Irony

Etymology, Meanings of Literary Device Irony

The term irony seems to have occurred in the Grecian language first as eiron which means dissembler. It was used as a verb as eironeia to show simulated ignorance. However, after entering the English language in the early period of the 16^th century, it turned into irony which means Socratic irony that has widened its meanings with time. The word Socratic finds its roots in the name of the Grecian sage, Socrates. This is a type of irony that shows the use of a method to expose the ignorance of the antagonist. Literally, it is considered part of humor or a type of humor to create amusement.

Grammatically, it is used as a noun that means to use something or show something to affect ignorance, while its verb is ironize which is rarely used in everyday writing. It means to speak ironically.

Definition of Literary Device Irony

In literature, irony is a term or a technique in which something or its meanings appear entirely different from what it appears at the surface level. Apart from literature and literary pieces, it appears in rhetoric, too.

Categories :

There are several categories of ironies such as;

1. Classical Irony: This type of irony refers to the irony occurring in the classical Greek plays as used by the original rhetoricians. It is also called Socratic irony.
2. Romantic Irony: This type of irony is used in fiction presenting self-criticism.
3. Cosmic Irony: This type of irony is used in generalization. However, it is not cosmetic irony.
4. Situational Irony: This type of irony appears in actions whose results are contrary to expectations.
5. Verbal Irony: This irony occurs in statements whose meanings are contradictory to what is said.
6. Dramatic Irony: This type of irony is what an actor says or does and knows about it as compared to the audience who knows the reality but the actor does not.
7. Meta Irony: This is not the type of irony that is about the irony and its studies about/over/against irony.

Common Examples

1. The West takes care of human rights by deploying armed forces around the world and bombing human rights violators.
2. This democracy asks the people to responsibly cast their votes or pay for not casting them.

Literary Examples :

Example # 1

From Oedipus The King by Sophocles (translated by David Grene)

Children, young sons and daughters of old Cadmus,
why do you sit here with your suppliant crowns?
The town is heavy with a mingled burden
of sounds and smells, of groans and hymns and incense; 5
I did not think it fit that I should hear
of this from messengers but came myself,—
I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.

These are the first few lines of the play, Oedipus The King. These lines show how Oedipus is speaking from his heart, yet it seems ironic to the audiences and readers. The logic of its being ironic is that as a king it is his duty to take care of the city and yet he is unaware of the plague befallen upon the city. This irony is obvious in the last line that he is “the Great” and yet he is asking the people about the problem.

Example # 2

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

I’ll have grounds

More relative than this. The play’s the thing

Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.

These lines occur in Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Prince Hamlet speaks these lines in an aside when he comes to know that a play is going to be staged in the palace and that his childhood friends are eager to watch the play with him. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are happy that they are going to pacify Hamlet, while Hamlet is planning to catch the king through the actors. This is quite an ironic if seen from the perspective of Hamlet.

Example # 3

Irony in The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The dramatic irony occurs when Santiago comes to know that the marlin is huge and that he might have to stay with him at the sea. Despite knowing his fragile physical condition, he vows to kill the marlin and also talks as if he has good physical strength and stamina required for the rigors of fishing. He even generalizes some arguments such as a man can be destroyed by not defeat which are a good example of cosmic irony.

Example # 4

From Macbeth by William Shakespeare

This castle hath a pleasant sea; the air

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself

Unto our gentle senses.

These verses from Macbeth demonstrate the use of dramatic irony. What King Duncan does not know is that he is going to be killed and the readers and the audiences know it. Even Banquo who does not know it, and responds to him by saying that “The air is delicate” to prove and adds “I have observed” it. This dramatic irony is the crux of the entire play after which Lady Macbeth enters the stage to prove it.

Example # 5

From “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe

“Be it so,” I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak, and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.

This short passage occurs in the story, “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe. This passage shows the true thinking of Montresor. He is clearly taking Fortunato to his death chamber but in the guise of his friend who needs him to check the cask of amontillado that he has got as a gift from somebody. He has already hooked him to do this. The latent in his words is clear that he has offered him his shoulder to support him, while he is going to kill him later.

Example # 6

Title of the story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy

The title of the story is ironic in that it shows that a man wants a huge tract of land as shown through the character of Pahom and yet when he runs to cover a lot of fields in one go, he arrives at the point when death takes him into its fold. He dies and it just takes a few yards of land where he goes to be buried as a dead man. This shows the ironic title of the story.

How to Create Irony

1. Think about whether you are writing a story, poem, or play.
2. Think about the situation and its verbal representation.
3. Create its contradiction or opposite situation.
4. Write that opposite situation and think whether it truly represents the opposite of that situation or event.
5. Also, try to think about what type of irony you are going to employ.
6. Evaluate its impact in a real-life situation.

Benefits of Using Irony

1. Irony helps to differentiate characters, situations, and events.
2. It makes audiences and readers think deeply about what it said or acted in front of them.
3. It helps the readers to understand the real meanings behind different words and sentences.
4. It helps writers and authors to create conflict, suspension, empathy, or comedy in their writings.

Literary Device of Irony in Literary Theory and Theories of Irony

1. The irony is an integral part of figurative language. Therefore, it helps in the formalistic analysis of a literary text to evaluate the effectiveness of the scenes, events, and incidents or characters as well as the overall message that it conveys. When analyzing a thematic strand, irony emerges as the most important element.
2. Iron is also important in feminism when attacking the oppressive patriarchy, and in indigenous critical and critical race theory when attacking the established hegemony against the indigenous culture such as the Kashmiri narratives or American Indian narratives do against the Indian culture or American culture.
3. Irony and its different categories are important in postmodernism and posthumanism to show different thematic strands lying uncovered in the existing and contemporary political and social-cultural situations.
4. Irony also helps understand real-life situations when authors feel fed up with using realism to convey their messages to their readers. Specifically, its role in the theory of meaning, interpretative form, and aestheticsn is important. It is also included in theoretical perspectives as a theory of irony and even theories of irony in media and cultural studies.

Suggested Readings

Bennett, Andrew, and Nicholas Royle. Literature, Criticism, and Theory. Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2004. Print.

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary And Cultural Theory. Manchester University Press, 2020. Print.

Colebrook, Claire. Irony. Psychology Press, 2004. Print.

Gibbs Jr, Raymond W., Raymond W. Gibbs, and Herbert L. Colston, eds. Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader. Psychology Press, 2007. Print. Winner, Ellen, and Howard Gardner. “Metaphor and Irony: Two Levels of Understanding.” Metaphor and Thought 2 (1993): 425-443.

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