"Irony is a contrast between what is stated and what is meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. In verbal irony, a word or phrase is used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning. In dramatic irony, there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows. In irony of situation, an event occurs that contradicts the expectations of the characters, of the reader, or of the audience"(Wiggins R27).
The Scarlet Letter In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, irony of situation is present when the town finds out that Dimmesdale was the father of Pearl. The town was in shock because Dimmesdale was considered by the townspeople to be the last person who would commit a sin. He was the main enforcer of not going against the rules, but yet he committed quite an embarrassing crime. When Hester is talking to her daughter Pearl about the situation, she states, “Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!” whispered her mother. “We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest.” (Hawthorne 185). This quote represents the irony that only Hester and Dimmesdale truly knew that they were the sinners, and nobody (not even Hester) was expecting to hear that Dimmesdale was the father.
The Devil and Tom Walker In Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom does not want to make a deal with the devil because he does not want to have to share it with his wife. but once his wife gets greedy and tries taking the treasure for herself, she gets killed in the act. Now with Tom’s wife gone, he pursues the treasure for himself, and he becomes a very rich man. All the while getting rich, Tom starts considering the potential loss of his soul that his wife experienced. So, to try to prevent that, he becomes very religious to preserve his soul. One day, when foreclosing a poor man’s home, and refusing to help the man any longer, the devil comes and takes him away. Tom cries out, “The Devil take me, said he, if I have made a farthing!” (Wiggins 238). This demonstrates irony of situation because Tom was just doing what the devil enforced, and he thought he was doing the right thing. It is ironic because the devil did actually take him, when the reader probably would not have suspected because he was doing what the devil told him to do. I also think it’s ironic because what happened to Tom’s wife is what happened to Tom. They both got caught up in thinking the materialistic things are more important, and at the end, Tom lost sight of his wholesome soul and went with the devil.
Media - Finding Nemo In this scene of Finding Nemo, the irony of the situation is that everyone expected Nemo's dad, a clownfish, to be funny. When the other fish were talking to the clownfish, they expected to hear a funny joke. and be shown that clownfish are funny. But after talking with him, they come to find out that he was rather awkward and not funny at all. That is irony because they expected one thing and got the opposite. It is specifically situational irony because the clownfish performed actions that proved the opposite case of what he intended, and of what everyone expected from him.