Use Of Irony In Labyrinth

While watching Labyrinth, the author Jim Henson uses three different types of irony to show the viewers suspense. Jim also uses literary devices. The types of irony that can be found are, verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. To begin, Labyrinth featured a lot of verbal irony. Verbal irony is when something is said but contradicts what it is meant. There are a couple examples of verbal irony in Labyrinth that are heard. To start, Sarah, the main character, talks to Jareth, the Goblin King, about how the labyrinth is a “piece of cake...” to figure out, although it is actually very difficult. To continue, another verbal irony found is when Hoggle (a goblin) becomes friends with Sarah. Although Hoggle thinks of Sarah as a friend, Jareth has to threaten Hoggle to give Sarah a peach by saying he “will become the Prince of the Bog of Eternal Stench” if he doesn’t give it to her. Although Hoggle doesn’t want to give Sarah the peach, he does so anyway. More in depth, at the beginning of the movie you see Sarah practicing for what seems like a play. There is one line that she always forgets, but when facing Jareth she remembers and says, “...You have no power

Situational irony is when the viewers didn’t expect something to happen. An example of situational irony is when Sarah finally figures out that life isn’t fair. This is situational, because half the movie she’d been saying it’s not fair but later Sarah finally says “You're right it’s not fair...but that’s the way it is.” Another example of situational irony is when Hoggle gives Sarah the peach. We later find out it’s actually her dreams. When she discovers this, she decides to shatters them. To continue with situational irony examples, we can look at the end of the movie when Sarah says “You have no power over me”. The audience discovers that Jareth is the owl from the beginning of the movie. In summarization, these are three examples of situational