Types of Irony

Irony is literally the difference between how things seem to be and the reality. In most cases, it can be difficult to define especially because it's often subjective and entirely depends on the audience's expectations. This article is going to focus on the types of irony you ought to know more about.

The first example of irony is verbal irony. Verbal irony is simply the use of words to mean something very different from what you are actually saying. This type of irony is different from the others because a speaker uses it intentionally. In other words, when a person aims to be understood as meaning something different from what his or her words literally mean. There are two types of verbal irony, which include overstatement and understatement. When a person exaggerates the character of something, that is termed as an overstatement. On the other hand, when a person undermines the character of a subject, that is termed as an understatement. Visit website to learn further.

The second type of  irony is dramatic irony. This type of irony is majorly used in works of art like books, movies, plays and poems. This simply occurs when the audience knows something that the characters in a play or any other form of art are not aware of. An example of a dramatic irony is in a movie where an investigator does not know that the serial killer terrorizing people into  the city is actually his partner. Since the audience is already aware of this, they wait anxiously to know what happens when the truth finally comes out. The three stages of dramatic irony include resolution, exploitation and installation. Installation is the stage whereby the audience is made aware of something that the character knows nothing about. The exploitation stage is whereby information is used to develop curiosity among the audience while resolution is simply what happens when a character knows what has been going on without his or her knowledge.

Situation irony is the other type of irony. This kind of irony involves a discrepancy between what people expect to happen and what actually happens. In other words, it occurs when what the opposite of what is supposed to be occurring occurs. For example, when somebody buys something to protect himself and that thing is later used to harm him. You would expect that the gun or knife somebody bought as a tool of protection is the same thing that cause him injury.

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