Irony (Figurative Language)

Irony

Although the term irony is very prevalent in popular culture today, it is nonetheless one of the most misused and misunderstood aspects of figurative language. One of the best examples of such mistaken uses of the term can be found in the widely popular song "Isn't it Ironic?" where the singer lists a series of unfortunate events, like rain on a wedding day, or being given good advice and not taking it. While all of the situations listed have undesirable outcomes, none of them actually stands up as an example of irony. In this case, the only ironic thing is that a song which has irony in the title and is supposed to be about irony actually gets irony wrong altogether.

Irony at its core is about oppositions. It is most often subdivided into three categories, situational irony, verbal irony, and dramatic irony, the first two of which are the most important and the most widely used. Situational irony occurs when the opposite of what should happen and is expected to happen actually takes place. The word opposite is stressed because it is so important to the construction of an ironic situation. As an example, suppose I tell a story where a person, say a lawyer, drowns while swimming at the beach one day. This is highly unfortunate, but there is nothing ironic in it. Even if we knew him to be a great swimmer, this does little to add to the irony of the situation. People drown all the time, and while it could be said to be unlikely, it is not the opposite of what is expected when someone goes for a swim, but rather a definite possibility.

Now, the same situation goes from merely unfortunate to completely ironic if we change the profession of the swimmer from lawyer to lifeguard. We can see that there is an opposition here between the lifeguard who is trained to swim very well and save others from drowning, and the circumstance of his drowning while out for a pleasant swim at the beach. He is the last person we would expect to find in this situation, and so it really is the opposite of what we would expect to happen. However, other subtle changes in the situation can add to or subtract from its irony. If the lifeguard were engaged in a dangerous rescue when he drowned, this would not be ironic at all; life guarding carries great risks at times, and it is to be expected that sometimes they will themselves drown in the line of duty.

Verbal irony also relies on opposites, but is usually somewhat less complex than situational irony. The most well known and popular forms of verbal irony are known as sarcasm, which is when the opposite of what is intended is said. This is often and most obviously achieved through intonation; if a child states to his parents "Oh great! I would LOVE to go get a root canal today. I am SO excited about it!" it is apparent that the child does not actually want the invasive dental procedure. He seems to be saying he would enjoy it, but this joy is so overblown and so inappropriate for the situation that we must interpret it as being ironic.

In either of the main forms of irony, context is very important, and irony cannot exist without it. For example, in the dental situation above, it is a well known social fact that almost no one enjoys root canals, since they are painful and unpleasant procedures. We also know that lifeguards are supposed to save people from drowning, and that they are professional swimmers. Without these important pieces of social information, the irony in either case would cease to exist. The irony is not a product merely of the language, as might be the case with some other figures like alliteration, but of the scene taken as a whole in a given social context.