Irony In George Orwell's A Hanging

After casually reading “A Hanging” by George Orwell, one would probably say that the essay is very objective and detached. Orwell does not even bother to name the essay “The Hanging”; it is referred to as nothing more than “A Hanging.” However, a careful reading of “A Hanging” reveals Orwell’s use of irony to imply deep disapproval for the dehumanization that pervades the events depicted in the essay.
Orwell first uses irony to display the inhumanity of the actions of the guards. They are very wary of the prisoner and handle him as though he is “a fish which … may jump back into the water” (par. 2). Despite the condemned man making no attempt at escape or even slight resistance, the guards behave as though he is a wild animal trying to slip through their fingers. And in treating the man so inhumanely, the guards dehumanize themselves as well. By refusing to treat the condemned man as a human, the guards themselves act as though they themselves are not human.
Ironically, the dog, the only non-human character in the entire essay, is the one who behaves the most humanely. Despite being a mere animal, this yapping “half Airedale, half pariah” (par. 6) shows no cruelty or indecency to anyone, even the condemned man.

In fact, the dog’s first reaction to the condemned man is to try and lick is face as though attempting to comfort him. Unlike the humans who handle the condemned man roughly (par. 2) and refer to him as though he is a thing to be dealt with and not a person (par. 3 and 5), the dog immediately decides to show kindness to this poor, miserable human whom the others have decided is not worth the dignity due to a human being. This dog’s small act of humanity strikes a stark contrast to the human’s inhumanity and reveals Orwell’s disapproving critique of the dehumanization caused by the events surrounding the hanging.
This dog also behaves more like a human than the condemned man does. The dog who should be able to be tamed has boundless life. It barks and runs and jumps all over the place. The dog evades capture as long as it can and continues to fight to run free even after having a handkerchief put through its collar (par. 8). On the other hand, the condemned man has been so dehumanized by this point that he is little more than a dumb animal that allows itself to be driven before the guards. He has no spirit, no real life, no will to continue living. He has been broken and tamed like a beast. The man has become so dehumanized that his life and spirit cannot even compare to those of a mere dog. Orwell uses this comparison to make a sad picture of what has become of this condemned man who will soon be hanged.
Even the guards and superintendent are shown to be dehumanized by the events that have and will transpire. They view this dog showing up as more of “a dreadful thing” (par. 6) than they do the hanging. These men have had to dissociate themselves from humanity so much that facing the human kindness shown by this dog is worse than watching a man be executed. The superintendent manifests this irony the most when he refers to the dog as a “bloody brute” (paragraph 7). This man, once an army doctor meant to be compassionate and caring, is now such a brutish monster that he states that the condemned man “ought to have been dead by this time” (paragraph 3), and yet, despite this total lack of sympathy and humanity towards a condemned man, the superintendent dares to refer to this loving dog as the “bloody brute.”
Again and again irony appears in “A Hanging,” and at each occurrence, Orwell uses the irony to display just how dehumanized everyone has become because of this process.

Not a single one of the human characters has enough humanity to compare to the “half pariah” “bloody brute” (par. 6 and 7). The condemned man has been dehumanized by being treated like an animal. And by treating the condemned man as an animal, the guards and superintendent have dehumanized themselves. Only the dog shows signs of human decency, despite the fact that it is not human. All the irony of the humans behaving like animals and the animal behaving humanely makes Orwell’s point clear. He disapproves of the hanging that will occur and of the effect that it has had on those

involved.