Irony, or the discrepancy between expectation and reality, is a powerful literary tool but also one of the most misunderstood and, likely, the most incorrectly used literary terms. Students often refer to any events in stories that seem significant or unexpected as ironic, but irony refers to a much narrower set of circumstances.
Verbal irony is the discrepancy between words and their meaning. Sarcasm is the most common form of verbal irony. When you spill coffee on yourself and say, “Well, that’s just great!” you don’t really mean that it’s great; you mean the opposite. Verbal irony can be used to great effect in the short story. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” when Fortunato refuses to leave the catacomb and remarks, “I shall not die of a cough,” and Montresor replies, “True—true,” these words are ironic because they are heavy with unintended significance. While it is true that the cough will not kill him, Fortunato will soon die because he refuses to leave the catacombs, thus falling prey to Montresor’s trap.
Fortunato’s situation is also a good example of dramatic irony, which occurs when the reader understands the ironic meaning behind the words or actions while the character does not. Fortunato doesn’t recognize his words as ironic because he is unaware of Montresor’s plan, but the reader does. A similar example occurs in Chopin’s story when Désirée protests to Armand, “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand.” Désirée is merely trying to convince Armand that she does not have African ancestry, but her words take on ironic significance at the end of the story when we learn that it is Armand who is of mixed race.
Writers may also create situational irony, or a discrepancy between actions and their intended consequences, In Mansfield’s “Miss Brill,” Miss Brill wears her fur to feel good about herself, but the action has the opposite effect when she overhears the young couple making fun of her for wearing it.
"Key Components of Short Stories" by Travis Rozier and Margaret Sullivan from Beyond the Pages: An Introduction to Literature Copyright © 2024 by Claire Carly-Miles, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Christie Anders, Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, R. Paul Cooper, and Matt McKinney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
"What is Irony?": A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers. Authored by: OSU School of Writing, Literature and Film. Located at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6e0oNVx8Uk. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License