In the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, has plentiful examples of irony. The protagonists, Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing lie to impress their ladies, however the truth is eventually revealed.
In the first act, situational irony occurs. Situational irony is when a outcome to a situation is different than what you expect. For example, Lady Bracknell does not approve of her daughter, Gwendolen’s, engagement to Mr. Worthing.
I am engaged to Mr. Worthing Mamma.
Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone…(Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest)
The readers would think that she would approve the engagement since Mr. Worthing is wealthy and and has a good reputation. However, Lady Bracknell is only focusing on Earnest’s family
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Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both seems like carelessness.(Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest)
This disagreement leads to further complications in the next two acts. Dramatic irony is portrayed in the second act. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows more than the character does. For example, we, the readers, know that Algernon is using the name Earnest to impress his cousin Cecily. However, Cecily does not know his actual name is Algernon. You must be my little cousin Cecily. I’m sure. … But I am your cousin Cecily. You, I see from your card, are my Uncle Jack’s brother, my cousin Earnest...(Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest)
This dialogue between Algernon and Cecily is very important because Algernon is lying to her which will further the dispute in the next act. Lastly, the third act, along with act, uses situational irony. Throughout the play, Mr.Worthing claims to have a brother. However, in the second act, it is revealed that he does not have a brother. Shockingly, it turns out Jack does have a brother and it is none other than Algernon! I am afraid that the news I have to give you will not altogether please you. You are the son of my poor sister, Mrs. Moncrieff, and consequently Algernon’s elder
For example, on page HUGH, Red Pollard was afflicted with blindness in his right eye, yet he never told any of the other characters, so that is then dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that the character does not. The reader knows that Red is blind, however characters such as Tom or Howard do not. Another example of irony is found on page HHJS, when Red is hospitalized and he can’t ride Seabiscuit, so he gives the new jockey, Woolf, advice. This advice is later determined to be the reason why Woolf lost a very big race. This is situational irony because Red’s advice was supposed to make Woolf win, however it caused the loss. One more example of irony is on page HFG, when Howard replaces the horse as the primary transportation with the car. Howard later comes to living on a secluded ranch with a love for horses. This technically falls into the situational type of irony.
In the Victorian era, courtship rituals were slightly different from modern time courtships. It started with couples speaking first, going out together, and finally they would keep each other company after mutual attraction was confirmed. The character Jack, in all his seriousness, refutes these rituals. Gwendolyn says “I adore you. But you haven’t proposed to me yet. Nothing has been said at all about marriage. The subject has not even been touched on.” (Wilde, 622) This shows that Jack is ignoring the stages of courting and jumping right into marriage. Wilde is certainly satirically commenting on courting and how there really just has to be a mutual attraction. Upon Gwendolyn’s acceptance of his proposal, the problems with different social affairs begin to be unraveled. Gwendolyn says “I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence…” (Wilde, 622) In fact, Ernest's love for Gwendolyn seems rather arbitrary while Gwendolyn indirectly admits that she loves Ernest only for his name. This just adds to the satirizing of courtship because the girl only will marry him because he has the name Ernest.
For situational irony I choose the novel or movie .”The Maze Runner.” The situational irony that happened in this story was when Alby and Minho try to examine a weird creature.They wanna bring it back to the glade where they live ,but the griever is actually alive and injuries Alby.Which it makes it difficult to go back to go to the glade.This is situational irony,because now they're trapped inside the maze with the griever with one injured person.
Dramatic irony, according to Dictionary.com, is a type of irony where the audience is aware of the conflict before the characters in the piece. One example of dramatic irony is a very subtle statement involving the baby. Madame Valmonde exclaimed, “This is not the baby!” Although the exclamation was in startled tones, Desiree ignored it and mistook it for astonishment. To the reader it is not yet determined, but the baby is going to cause some sort of conflict due to Madame Valmonde’s dread and confusion.
Situational irony is when the reader or audience is surprised by the outcome of the story plot. We see more of situational irony later on in the story, especially since it often leads to disputes and fights. For instance, when Robin was supposedly ordered to put flower droplets shot from cupid’s arrow into the eyes of Demetrius, he ended up putting them in the eyes of Lysander instead, mistaking him for the Athenian man Oberon had seen and causing a dispute. Another time is when we see Titania having her affections transferred from the Indian boy to Nick Bottom when he has
One example of dramatic irony is when Oedipus is looking for the killer of the king Laius-his father. The irony here is that he is looking for himself because he is the murder of his father. Oedipus knows that he killed someone, but what he does not know is that it was Laius, the one he murder. Oedipus wants to punish the person who killed Laius, but we, the audience know that Oedipus was the one who killed Laius. Also Oedipus married Jocasta without knowing that she is his mother. We, the audience knew that he was Jocasta's son, but he was unaware of that.
First, dramatic irony is used to inform the viewers of something that the character does not know. For example in this monologue by one of the story’s protagonists,
Defined by Dictionary.com dramatic irony is “irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience, but not grasped by the characters in the play” (“dramatic irony”). This type of irony is one that is not seen by characters, but is known to the reader. Towards the end of the story Josephine begs for Mrs. Mallard to open up the door and let her in, as she is afraid her sister is making herself ill (Chopin 201). This is dramatic irony as Josephine does not realize that her sister is not actually making herself ill, but is instead rejoicing in her husband’s death. Another instance at the conclusion of the story, Mr. Brently Mallard enters through the door, Richards quickly tries to block him from Mrs. Mallard seeing (Chopin 201). Richards assumes that Mrs. Mallard is still grieving from her husband’s death. He shields her from seeing Mr. Brently Mallard as he knows it will too much emotion. The dramatic irony is Richards does not realize that she is happy and blocking her view of her husband will make her upset, but only because Brently being alive means her freedom is
In the stories “Story of an Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery” it is evident that irony was quite a large part of the short story. There is situational irony, which is when the situation turns out differently than expected. Also, dramatic irony is present, which is when you as a reader knows more than the character. The authors seem to base their whole story around irony to surprise their readers.
In ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ Jack is presented as a character that has lied to get what he wants and because of this he has been given faults. Here Joc...
The term dramatic Irony has another meaning also; it describes the situation when a character in a play speaks lines which are understood in a double sense by the audience though not by the characters on the stage. The drama has also the Irony of situation which arises when a set of circumstances turn out to be the opposite of those anticipated or considered appropriate. Irony by Socrates:
Jack had told everybody he had a brother in which was he used as his justification to leave his home in the country and visit his "brother" in the city. Algernon pretends to be Jack's brother "Earnest" in order to win over Jack's beautiful "niece" Cecily. Jack- "Algy’s elder brother" Then I have a brother, after all. I knew I had a brother!
Although in this play Jack uses the name Ernest for his own deceptive ends. Like Algernon says “…I have always suspected you of being a confirmed and secretive bunburist and I’m quite sure of it now…” (Wilde 7) Jack immediately tries to explain why he used the name Ernest and it turns out Jack did not only use the name Ernest because Gwendolen’s “…ideal has been to be in love with someone of the name Ernest…” (Wilde13). Jack also revealed to Algernon that “…When one is placed in a position of guardian, one has to adopt very high moral tone on all subjects…in order to get up town, I have always pretended I have a younger brother named Ernest…”
The Importance of Being Earnest appears to be a conventional 19th century farce. False identities, prohibited engagements, domineering mothers, lost children are typical of almost every farce. However, this is only on the surface in Wilde's play. His parody works at two levels- on the one hand he ridicules the manners of the high society and on the other he satirises the human condition in general. The characters in The Importance of Being Earnest assume false identities in order to achieve their goals but do not interfere with the others' lives. The double life led by Algernon, Jack, and Cecily (through her diary) is simply another means by which they liberate themselves from the repressive norms of society. They have the freedom to create themselves and use their double identities to give themselves the opportunity to show opposite sides of their characters. They mock every custom of the society and challenge its values. This creates not only the comic effect of the play but also makes the audience think of the serious things of life.
In conclusion, The Importance of Being Earnest strongly focuses on those of the upper class society and the vanity of the aristocrats who place emphasis on trivial matters concerning marriage. Both Algernon and Jack assume the identity of "Ernest" yet ironically, they both are beginning their marital lives based on deception and lies. Lady Bracknell represents the archetypal aristocrat who forces the concept of a marriage based on wealth or status rather than love. Through farce and exaggeration, Wilde satirically reveals the foolish and trivial matters that the upper class society looks upon as being important. As said earlier, a satiric piece usually has a didactic side to it. In this case, Lady Bracknell learns that the same person she was criticising is actually her own flesh and blood.