Irony

Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or understood, or between what is expected and what occurs. Irony is generally divided into three types:

1. Verbal Irony occurs when an author says one thing and means something else; this is similar to sarcasm, when a speaker says one thing and means the opposite.

2. Situational Irony involves a discrepancy or incongruity between the expected result and actual result. It would be ironic for a fire station to burn down, for instance.

3. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or the reader understands something more or something other than what the character or speaker understands. Although this type of irony is most often associated with drama, a version of it can occur through a manipulation of point of view, for instance in the perceptions of a naive or unreliable first person narrator. A similar effect can be created through certain types of indirect quotation in third person narration (also known as free indirect style narration).

325 Points of view lecture: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rjann/325S08POV