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Example of IRONY in fahrenheit 451
What is an example of irony
What is irony in literature pdf
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Irony is “incongruity between the actual results of a sequence of events and the normal or expected results (Merriam – Webster).” This means that a person may think that something is going to happen based on what they see or what they believe, when in reality the exact opposite happens. Irony can be further specified as dramatic or tragic irony. These types of irony often occur in plays, stories, and movies; where viewers or readers are led in one direction and director or author reveals different results than what is expected. The sudden twists and turns create drama and keep people interested thus, deserving the name dramatic irony. In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, things are not as they seem. According to Matt Wolf of the International Harold Tribune, “dramatic irony could not have wished for a better casebook study”(2008). Deception, lies, and trickery are all part of the story. Oedipus is faced with difficult situations from birth and becomes a victim to the hands of irony. Even when wholeheartedly believing that he is doing right, Oedipus is being played as a pawn. The ironic solutions to his problems compound matters that are already negative in nature. In the beginning of the play, Thebes has been stricken with a horrible plague. Many people in the town are dying and sick. The townspeople along with the priest come to King Oedipus hoping he might be able to stop the plague. After sending Creon to consult the Oracle, Creon returns to Thebes and insists that Oedipus hears the results in private. Oedipus demands that all his people hear the message that the Oracle has sent through Creon. The Oracle said the murderer of Laios is in Thebes and he must be driven out of the city in order to for the plague to end. After ... ... middle of paper ... ... Revisited." Modern Psychoanalysis 31.2 (2006): 229-250. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. Miriam-webster. "Irony - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 06 Apr. 2011. . Rankine, Patrice. Passing as Tragedy: Philip Roth's the Human Stain, the Oedipus Myth, and the Self-made Man. 47 Vol. Taylor & Francis Inc, 2005. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. Robson, Mark. "Oedipal Visuality: Freud, Romanticism, Hamlet." Romanticism 15.1 (2009): 54-64. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. Sophocles., Dudley Fitts, and Robert Fitzgerald. The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version. New York: Harcourt, 1977. Wolf, Matt. Fiennes Seeks the Truth in 'Oedipus'. Neuilly, France:, 2008. ProQuest. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
Irony is the contrast between expectation and reality. There are three different types; verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal irony is when one person says something, but means the opposite. Situational irony is when an event happens that is the opposite of what was expected to happen. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that one or more characters do not.
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.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Fagles. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack et al. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1992.
Undoubtedly there has been a tremendous amount of speculation and dissection of this play by countless people throughout the ages. I can only draw my own conclusions as to what Sophocles intended the meaning of his play to be. The drama included a number of horrific and unthinkable moral and ethical dilemas, but I believe that was what made the play so interesting and that is exactly the way Sophocles intended it to be. The play was obviously meant to entertain and portray the author’s own insight. The underlying theme to the play is that no man should know his own destiny, it will become his undoing. This knowledge of things to come was presented to both Laius and Oedipus in the form of prophecies well in advance of it coming to be. The prophecies told of things that were so morally disturbing that they both aggressively did everything in their power to try and stop them from coming true. The story begins with Oedipus at the height of power as King of Thebes. His kingdom has encountered rough times and he has sent his nobleman Creon to seek help from the god Apollo to restore his land. Creon tells Oedipus that he must find the murderer of the previous King Laius and by finding this man and banishing him, his land will be restored. The murder occurred some time ago and King Oedipus sends for the seer Theiresias with his powers of prophecy to aid in the search for the murderer. Sophocles cleverly projects his feelings on wisdom and knowledge through Teirsias when he says “Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!”(23) Teirsias knows that this terrible prophecy has already been set into motion and the damage has already been done. There is really no point in telling it to Oedipus because it will only cause more harm than good. Oedipus provokes Teirsias into telling him the prophecy, “ Í tell you, king, this man, this murderer-he is here. In name he is a stranger among citizens but soon he will be shown to be a citizen true native Theban, and he’ll have no joy of the discovery: blindness for sight and beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign country tapping his way befor him with a stick.
In the beginning of the text, an explanation is presented of how Thebes must “drive out a killer” in order to purge the city of the plague (99). Oedipus sets on a quest that includes Tiresias’s baffling words. Tiresias confronts Oedipus with [Oedipus’s] truth by revealing he is the murderer of Laius and “pollutes the land” (352). Oedipus is also bound by Apollo’s prophecy; his [Oedipus] fate is sealed (377). Oedipus displays his denial by refusing that he is the murderer and placing the blame on Creon.
Dodds, E. R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays.
Sophocles. The Oedipus Cycle. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Harvest/HBJ-Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1939.
Fitts, Dudley, and Robert Fitzerald. Sophocles: The Oedipus Cycle. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Com, 1977. Print.
The beginning of the play opens up with the dilemma of the plague as explained before. Creon, Oedipus's brother in-law (which turns out to be his uncle), comes from the oracle with the advice to end the plague. He explains the previous leader, Laius, had been murdered, and they haven't found the murderer. More importantly, was the way Oedipus handled the situation. He
Fergusson, Francis. Oedipus, Myth and Play. Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford, 2001 1462-1469.
Wilson, Sarah. "Sigmund Freud and the oedipal complex." The Guardian. N.p., 8 Mar. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. .
Dodds, E. R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Michael J. O'Brien.
The time period of Greek theater’s popularity was a very influential time in our world’s history. Without knowing what Greek theater was all about, how can someone expect to truly understand a tragic play and the history it comes with? The history behind the character of Oedipus, in the play Oedipus the King, is very complicated. His intricate past dealing with prophecies, family members, and murder is the main focus of the story. There are many characteristics that complete Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero; these being the presence of hamartia and peripeteia, a sense of self-awareness, the audience’s pity for the character, and the hero is of noble birth.
The play centers on Oedipus, a man of great compassion and intelligence who was also a man of great pride. Through his intelligence, he managed to solve a riddle no one else had been able to solve. This resulted in freeing Thebes from the sphinx that had been oppressing the land and securing for Oedipus both the kingship of Thebes and Jocasta, the late king Laius's widow, for his wife. "Thus Oedipus's intelligence, a trait that brings Oedipus closer to the gods, is what causes him to commit the most heinous of all possible sins. In killing the Sphinx, Oedipus is the city's savior, but in killing Laius (and marrying Jocasta), he is the scourg...
Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. New York: Twayne, 1993. Print.