Irony occurs when a reader sees that the author is showing that there is a gap between what is thought to be true and what actually is true. Irony is not always immediately apparent to the reader. If ironies are too obvious or heavy, the reader is likely to feel that he or she is being treated as a child. There are a few kinds of irony in literary techniques.
First and foremost, situational irony occurs when the audience, or one of the characters, knows something that the other characters do not know. It also occurs when incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead. There is something entirely different happens from what audience may be expecting, or the final outcome is opposite to what the audience is expecting. For an example, based on the novel ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson, the title itself shows the situational irony of the story. In our mind, the lottery is something fortunate and advantageous, but the person whose name is drawn is not considered lucky and is violently stoned to death by their neighbors and family. Next, the story starts by describing the morning ‘clear and sunny’. The people of the town are happy and going on as if it is every other day. The author uses situational irony by giving a horrific event a ‘sunny’ setting. The function of situational irony is to lay emphasis on important scenes and make strange and unusual images vivid.
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Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the characters don’t — so the characters might get an unexpected outcome, but for the audience it’s not unexpected at all. Dramatic irony is often used for laughs. When we have information, the characters don’t have, we want to shout a warning through the screen or book. For an example, in the story ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson, once a family is chosen, the second round begins. In this round, each family member, no matter how old or young, must draw a slip of paper. It is Tess Hutchinson who draws the slip with the black circle. While Mrs. Hutchinson protests the unfairness of the situation, each of the villagers picks up a stone — “And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles” - and closes in on her. The story ends with Mrs. Hutchinson being stoned to death while protesting, “It isn't fair, it isn't right”. The story concludes with six of the most famous closing words in short story history, “And then they were upon her”.
Finally, because many ironies are subtle, it is not surprising that many readers (particularly new readers) are blind to them. It is undeniable that irony teaches us that not everything is what it seems. We could expect one thing to happen, but something completely opposite may take place.
Resource
‘Literary Terms’. Literary Terms. 1 June 2015. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.
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