Irony

=IRONY= Is the writer's meaning DIFFERENT (often the opposite)from what is actually stated or actually happening? **Verbal** What is SPOKEN or said (the words) is different/opposite from what is meant: • Overstatement (Hyperbole) • Understatement (Litotes) • Double Entendre (pun): EX: "Sonny's Blues" **Dramatic** Does the audience/some characters know more than another character? Is one or more character(s) speaking/acting without knowledge others have, thus creating a double meaning? **Situational** The EVENTS: do the events have a double meaning...the meaning of the situation as it actually happened versus the situation that we expected to happen or would normally happen? Does a set of circumstances turn out differently from what is anticipated or considered appropriate? Is the action/situation surprising or unexpected? Is there unexplained coincidence in the story? A surprise ending? **Cosmic** (or: "irony of fate"; a form of situational irony) is the universe itself, the cosmos, ironic? Is the situation unjust to a person or group of people in a manner beyond their control? Is a good person in a bad situation due to circumstances beyond his/her control in such a way unfair/inappropriate that this person must suffer? Is this person a victim of fate?