Three Kinds of Irony:

Verbal Irony: a Discrepancy Between What Is Said or Written and What Is Meant Rhetorical Questions? To: All English faculty From: Department Chair Subject: Big Words I have received another complaint from a student. The student says her teacher uses big words. I was sympathetic. I told her that high school teachers sometimes use big words. I told her high school students sometimes try to learn big words. She was not convinced. She was not satisfied. That is not good. Walt Disney teaches us that the customer is always right. We should do what Walt Disney tells us. That is why I ask that you not use big words. Thank you for not using big words.

Dramatic Irony Occurs When an Audience Perceives Something That a Character in the Literature Does Not Know In the Greek drama Oedipus Rex, the audience is aware that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother long before he is aware of this situation.

Situational Irony is a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” the protagonist is expected to fall apart when she hears of her husband’s death in a train accident, but instead she experiences joy. When her husband walks in the door, instead of being delighted as observers might expect, she drops dead.