Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Example of situational irony in poem
The emperor's new clothes explained
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
I had read many Denmark stories which are intriguing and funny when I was a child. The favorite story I have learned was “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Author of this text used irony to create surprises for readers that sarcastic an emperor who has been deceived by two tricksters stupidly. Emperor who mentions in the story is an ugly, fat man that has been bald. The characteristic of the emperor is stupid, vainglorious and false. He is so vain that asks two tricksters who disguise tailors to make a beautiful, special, cloth which he will wear in the ceremony. Two tricksters make a feint of making cloth and they claim that the special cloth could be recognized by clever people. Although the cloth can’t be perceived as emperor, he pretends to
In literature, satire allows readers or viewers to recognize how ridiculous things come about. Satire permits a reader or viewer to express a certain feeling. Usually this feeling evolves around hilarity. Within the satire category, exaggeration and irony exist. Exaggeration usually emphasizes something beyond the original intention. Irony expresses the opposite of the original meaning.
William Shakespeare is known for his use of dramatic irony and complicated story lines. In Much Ado About Nothing, he also adds in the element of disguise to what the characters know, or what they think they know. There are multiple characters trying to ensnare others in different facades, whether it be for better or for worse. The deception and illusion in the play can either assist the characters or completely shatter the situation, but in both cases, Shakespeare advises us to infer about what we hear or see before we jump to conclusions.
"[W]hen thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" counsels the Bible, thus setting the precedent for all well-meaning members of western society concerning their charitable intentions (Matt. 6.3). Humanity's motivation to aid others, regardless of the outcome, is oft times spotted by the subtle struggle between selflessness and selfishness. Flannery O'Connor captures this classic conflict between good and evil in Southern Grotesque fashion through her characters, the protagonist Sheppard and his foil, Rufus Johnson, in [comment2] "The Lame Shall Enter First".[comment3] Challenging the literal paradigm of light and darkness, O'Connor weaves together well crafted characterization, cryptic dialogue, and both biblical and literary allusion in this paradoxical plot and, by way of Sheppard and the antithetical Rufus, blends the black and white of Christian dogma into an ironic grey.
In Guy de Maupassant’s story, The Necklace, he utilizes situational irony in order to highlight the theme. He displays this irony in order to reveal several themes that can be observed in the story. One of the major themes in this short story is how appearances can be misleading.
Irony in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complicated situation called Bunburyism (as Algernon refers to it). They pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They lie to the women they admire, and eventually the truth is revealed.
the play, it seemed that Othello was the only one who didn't know the truth.
Shakespeare brilliantly depicts appearance verses reality in many ways. The first of many scenes where the truth is twisted is when the new supposed king is addressing Denmark. Claudius makes it seem as if Denmark is fine but in reality they are in a state of disarray:
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012. Print.
“All the world’s a stage/And all the men and women merely players/They have their exits and their entrances.” -William Shakespeare As You Like It
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Washington Square Press new Folger ed. New York: Washington Square, 2002. Print.
Wrought with double irony and an overall sense of mock-pastoral, English playwright John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728) has its forefront of irony vividly expressed between the dynamic of the central characters Macheath and Peachum. Even the names of the characters comically resemble their occupations within the play, Peachum’s being a play on the word “peach” which means to bring one to trial, while Macheath’s meaning “son of heath” and being a play on the heaths of London, which were prime places worked on by highwaymen (Tillotson, et al.). While both characters were used as a political satire towards Jonathan Wild and the then Prime Minister Robert Walpole (after all, The Beggar’s Opera was a political satire first and a potential literary
In the short story “The Gift of the Magi”, O.Henry uses different types of irony to demonstrate a particular theme of the story. The author uses two types of irony, dramatic and situational, to show the love that Della and Jim have for each other. There are different examples throughout the story that the author uses to indicate a certain theme in the story. One of these examples is when Della says, “I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t live through Christmas without giving you a present” (page 367) Della sells her most precious belonging in order to make Jim happy. She feels obligated to give Jim a present because of their love for each other. This is an example of situational irony because Jim bought Della combs to brush her
Irony is more complex than it may initially seem, the use of irony in a story helps the author to convey information that is opposite of its literal connotation. With this in mind, “The story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin, outlines the efficacy of this literary tool in writing. Chopin’s used a considerable amount of irony in her story which made the rather “short” story really exciting as she documents the unexpected twist in the life of Louise Mallard in a mere hour. With the mastery of using various types of ironies throughout the story, which led to an unexpected climax that urges the reader to fully appreciate how she connected the first paragraph to the last. Furthermore, Kate Chopin used each form of irony for this story, namely, verbal, situational, and dramatic. However, the situational irony was the main form that emerged in the “The Story of An Hour”.
This is about the idea of humor and irony to contradict and shape stories, then goes further in depth with how Shakespeare uses this in Twelfth Night. Ulrici mentions how comedy forms external nature and intrinsic fancifulness. Then he acknowledges the sudden change in comicalness and uses this as his argument that humor shapes external and intrinsic issues. Ulrici add details from the story to support his claims. He also compares the crossing of caprice, folly, error and perversity to a web that causes the subject caprice to be paralyze and be paralyzed by objective chance. Ulrici also adds to the essay later in that the web was carefully spun by Shakespeare that the characters harmonize so well that if there was any change then the it would
In his dramatic monologue, Robert Browning uses irony, diction, and imagery to achieve a haunting effect.