Irony

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). Irony may also arise from a discordance between acts and results, especially if it is striking, and seen by an outside audience. Irony is understood as an aesthetic evaluation by an audience, which relies on a sharp discordance between the real and the ideal, and which is variously applied to texts, speech, events, acts, and even fashion. All the different senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity, or a gap between an understanding of reality, or expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.

Irony threatens authoritative models of discourse by "removing the semantic security of ‘one signifier : one signified’";^[1][2] irony has some of its foundation in the onlooker’s perception of paradox which arises from insoluble problems.

The connection between irony and humour is somewhat revealed when an expected result of an action does not occur but is instead a surprise that startles us into laughter. However, not all irony is humorous: “grim irony” and “stark irony” are familiar.

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (January 2008).

Contents 1 Types of irony 2 Verbal irony 3 Types of irony 3.1 Situational irony 3.2 Irony of fate (cosmic irony) 3.2.1 Historical irony (cosmic irony through time) 3.3 Ironic art 3.4 Tragic irony (dramatic irony) 3.5 Comic irony 3.6 Metafiction 3.7 Post irony 4 Irony as infinite, absolute negativity 5 Usage controversy 6 Cultural variation 7 Notes 8 Bibliography 9 External links

[edit] Types of irony

Most modern theories of rhetoric distinguish between three types of irony: verbal, dramatic and situational.

• Verbal irony is a disparity of expression and intention: when a speaker says one thing but means another, or when a literal meaning is contrary to its intended effect.
• Dramatic (or tragic) irony is a disparity of expression and awareness: when words and actions possess a significance that the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or actor does not.
• Situational irony is the disparity of intention and result: when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect.

[edit] Verbal irony

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.

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.

[edit] Types of irony

The word “irony” is used in many different situations in which an issue or result seems to contradict normal expectations derived from the previous state or condition.

[edit] Situational irony

Definition: irony of a situation is a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results when enlivened by 'perverse appropriateness'.

Examples:

• A situation immortalized in O. Henry's story The Gift of the Magi, in which a young couple is too poor to buy each other Christmas gifts. The man finally pawns his heirloom pocket watch to buy his wife a set of combs for her long, beautiful, prized hair. She, meanwhile, cuts off her treasured hair to sell it to a wig-maker for money to buy her husband a watch-chain. The irony is twofold: the couple, having parted with their tangible valuables, is caused by the act to discover the richness of the intangible.
• When John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, all of his shots initially missed the President; however a bullet ricocheted off the bullet-proof windows of the Presidential limousine and struck Reagan in the chest. Thus, the windows made to protect the President from gunfire were partially responsible for his being shot.
• Monty Python's last comedy album The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album was continuously delayed from release for various reasons, having yet to see an official release, and has since been made available online for free by the group, thus making the album neither hasty or earning the group a single buck.

[edit] Irony of fate (cosmic irony)

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 cosmic irony, it arises from sharp contrasts between reality and human ideals, or between human intentions and actual results.

For example:

• In Noel Coward's Oscar-winning Cavalcade, extremely happy honeymooners wonder how long their joy will last. The camera pulls back to reveal a life preserver stenciled “RMS Titanic.”
• The painter Monet's loss of vision.
• Ludwig van Beethoven’s loss of hearing.
• Importing Cane Toads to Australia to protect the environment only to create worse environmental problems for Australia.
• Both tetraethyl lead and the chlorofluorocarbon Freon-12 were invented as safe chemicals (both by chemist and mechanical engineer Thomas Midgley), and intended for wide environmental use. However, both compounds were environmental disasters: the first resulting in widespread lead poisoning, and the second class of compounds in widespread harm to the ozone layer. Later HCFC chemicals designed as safe non ozone depleting replacements for clorofluorocarbos ended up being strong climate warmers.
• Organic farming and health expert J.I. Rodale declared in a New York Times Magazine interview on June 4, 1971 that "I'm going to live to be 100, unless I'm run down by a sugar-crazed taxi driver". The very next day he was a guest on The Dick Cavett Show and again spoke about his plans for a long life saying that "I never felt better in my life!" Later in the show, he appeared to fall asleep while another guest was speaking, only to be found dead of a heart attack.
• At the age of 23, basketball star "Pistol" Pete Maravich told a Pennsylvania reporter, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40."^[3] In 1988 he collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 40, after playing 10 NBA seasons.
• Jim Fixx, who did much to popularize jogging as a form of healthy exercise in his 1977 book "The Complete Book of Running", died at the age of 52 of a heart attack while out jogging.
• In the Kalgoorlie (Australia) gold rush of the 1890s, large amounts of the little-known mineral calaverite (gold telluride) were identified as fool's gold, and were discarded. The mineral deposits were used as a building material, and for the filling of potholes and ruts. (Several years later, the nature of the mineral was identified, leading to a minor gold rush to excavate the streets). ^[4]
• In 1974 the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 80,000 of its own lapel buttons promoting toy safety. The buttons had paint with too much lead, sharp edges, and clips that could be broken off and swallowed. ^[5]

[edit] Historical irony (cosmic irony through time)

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.

