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The importance of being earnest dramatic irony
Dramatic situational and verbal irony
Dramatic situational and verbal irony
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Recommended: The importance of being earnest dramatic irony
What is irony? Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is actually the opposite of what is expressed by the words the author used. This technique is used to ridicule or mock a particular subject by expressing laudatory remarks, but implying contempt and denigration. There are several examples of irony in the novel _All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_ by Erich Maria Remarque, a realistic, yet fabricated account of a soldier's experience in an international war. The lighthearted irony quickly transitions into dark satire with the use of dramatic irony, the setting, and situational irony to mock the glorification of war and introduce reality.
In dramatic irony, the audience knows what is going to happen, but the characters do not. The names of the characters in Remarque's novel have certain meanings that correlate with what they experience. The first light-hearted and ironic account is Himmelstoss's name. "After a couple of days Himmelstoss comes up to us. He has had the bounce knocked out of him since he has been in the trenches and wants to get on good terms with us" (137) Himmeltoss translates to "Heaven, toss." This representation is the symbol for Himelstoss being tossed into reality. When Himmelstoss is beaten, the readers do not show pity because they do not like him, even if he helps Paul survive. On the other hand, Another character named, "Leer groans as he supports himself on his arm, he bleeds quickly, no one can help him."(284) Leer's name humorously stands for "looking with desire." However, his death is not funny at all, and sympathy is shown for Leer, because he is Paul's friend. Finally, The irony of Paul's name comes from his death scene, in which he says, "I raise my eyes, I let them move round, and ...
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...h a crash something black bears down on us"(69) The coffin is protecting Paul, but at the same time, it is a symbol of Paul's death. It represents the nonstop war, and the useless fighting. Paul will eventually be buried under many soldiers. This message is what Remarque tries to convey with this scene. Using these ironies, he alludes to how war is mentally scarring, meaninglessly violent, and it will keep continuing. There is no end to wars.
The developing satire throughout the novel targets war as a whole, and challenges its effects. Remarque uses several ironic examples and techniques to convey his sarcasm, including: dramatic irony, setting, and situational irony. Remarque's remarks on war are used to ridicule and mock war. He uses irony to condemn and denigrate the act of sacrificing young individuals with great potential to war and violence between countries.
... While the corpse represents each of these concepts, in the end it is Paul’s faith – his own luck – that saves his life once again. What, upon first glance, appears to be a hectic and confused account of a destructive shelling becomes a wonderfully connected verse of one soldier’s struggle to preserve himself against all odds. What more can be said about Paul?
To Pursue Remarque’s tone farther, his tone throughout this novel was rather easy to find because of the horrific, depressing, yet at the same time a little sympathetic, scenes. Paul explains a scene after a bombardment, “In the branches dead men are hanging. A naked soldier is squatting in the fork of a tree, he still has his helmet on, otherwise he is entirely unclad. There is only half of him sitting up there, the top half, the legs are missing” (93). The bombs are killing several men at a time. Paul not only observes this in real life, he ultimately has to live through it. Once a war has been going on for a long period, the soldiers know that war is all about death.
In the novel All quiet on the western front by Erich Maria Remarque one of the major themes he illustrates is the effects of war on a soldier 's humanity. Paul the protagonist is a German soldier who is forced into war with his comrades that go through dehumanizing violence. War is a very horrid situation that causes soldiers like Paul to lose their innocence by stripping them from happiness and joy in life. The symbols Remarque uses to enhance this theme is Paul 's books and the potato pancakes to depict the great scar war has seared on him taking all his connections to life. Through these symbols they deepen the theme by visually depicting war’s impact on Paul. Paul’s books represent the shadow war that is casted upon Paul and his loss of innocence. This symbol helps the theme by depicting how the war locked his heart to old values by taking his innocence. The last symbol that helps the theme are the potato pancakes. The potato pancakes symbolize love and sacrifice by Paul’s mother that reveal Paul emotional state damaged by the war with his lack of happiness and gratitude.
Irony is the expression of ones meaning by using language that usually signifies the opposite. There are three different types of irony; verbal, dramatic, and situational. Edgar Allen Poe uses verbal and dramatic irony in The Cask of Amontillado to depict a deeper meaning of Montresor’s hate towards Fortunato.
