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Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance between what a speaker or a writer says; and what he or she means, or is generally understood.
In modern usage it can also refer to particularly striking examples of incongruities observed in everyday life between what was intended or said and what actually happened.
There is some argument about what is or is not ironic, but all the different senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity between what is said and what is meant; or between an understanding of reality, or an expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.
Irony can be funny, but it does not have to be.
The term Socratic irony, which was coined by Aristotle, refers to the Socratic Method. It is not irony in the modern sense of the word.
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A "no smoking" notice adorns the Sherlock Holmes tiles in Baker Street tube station, a prime example of situational irony.
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Most modern theories of rhetoric distinguish between three types of irony: verbal, dramatic and situational.
Verbal irony is distinguished from situational irony and dramatic irony in that it is produced intentionally by speakers. For instance, if a speaker exclaims, “I’m not upset!” but reveals an upset emotional state through her voice while truly trying to claim she\'s not upset, it would not be verbal irony just by virtue of its verbal manifestation (it would, however, be situational irony). But if the same speaker said the same words and intended to communicate that she was upset by claiming she was not, the utterance would be verbal irony. This distinction gets at an important aspect of verbal irony: speakers communicate implied propositions that are intentionally contradictory to the propositions contained in the words themselves. There are examples of verbal irony that do not rely on saying the opposite of what one means, and there are cases where all the traditional criteria of irony exist and the utterance is not ironic.
Ironic similes are a form of verbal irony where a speaker does intend to communicate the opposite of what they mean. For instance, the following explicit similes have the form of a statement that means P(X) but which conveys the meaning not P(X):
The irony is recognizable in each case only by using stereotypical knowledge of the source concepts (e.g., bowling balls, sledgehammers) to detect an incongruity.
A fair amount of confusion has surrounded the issue regarding the relationship between verbal irony and sarcasm, and psychology researchers have addressed the issue directly (e.g, Lee & Katz, 1998). For example, ridicule is an important aspect of sarcasm, but not verbal irony in general. By this account, sarcasm is a particular kind of personal criticism leveled against a person or group of persons that incorporates verbal irony. For example, a person reports to her friend that rather than going to a medical doctor to treat her ovarian cancer, she has decided to see a spiritual healer instead. In response her friend says sarcastically, "Great idea! I hear they do fine work!" The friend could have also replied with any number of ironic expressions that should not be labeled as sarcasm exactly, but still have many shared elements with sarcasm.
Research shows that most instances of verbal irony are considered to be sarcastic, suggesting that the term sarcasm is more widely used than its technical definition suggests it should be (Bryant & Fox Tree, 2002; Gibbs, 2000). Some psycholinguistic theorists suggest that sarcasm ("Great idea!", "I hear they do fine work."), hyperbole ("That\'s the best idea I have heard in years!"), understatement ("Sure, what the hell, it\'s only cancer..."), rhetorical questions ("What, does your spirit have cancer?"), double entendre ("I\'ll bet if you do that, you\'ll be communing with spirits in no time...") and jocularity ("Get them to fix your bad back while you\'re at it.") should all be considered forms of verbal irony (Gibbs, 2000). The differences between these tropes can be quite subtle, and relate to typical emotional reactions of listeners, and the rhetorical goals of the speakers. Regardless of the various ways folk taxonomies categorize figurative language types, people in conversation are attempting to decode speaker intentions and discourse goals, and are not generally identifying, by name, the kinds of tropes used.
Tragic irony can only take place in a fictional context. In this form of irony, the words and actions of the characters belie the real situation, which the spectators fully realize.
Tragic irony particularly characterized the drama of ancient Greece, owing to the familiarity of the spectators with the legends on which so many of the plays were based. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King provides a classic example of tragic irony at its fullest and finest.
Irony threatens authoritative models of discourse by "removing the semantic security of ‘one signifier : one signified’";Seth Benedict Graham A CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE RUSSO-SOVIET ANEKDOT 2003 p.19Hutcheon, p. 13 irony has some of its foundation in the onlooker’s perception of paradox which arises from insoluble problems.
For example:
Definition: irony of a situation is a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results when enlivened by \'perverse appropriateness\'.
For example:
The common household expression “irony of fate” stems from the notion that the gods (or the Fates) are amusing themselves by toying with the minds of mortals, with deliberate ironic intent. Closely connected with situational irony, it arises from sharp contrasts between reality and human ideals, or between human intentions and actual results.
For example:
When history is seen through modern eyes, it sometimes happens that there is an especially sharp contrast between the way historical figures see their world and the probable future of their world, and what actually transpired. What we now refer to as "World War I" was originally called The War to End All Wars; this is an example of historical irony. Historical irony is therefore a subset of cosmic irony, but one in which the element of time is bound up.
For example:
Most clever and satirical art is in some way ironic. The layers of complexity are added as more than one meaning can be attached to the piece. The subject can be taken for face value or absorbed into the conscious of association. Ideas may possess more than one interpretation. The alternate meanings do not come about due to personal experience, but rather the typical association of alternate meanings. In this way ironic art is almost always specific to culture, language or time period. Ironic art differs from satire as it does not have an intended target. Likewise it does not have an agenda to get across. Visually speaking this term is typically confined to the graphic design realm. Musically, this term is applied to individuals and bands that do not take themselves seriously. It is commonly said that a good sense of humor is needed to appreciate ironic music[citation needed].
