Three Types of Dramatic Irony

Timo Airaksinen ()
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Timo Airaksinen: University of Helsinki

A chapter in Power and Responsibility, 2023, pp 15-30 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract What is dramatic irony? To answer, we need a minimal definition and its two extensions: doxastic asymmetry, meaning differences, and missed ironies on stage. The first one tends to ignore the ironic status of dramatic irony. Why call it irony? Yet, scholars utilize it as a self-evidently valid definition. I explore the mutual relations of these three definitions starting with Peter Goldie’s views. My main result is that the three types of dramatic irony are all interconnected so that they together show what dramatic irony is. I utilize Kafka’s novels, Euripides’ Bacchants, Sophocles’ Ajax, Machiavelli, and certain Biblical narratives. I discuss the problem of ironic alienation and the Brechtian Verfremdung-effect and contrast them to the thesis that dramatic irony makes the affected characters on stage look and feel sympathetic. Typically, irony entails power imbalance, distancing and alienation, and, perhaps, criticism, too.

Keywords: Irony; Situational irony; Verbal irony; Goldie; Brecht; Machiavelli; Euripides; Sophocles; Alienation; Sympathy; Criticism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-23015-8_2

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-23015-8_2

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