The History of Irony The study of rhetoric

Irony One of the first appearances of the definition for “irony” debuted in Giovanni Baptista Bernardi’s Thesaurus rhetoricae in 1559 The term is commonly used in US English as a type of rhetoric...but what is rhetoric?

Rhetoric is... The art (so therefore study) of persuasive communication and eloquence Originally developed as a discipline in fourth- century Athens, where the ability to speak effectively was an essential attribute for anyone who wished to play a part in public life

Classical Rhetoric it is in part a study of eloquence- classical rhetoric is designed to sway audience by appealing to both reason and emotion Studies on rhetoric include discussions of the psychology of the “passions”

Stop and Think... Why study the way that we speak? Why would the Greeks be interested in why some people were better at arguing than others? Brainstorm ideas... Before students studied language Arts in school, they studied rhetoric. Why?

rhetoric break down Classical treatise on logic divide rhetoric into three genres: judicial, deliberative, and epideictic Composition of speech is broken into 5 stages: invetio- the discovery of valid arguments dispositio- arrangement elecutio- expression memoria- memory pronuntiatio- delivery

Elecutio is the specific art of the orator a lot of studies have been devoted to cataloguing the devices that allow someone to deploy a convincing argument An excessive concentration on elecutio is a characteristic feature of late rhetoric books-thus, Bernardi’s Thesaurus rhetoricae

WHAT IS IRONY? IS A FIGURE OF SPEECH IN WHICH WHAT IS STATED IS NOT WHAT IS MEANT *USER ASSUMES THE READER IS “IN” ON THE CONCEALED MEANING IRONY is a discrepancy between what is said or done and what is meant or expected to happen statement is made with the intention to put across the opposite meaning

Why is it so flippin’ hard defining? Irony means different things to different people It actually even varies from culture to culture- both “face value” and “real meaning” may not translate To get the real meaning of the “ironic statement” one has to be looking for a double meaning any way Clues: Different style or tone from the expected, an understatement, hyperbole, cynicism

Verbal irony When the author says one thing, but means something else Early example is Socratic irony- Socrates would pretend to be completely ignorant of a “problem” in order to clarify the opposing stance, and then show inconsistencies in their argument Socrates technique produces irony by showing that the argument the opponent puts forth can not be taken at face value

Dramatic Irony Involves the reader knowing something about what’s happening in the plot, about which the characters have no knowledge (Romeo and Juliet) Dramatic irony may also be where the audience sees the main character as “blind” or ignorant. The clues may be obvious to the audience, but the character refuses to recognize the truth (Oedipus Rex) Irony can work in reverse where the characters understand their actions but the audience is duped into thinking something else. (Sixth Sense) Think about Yelling at Your Tv- “He should have seen it coming” Breaking the “fifth wall” or the suspension of disbelief

In Partners... Think of three examples a piece for situational irony, dramatic Irony, verbal Irony