Examples:

• Contrasting statements were made at the dawn of computers, which were initially thought to be devices never capable of use outside a government or academic setting, with Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, saying, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

Historical irony is often encapsulated into statement:

• "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Nearly the last words of American Civil War General John Sedgwick before being shot through the eye by a Confederate sniper.^[6]
• In response to Mrs. Connally's comment, "Mr. President, you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you." John F. Kennedy uttered his last words, "That's very obvious."^[7]

[edit] Ironic art

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.

[edit] Tragic irony (dramatic irony)

Dramatic irony is very similar to verbal irony. Dramatic irony contains elements of contrast, but it usually refers to a situation in a Greek play where a character who is omniscient watches over a less educated character as that character experiences a situation or event that is of lesser significance than that character realizes. 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. In this form of irony, the words and actions of the characters belie the real situation, which the spectators fully realize. It may take several forms: the character speaking may realize the irony of his words while the rest of the characters may not; or he or she may be unconscious while the other actors share the knowledge with the spectators; or the spectators may alone realize the irony. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King provides a classic example of tragic irony at its fullest and finest.

Irony may come to expression in inappropriate behavior. A witness to a scene involving threats of violence, for example, may perceive continued politeness on the part of the victim as increasingly ironic as it becomes increasingly inappropriate. Sometimes the “second” audience is the private self of the ironist.

When not recognized, irony can lead to misunderstanding. Even if an ironic statement is recognized as such, it often expresses less clearly what the speaker or writer wants to say than would a direct statement.

Another famous case of tragic irony occurs in the William Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged death-like sleep, he assumes her to be dead and kills himself. Upon awakening to find her dead lover beside her, Juliet kills herself with his knife. The play Richard III also utilizes dramatic irony. Many of Richard's lines are the complete antitheses of what he and the audience know he is thinking.

[edit] Comic irony

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. 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."

[edit] Metafiction

Main article: Metafiction

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.

[edit] Post irony

Post Irony is a technique that uses the juxtaposition of empty symbolism and loaded evocations to create humor whose roots lie not so much in the mocking of any one ideology proper so much as in mocking the stupidity that lies at the roots of the propagation of modern ideologies.

Post Irony exists in the aesthetic lineage of Dadaism and Surrealism. This is evidenced by the premium it places on non-sequiturs as well as its tendency to ignore the meaning of a loaded symbol (such as the Twin Towers falling, a cross, or even some Freudian and Jungian symbols) and to recontextualize such symbols in forums (children's TV show parodies, marketing catchphrases, or pop song parodies) at odds with the gravity that has been ascribed to them. Post-Ironic works also tend to be more reliant on an internal, almost musical logic than on a causal, narrative one.

[edit] Irony as infinite, absolute negativity

While many reputable critics limit irony to something resembling Aristotle's definition, an influential set of texts insists that it be understood, not as a limited tool, but as a disruptive force with the power to undo texts and readers alike. This tradition includes Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, 19th century German critic and novelist Friedrich Schlegel ("On Incomprehensibility"), Charles Baudelaire, Stendhal, and the 20th century deconstructionist Paul de Man ("The Concept of Irony"). Briefly, it insists that irony is, in Kierkegaard's words, "infinite, absolute negativity". Where much of philosophy attempts to reconcile opposites into a larger positive project, Kierkegaard and others insist that irony — whether expressed in complex games of authorship or simple litotes — must, in Kierkegaard's words, "swallow its own stomach". Irony entails endless reflection and violent reversals, and ensures incomprehensibility at the moment it compels speech. Not surprisingly, irony is the favorite textual property of deconstructionists.

[edit] Usage controversy

The material above deals with the primary dictionary meaning of the word irony. There is no controversy that the usage above is a correct usage; the controversy is over whether it is the only correct usage. Authority, in the form of dictionaries and usage guides, can be cited on both sides.

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 Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings of Futurama, in which Bender repeatedly corrects people who use the term ironic incorrectly.

[edit] Cultural variation

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, and perhaps explanation.^{[citations needed]}

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

• Star, William T. "Irony and Satire: A Bibliography." Irony and Satire in French Literature. Ed. University of South Carolina Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina College of Humanities and Social Sciences, 1987. 183-209.
• Bogel, Fredric V. "Irony, Inference, and Critical Understanding." Yale Review ): 503-19.
• Hutcheon, Linda. Irony’s Edge: The Theory and Politics of Irony. London: Routledge, 1994.
• for review of socratic irony see Kieran Egan The educated mind : how cognitive tools shape our understanding. (1997) University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN p. 137-144

[edit] External links

• "The final irony"—a Guardian article about irony, use and misuse of the term
• Article on the etymology of Irony
• AHD Definition of irony
• AHD Definition of and usage note for ironic
• Extended discourse in Dictionary of the History of Ideas
• Futurama's take on Irony