Irony is something that seems to directly contradict a precedent set before it, and is seen everywhere in the world, often having dismal consequences, but it also serves to point out that there is something wrong with the current state of affairs. Briony Tallis, a character from Ian McEwan’s Atonement, is also a victim of this type of irony, as her undeveloped system of justice results in a great injustice; however, this injustice serves to improve her understanding of justice as she realizes her wrongdoings and attempts to atone for them meanwhile her life is used by McEwan to send parables to his audience that prove to enrich his novel. The exposition of Briony as a smart, but naive little girl influences her poor judgement, and helps relay
After their first two days of fighting, they return to their bunker, where they find neither safety nor comfort. A grizzled veteran, Kat, suggests these ‘fresh-faced boys’ should return to the classroom. The war steals their spiritual belief in the sanctity of human life with every man that they kill. This is best illustrated by Paul’s journey from anguish to rationalization of the killing of Gerard Duval; the printer turned enemy who leaps into the shell-hole already occupied by Paul. Paul struggles with the concept of killing a “brother”, not the enemy. He weeps despondently as war destroys his emotional being.
In the course of war, though, he is consumed by it and in the end is "weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope" (Remarque page #). Through Baümer, Remarque examines how war makes man inhuman. He uses excellent words and phrases to describe crucial details of this theme. "The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts," (page #). Baümer and his classmates who enlisted in the army see the true reality of the war.
Throughout the novel, Paul must face dangerous tasks. For example, in chapter nine Paul crawls through No Man's Land to gather information about enemy forces. While in No Man's Land, the enemy begins to bombard the Germans. Paul, fearing death, hides in an old shell crater and pretends to be dead. While feigning death, an enemy soldier enters the crater. Paul quickly reacts and strike at the enemy with his dagger, fatally wounding the soldier.
There are several elements of symbolism in the story; however, “The deeper levels of this story are disclosed by examining not only what is implied through the irony but also what is indicated by symbolism and repetition” (Holla...
Some literary works exhibit structural irony, in that they show sustained irony. In such works the author, instead of using an occasional verbal irony, introduces a structural feature which serves to sustain a duplicity of meaning. One common device of this sort is the invention of a naïve hero, or else a naïve narrator or spokesman, whose invincible simplicity or obtuseness leads him to persist in putting an interpretation on affairs which the knowing reader—who penetrates to, and shares, the implicit point of view of the authorial presence behind the naïve persona—just as persistently is called on to alter and correct. (Abrams, 90)
This is highly ironic as He is connotatively depicted as gruesome, horrid, and like the Grim Reaper. Additionally ironic is that the Grim Reaper carries a scythe, and they pass a field of grain. As if the speaker is too busy and cannot find time for Death, “He kindly stops for [her]—” (line 2). There are further applications of metaphors and personification in “Immortality” (line 4), which is personified to represent the speaker’s soul riding in the carriage, and in, “[Death] knew no haste” (line 5), which emphasizes His docile description and can mean that the speaker had a slow
The details used make one think of how bad the war must be and how it changes one's perception of war. Another example Remarque uses to show the brutality of war is through the imagery of sound. In chapter four Paul talks about the paranoia everyone gets when they hear the loud death cries of the wounded horses at the front: "We can bear almost anything. But now the sweat breaks out on us. We must get up and run no matter where, but where these cries can no longer be heard" (Remarque 63-64).
By now, you should have learned about irony, one of the most important literary devices used. There are many definitions of irony, but a simple definition is the contrast between what was supposed to happen and what actually happens. Irony is separated into three types: situational irony (you crave oranges, turns out you are allergic to them), verbal irony (“Oh, you are so funny!” when someone is not funny [sarcasm]), and dramatic irony (while reading, you know there is a monster in the closet, but the character does not). Many examples of irony are given in the novel Brave New World, a novel set in the future where humans are biologically engineered and conditioned for their role in society. The novel exemplifies irony because even though they have norms and regulations set, most people tend to not follow them, including the world leaders.
Westwood, M. “What are examples of Verbal, Situational< and Dramatic Irony in ‘The Story of an Hour.’” E-Notes. E-Notes, Inc., 30 Sept 2013. Web. 17 March 2014
Defined by Dictionary.com dramatic irony is “irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience, but not grasped by the characters in the play” (“dramatic irony”). This type of irony is one that is not seen by characters, but is known to the reader. Towards the end of the story Josephine begs for Mrs. Mallard to open up the door and let her in, as she is afraid her sister is making herself ill (Chopin 201). This is dramatic irony as Josephine does not realize that her sister is not actually making herself ill, but is instead rejoicing in her husband’s death. Another instance at the conclusion of the story, Mr. Brently Mallard enters through the door, Richards quickly tries to block him from Mrs. Mallard seeing (Chopin 201). Richards assumes that Mrs. Mallard is still grieving from her husband’s death. He shields her from seeing Mr. Brently Mallard as he knows it will too much emotion. The dramatic irony is Richards does not realize that she is happy and blocking her view of her husband will make her upset, but only because Brently being alive means her freedom is