of hope and general
wellbeing throughout his life.
Example #7: XXIII, Crossing Alone the Nighted Ferry (By A. E. Housman)
Function of Symbolism
Symbolism gives a writer freedom to add double levels of meanings to his
work: a literal one that is self-evident, and the symbolic one whose meaning is
far more profound than the literal. Symbolism, therefore, gives universality to
the characters and the themes of a piece of literature. Symbolism in literature
evokes interest in readers as they find an opportunity to get an insight into the
writer’s mind on how he views the world, and how he thinks of common
objects and actions, having broader implications.
Conflict
Conflict Definition
In literature, conflict is a literary element that involves a struggle between two
opposing forces, usually a protagonist and an antagonist.
The conflict here is that Hamlet wants to kill his father’s murderer, Claudius,
but he also looks for proof to justify his action. This ultimately ruins his life,
and the lives of his loved ones. Due to his internal conflict, Hamlet spoils his
relationship with his mother, and sends Ophelia (Hamlet’s love interest) into
such a state of despair that she commits suicide.
Hamlet’s internal conflict, which is regarded as indecisiveness, almost got
everyone killed at the end of the play. The resolution to the conflict came
when he killed Claudius by assuming fake madness so that he would not be
asked for any justification. In the same play, we find Hamlet engaged in an
external conflict with his uncle Claudius.
Example #3: The Lord of the Flies Farm (By William Golding)
Another kind of external conflict sets a character against the evil that
dominates a society. In this type of conflict, a character may confront a
dominant group with opposing priorities. For instance, in Harper Lee’s
novel To Kill a Mockingbird, an honest lawyer, Atticus Finch, goes up against
the racist society in which he lives. Atticus has the courage to defend a black
man, Tom Robinson, who has been falsely accused of a rape. Though Atticus
has the support of a few like-minded people, most of the townspeople express
their disapproval of his defense of a black man.
Function of Conflict
Both internal and external conflicts are essential elements of a storyline. It is
essential for a writer to introduce and develop conflict, whether internal,
external, or both, in his storyline in order to achieve the story’s goal.
Resolution of the conflict entertains the readers.