The emergence of hip-hop culture, the idea of sampling in music, and so-called mash-ups have opened up unlimited potential for artistic irony, with sounds, speakers, artistic styles, genres, cultures, value systems and more being juxtaposed for an ever-compounding recontextualizing of culture. Mash-up artists take recorded music from often-dissimilar genres such as rock, hip-hop, soul, disco, and pop standards and mix them all together for an unexpected, original new sound.
Jane Austen\'s Pride and Prejudice begins with the proposition “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” In fact, it soon becomes clear that Austen means the opposite: women (or their mothers) are always in search of, and desperately on the lookout for, a rich single man to make a husband. The irony deepens as the story promotes his romance and ends in a double wedding.
Comic irony from television sketch-comedy has the distinction over literary comic irony in that it often incorporates elements of absurdity. A classic example is where a shark trying to impress his shark friends by learning to surf. He then surfs so well that his friends mistake him for an actual surfer and eat him. Or, for instance, an ironic situation might involve getting hit by a rib-delivery truck after trying to poison someone with bad rib-sauce to steal his gems. Reference: Season 4 Cycle 1—SCTV Network / 90 Show 2, Polynesiantown.
Comic irony has long been a staple of comic strips, in which the action is free to be unrealistic. An example is a notable Far Side cartoon in which a hapless cat is trapped against an inside house window, having to watch the once-in-a-lifetime consequences of a collision outside between a truck labeled "Al\'s Rodents," and another labeled "Ernie\'s Small Flightless Birds."
Metafictions are kinds of fiction which self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. It usually involves irony and is self-reflective. Metafiction (or “romantic irony” in the sense of roman the prose fiction) refers to the effect when a story is interrupted to remind the audience or reader that it is really only a story. Examples include Henry Fielding’s interruptions of the storyline to comment on what has happened, or J.M. Barrie’s similar interjections in his book, Peter Pan. Daniel Handler’s (known as Lemony Snicket) A Series of Unfortunate Events could also be considered a form of romantic irony, in which the action is frequently halted for a warning that the events to follow could be potentially distressing. Kurt Vonnegut wrote in metafiction in such critically acclaimed books as Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions and Cat\'s Cradle. The concept is also explored in a philosophical context in Sophie’s World, by Jostein Gaarder. A similar example occurs in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy novel where the narrator reveals in advance “in the interest of reducing stress” that nobody will get hurt by a pair of incoming nuclear warheads, but that he will leave some suspense by stating that he would not reveal whose upper arm would get bruised in the process. A notable attempt to sustain metafiction throughout a whole novel is Christie Malry\'s Own Double Entry by B.S. Johnson, none of the characters are real and exist only within the author\'s imagination.
There is considerable argument on the usage of the word irony. Authority, in the form of dictionaries and usage guides, can be cited on both sides.
The usage and definition of irony are often incorporated into popular culture and comedy. Due to the fact many people have difficulty explaining what irony actually is (especially without the use of an example), phrases such as "Define irony" or "What\'s the definition of irony?" are used when someone wishes to undermine someone else\'s intelligence, especially after they\'ve used the word irony in an incorrect context or simply overused the word.
Descriptivists generally discount such self-proclaimed language authorities in favor of studying how individuals currently use the word.
The word ironic is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for incongruous or coincidental in situations where there is no “double audience,” and no contradiction between the ostensible and true meaning of the words. An example of such usage:
Ironically, Sir Arthur Sullivan is remembered for the comic operas he found embarrassing, rather than the serious works he hoped would be his legacy.
The American Heritage Dictionary’s usage panel found it unacceptable to use the word ironic to describe mere unfortunate coincidences or surprising disappointments that “suggest no particular lessons about human vanity or folly.” This definition still allows the above usage but excludes examples like Alanis Morissette’s “It\'s a traffic jam when you\'re already late” for a meeting, unless perhaps the topic of the meeting were traffic congestion, not something implied by the lyrics of “Ironic”.
The American Heritage Dictionary recognizes a secondary meaning for irony: “incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.” This sense, however, is not synonymous with "incongruous" but merely a definition of dramatic or situational irony. The word incongruity is not in the active vocabulary for most speakers of the English language, irony being much more widespread among those wanting to be precise in their language.
Other historical prescriptivists have even stricter definitions for the word irony. Henry Watson Fowler, in The King’s English, says “any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same.” Fowler would thus consider the Sullivan example above as incorrect usage.
This controversy is parodied in the Futurama episode "The Devil\'s Hands Are Idle Playthings", in which Bender repeatedly corrects people who use the term ironic incorrectly.
Irony often requires a cultural backdrop to be understood or noticed, and as with any culture-specific idiom, irony often cannot be perfectly transplanted. An expression with a secondary meaning clear to an east-coast American may be obscure to a Canadian, Briton, Australian, or even a west-coast American, though they all speak the same language. Attempting a literal translation of an ironic idiom to another language often renders the concept muddled or incoherent. Further, the use of verbal irony may also rely on non-literal cues such as tone of voice or posture. Every culture incorporates its own form of linguistic metaphor, idiom and subtlety. In such cases, translation requires extra care of irony, and perhaps explanation.[citations needed]
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