Irony

1. Irony • “Bummer of a birthmark Hal”

2. Based on the cartoon on the previous slide, what do you think irony means?

3. Today we will: • Learn the definition for the three types of irony. • Be able to recognize irony when we see it in the texts we are reading.

4. Irony • Literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing • contradictions.

5. In verbal irony the speaker or writer shows a contrast between what is said and what is actually meant. • Example: • “What a great guy you are,” Mario said as his brother ate the last piece of Mario’s birthday cake. • Of course, Mario’s tone of voice and expression on his face help deliver the true meaning of his words.

6. Dramatic irony is when the reader or viewer knows more about the actual situation than the characters do. • This is very • common • in cartoons. • “Here, Fifi! • C’mon! … • Faster, Fifi!”

7. Situational Irony • •Irony of situation occurs when things turn out contrary to what is expected. • Suppose a big, strong football player makes it through a season without an injury. Then on his way to the stage to accept the award for the most valuable player, he trips on the stairs. He breaks his leg and is taken to the hospital.

8. Quick Check: Raise your hand if you know what type of irony the following is. • Have you ever seen a horror movie that has a killer on the loose? You, and the rest of the audience, know that the teenagers should not go walking in the woods late at night, but they think a midnight stroll would be romantic. Needless to say, the teens become the next victims. • Dramatic Irony

9. You are arguing with your mother, who reprimands you for being "smart." Your reply is a sarcastic, "If you think I am smart, then why won't you let me make some smart decisions?" • Verbal Irony

10. When watching a talk show, the audience knows why a person has been brought on the show. However, the person sitting in a chair does not know that he is going to be reunited with a former love. This adds to the suspense and humor of the show. • Dramatic

11. You break a date with your girlfriend so you can go to the ball game with the guys. When you go to the concession stand, you run into your date who is with another guy. • Situational Irony

12. You stay up all night studying for a test. When you go to class, you discover the test is not until the next day. • Situational Irony

13. Allusion • Reference to a statement, a person, a place, an event, or a thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or the arts. • Example: There is a season to laugh, a season to cry. (Bible) 13

14. Contradictions or Incongruity • A lack of fitness or appropriateness. • Used to create situational irony. • A person goes to a formal event dressed in a bathing suit. 14

15. Ambiguous or Subtle • An element of uncertainty in a text, in which something can be interpreted in a number of different ways. • Adds complexity to a story. • Subtleties are fine distinctions that help create ambiguity. • Ghosts or other supernatural creatures in literary fiction are sometimes left as an ambiguous "reality." Is the character hallucinating or is that supernatural being really there? 15

16. Foreshadowing • The use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot. • Increases suspense. • An old man is sitting at his desk looking at his stamp collection. When he opens the drawer for his magnifying glass, his fingers brush against a gun. He finds the magnifying glass and closes the drawer... 16

17. Lamb to the Slaughter • Meaning • In an unconcerned manner - unaware of the impending catastrophe. • Origin • From the Bible (King James Version), • Jeremiah 11:19: • But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, {saying,} "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his name be remembered no more." 17

18. The allusion to the especial helplessness of lambs was made use of in the 1991 film The Silence of The Lambs. 18

19. Geoffery Chaucer laid the groundwork for the phrase in the Man of Law's Tale, 1386: • “For as a lamb is brought to slaughter, soShe stands, this innocent, before the king.” 19

20. The Perfect Murder • What would be the ingredients of the "perfect murder"? • Put the following ideas into order of importance. (Add ideas of your own if you want to.) • a) It should be easy to arrange. • b) It should leave no clues. • c) There should be no noise. • d) It should look like suicide. • e) It should take place in a lonely, isolated place. • f) It should be cheap. • g) No violence should be necessary. • h) It should look like an accident. • i) It should be quick. J) The murderer should have a good alibi. 20

21. Bring your text book tomorrow!!! • Laptop classes can use laptop instead of text book. 21