2 Irony
2.1 What is Irony?
Generally, Irony is the difference between what someone does or says in relation to what is understood about what is done or said. Often there is a bit of confusion over what is ironic and what is merely coincidental. The two ideas can be easily confused, however, there is a very distinct difference between what is ironic and what is merely good or bad luck.
Irony takes on five main forms, all of which have more very well defined characteristics:
(1) Verbal Irony:
Verbal irony is the use of words to convey something, especially the opposite of the literal meaning of the words, to emphasize, aggrandize, or make light or a circumstance or subject. A common example of this use of verbal irony is the scenario of a man staring out a window looking at a shiny day and remarking, "Lovely day for skating." This remark is ironic because it expresses the opposite of the circumstances.
You hear verbal irony in conversations all the time. The simple comment, "Oh Great" after something very bad happens is verbal irony. Verbal irony is by far the most accessible, far-reaching, and heavily utilized form of irony (and also of sarcastic humor) because of its simplest form - it just involves the equation of two people talking to one another (whereas other forms of irony require a "third" party, generally an audience of some sort to interpret that scenarios as ironic). Of course, as commonplace these days as it may be, verbal irony is an art form to many, requiring the most studied and theatrical 优-文^论,文.网http://www.youerw.com of deliveries to achieve peak humorous affect and/or poignancy. With verbal irony, timing is everything. If an ironic comment comes too late or too early in a conversation, is spoken without the correct tone or in an inappropriate circumstance, it may be taken as offensive, or simply as confusing. If, for example a person steps in big puddle of water by mistake, and his/her friend smiles kindly, starts to help his friend up and remarks, "well now, don't you have all the luck!" The comment will probably be taken as funny and ironic and the two will laugh the mishap off. If however, the friend scoffs at his wet, fallen friend, laughs, and says "Ha lucky you!" and yells it really loudly and annoyingly, it may not be as funny. Verbal irony in its essence requires an understanding of situation, attitude, and most importantly, timing.
(2) Socratic Irony:
Socratic Irony is when a person pretends to be ignorance of something or someone in order to expose the weakness of another's position. Utilized in a debate or argument, one party may feign a lack of knowledge about a topic and thus will make the other party explain his/her position in great detail. In this way one is forced to explain in great details of the topic that is supposedly so foreign to the other person. It is in explaining the topic, that hopefully the person will expose the fallacy or weakness in the position.
Socratic irony can be seen as a tactical maneuver of sorts. It's most practical iteration is in the "Socratic method" of teaching, which has been adopted by many prestigious universities throughout the world as a method of student-facilitated education. The professor, the supposed possessor of knowledge, never answers questions, nor does he out-rightly explain the concepts required to understand the course material, but rather poses questions to his students that revolves around the course material, and as such, the students are expected to have arrived in class after having studied the required reading to be able to provide the information to others in their class. The feigned "ignorance" on the part of the professor becomes a means to an end. The class gains the necessary information to learn the course material. On the other hand, Socratic irony can be used for far less noble means than intellectual edification. One sees Socratic irony used quite often to get one's way, or to avoid discussing an uncomfortable topic. Ignorance is bliss so they say, and sometimes pretending that you don't have information can give you the upper hand in an argument, or it can be your getting out of jail free card (For Example, "Well oops, I have no idea who put the bad apples back into the bracket"). There are, however, common and beneficent ways people use Socratic irony. If for example, a child asks his parents about the present underneath their Christmas tree and the parents exclaim, "I have no idea how those gifts got there!" one can see how Socratic irony can play a very important purpose in many American traditions.
(3) Tragic Irony:
Tragic irony or dramatic Irony is employed to heighten the suspense in a given situation. In this form of irony the words and actions of the characters, unbeknownst to them, betray the real situation, which the spectators fully realize. The character speaking may realize the irony of his words while the rest of the actors may not; or he or she may be unconscious while the other actors share the knowledge with the spectators; or the audience may alone realize the irony. A perfect example is in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, when Romeo commits suicide when he believes Juliet to be dead.
Similarly to dramatic irony, tragic irony requires an audience and so you see this type of irony exclusively in the realm of the performative - theatre, movies, books, etc. In this form of irony the words and actions of one character or more betray the real situation and tragic results ensue from those words and/or actions, about which the spectators are aware before the actors. The character speaking may realize the irony of his words while the rest of the actors may not; or he or she may be unconscious while the other actors share the knowledge with the spectators; or the audience may alone realize the irony. Probably the Greek play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles is the play most wrought with tragic Irony. Oedipus becomes the king by unknowingly murdering his father and marrying his mother. So when Oedipus vows to comprehend and punish the man who murdered the former king, only the audience knows that he is vowing to punish himself. The tragic truths of the play's events are known only to the audience until the play's final conclusions. At that time it is revealed to Oedipus and the rest of the characters. As the Oedipus example so perfectly exemplifies, tragic irony is any circumstance in which dramatic irony is rampant and leads up to a final and tragic event or realization.
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