IRONY
IRONY.
1. In RHETORIC, words with an implication opposite to their usual meaning. Ironic comment may be humorous or mildly sarcastic, as for example when, at a difficult moment, an act of kindness makes things worse, and someone says, ‘Well, that's a lot better, isn't it?’ Expressions heavy with irony are often used to drive a point home: ‘I'm really looking forward to seeing him, I don't think’; ‘You're pleased to see me? Pull the other leg/one (it's got bells on).’ In such usages, irony slides into sarcasm.
2. In general usage, incongruity between what is expected and what happens, and an outcome that displays such incongruity. The sentence adverb ironically is often used to draw attention to it: ‘Ironically, his kindness only made things worse.’ In many instances, ironically serves virtually as a synonym of paradoxically.
3. Wry awareness of life's incongruity and irrationality.
Three kinds of irony have been recognized since antiquity: (1) Socratic irony, a mask of innocence and ignorance adopted to win an argument. Among the stock characters in early Greek comedy were two deceivers, the eírṓn, a weak but wily underdog, who usually tricked the alazṓn, a bombastic and stupid vagabond. In Plato's dialogues, Socrates often plays the eírōn, pretending ignorance and asking seemingly foolish questions so as to move a debate in the direction he wants. (2) Dramatic or tragic irony, a double vision of what is happening in a play or a real-life situation. In Greek tragedy, the characters were blind to fateful circumstances of which the audience was all too well aware, producing a privileged and often poignant appreciation of the plot. (3) Linguistic irony, a duality of meaning, now the classic form of irony. Building on the idea of dramatic irony, the Romans concluded that language often carries a double message, a second often mocking or sardonic meaning running contrary to the first.
In modern times, two further conceptions have been added: (1) Structural irony, a quality that is built into texts, in which the observations of a naïve narrator point up the deeper implications of a situation. In the stories of the English humorist P. G. Wodehouse (1917 onward), Bertie Wooster reports verbatim the smooth, deflating comments of his butler Jeeves without any indication that he has understood or even noticed what Jeeves ‘really’ says. (2) Romantic irony, in which writers conspire with readers to share the double vision of what is happening in the plot of a novel, film, etc. By the 17c and 18c, a refined ironic style was established in European writing, as when Henry Fielding interrupted the action in his novels to address his readers directly and comment on events. When engaging in this game, writers combine creative egotism with a suave and knowing self-mockery. By the 19c, critics had become adept at detecting and dissecting irony in literature and in life. The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard raised irony to the cosmic level when he proposed in 1841 that it was a way of viewing all existence, and some writers and critics have since implied that God is the greatest ironist of all. The phrase irony of fate suggests that, like drama, life treats people as if wryly mocking them, delivering at a strategic moment the opposite to what is deserved or at first seemed likely. See FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.
1. In RHETORIC, words with an implication opposite to their usual meaning. Ironic comment may be humorous or mildly sarcastic, as for example when, at a difficult moment, an act of kindness makes things worse, and someone says, ‘Well, that's a lot better, isn't it?’ Expressions heavy with irony are often used to drive a point home: ‘I'm really looking forward to seeing him, I don't think’; ‘You're pleased to see me? Pull the other leg/one (it's got bells on).’ In such usages, irony slides into sarcasm.
2. In general usage, incongruity between what is expected and what happens, and an outcome that displays such incongruity. The sentence adverb ironically is often used to draw attention to it: ‘Ironically, his kindness only made things worse.’ In many instances, ironically serves virtually as a synonym of paradoxically.
3. Wry awareness of life's incongruity and irrationality.
Three kinds of irony have been recognized since antiquity: (1) Socratic irony, a mask of innocence and ignorance adopted to win an argument. Among the stock characters in early Greek comedy were two deceivers, the eírṓn, a weak but wily underdog, who usually tricked the alazṓn, a bombastic and stupid vagabond. In Plato's dialogues, Socrates often plays the eírōn, pretending ignorance and asking seemingly foolish questions so as to move a debate in the direction he wants. (2) Dramatic or tragic irony, a double vision of what is happening in a play or a real-life situation. In Greek tragedy, the characters were blind to fateful circumstances of which the audience was all too well aware, producing a privileged and often poignant appreciation of the plot. (3) Linguistic irony, a duality of meaning, now the classic form of irony. Building on the idea of dramatic irony, the Romans concluded that language often carries a double message, a second often mocking or sardonic meaning running contrary to the first.
In modern times, two further conceptions have been added: (1) Structural irony, a quality that is built into texts, in which the observations of a naïve narrator point up the deeper implications of a situation. In the stories of the English humorist P. G. Wodehouse (1917 onward), Bertie Wooster reports verbatim the smooth, deflating comments of his butler Jeeves without any indication that he has understood or even noticed what Jeeves ‘really’ says. (2) Romantic irony, in which writers conspire with readers to share the double vision of what is happening in the plot of a novel, film, etc. By the 17c and 18c, a refined ironic style was established in European writing, as when Henry Fielding interrupted the action in his novels to address his readers directly and comment on events. When engaging in this game, writers combine creative egotism with a suave and knowing self-mockery. By the 19c, critics had become adept at detecting and dissecting irony in literature and in life. The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard raised irony to the cosmic level when he proposed in 1841 that it was a way of viewing all existence, and some writers and critics have since implied that God is the greatest ironist of all. The phrase irony of fate suggests that, like drama, life treats people as if wryly mocking them, delivering at a strategic moment the opposite to what is deserved or at first seemed likely. See FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
IRONY