Types of Irony; Sarcasm Examples
verbal irony
-Irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning. -A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.
Irony vs Sarcasm
-Irony is the opposite outcome of what you would expect happens. -Sarcasm has a condescending tone meant to embarrass or insult someone. -The negativity in sarcasm is the clear difference. Witty mockery.
situational irony
An outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected.
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows Juliet is in a drugged sleep, but Romeo thinks she is dead and kills himself (followed by Juliet doing the same).
Dramatic Irony
In the Star Wars movies, Luke does not know Darth Vader is his father until Episode V, but the audience knows sooner.
Dramatic Irony
In the movie Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear thinks he is a real space ranger but the other toys and the audience knows that he is just a toy.
Dramatic Irony
In Frozen, the audience is aware that Elsa has powers that are hard to control. Her sister Anna does not know about these powers and thinks of Elsa as standoffish and cold.
Dramatic irony. The truth is that Elsa is being distant from Anna to protect her and is scared of hurting her.
In Macbeth, the title character appears to be loyal to Duncan. However, Macbeth is actually plotting Duncan's murder.
Duncan doesn't know this, the audience does. Dramatic irony.
dramatic irony
Irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play.
"Thank you for explaining that my eye cancer isn't going to make me deaf. I feel so fortunate that an intellectual giant like yourself would deign to operate on me." (-John Green, The Fault in Our Stars)
Sarcasm
"What were you doing under our window, boy?" "Listening to the news," said Harry in a resigned voice. "Listening to the news! Again?" "Well, it changes every day, you see," said Harry. (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Sarcasm
Chandler: Oh dear god. Hold on, there's something different. Ross: I went to that tanning bed your wife suggested. Chandler: Was that place the SUN? (Friends)
Sarcasm
When someone says something that is very obvious and their friend responds, "No sh**, Sherlock"
Sarcasm
Throughout the books, Harry Potter is expected to kill Voldemort, but he eventually realizes he must allow Voldemort to kill him instead.
Situational Irony
Hansel and Gretel (Grimm fairy tale): the witch, who intended to eat Hansel and Gretel, is trapped by the children in her own oven
Situational irony
A post on Facebook complaining how useless Facebook is.
This is situational irony because one would expect someone who dislikes Facebook to stay away from it instead of using it to make their point.
In Beauty and the Beast, Belle tells Gaston, "I just don't deserve you!" when, in reality, Gaston doesn't deserve Belle.
Verbal Irony
In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Marc Antony gives a speech in which he repeatedly refers to Brutus as "an honorable man," when Brutus just participated in murdering Caesar.
Verbal Irony
In the movie Annie, the orphans say, "We love you Ms. Hannigan," to their guardian who is mean to them.
Verbal Irony
Saying "Oh, fantastic!" when the situation is actually very poor.
Verbal Irony
Saying something's as clear as mud.
Verbal Irony
In a scary movie, the character goes into a house they think is empty, but the audience knows the killer is in the house.
dramatic Irony
Cronus believed a prophecy that he would be overthrown by his children so he devoured any children Rhea, his wife, had. However, she tricked him with Zeus, giving Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of the baby. Zeus later rescued his siblings and they overthrew their father, which was unexpected for Cronus, who thought he had outsmarted his fate. (The Fate of Cronus, Greek mythology)
dramatic irony
What is irony?
the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning