“The Possibility of Evil”

Pre-Reading Elle is at a new school and is having trouble making new friends. She finally gets invited to a costume party, by Vivien, and is really excited. Maybe she is making friends after all. Vivian Elle

Respond to the following questions: How would you feel if you were in Elle’s situation? Have you been in a similar situation before? Describe the situation. Have you ever held a favourable opinion of someone only to learn that that person had betrayed your trust? Tell about it. How does a betrayal of trust make you feel? How does it affect you in future situations?

Can you think of any examples of irony? Irony is a figure of speech which is a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs. There are 3 types of irony: Verbal, Situational, and Dramatic (typesofirony.com) Can you think of any examples of irony?

Verbal Irony Verbal irony is the use of words to mean something different from what a person actually says. It is used by a speaker intentionally. It occurs in a conversation where a person aims to be understood as meaning something different to what his or her words literally mean. (typesofirony.com)

But that sounds like sarcasm? Verbal Irony Examples “Thanks for the ticket officer you just made my day!” “I can’t wait to read the seven hundred page report.” (typesofirony.com) I know what you’re thinking… But that sounds like sarcasm?

Verbal Irony and Sarcasm Most of the time, sarcasm and verbal irony are used interchangeably. There is however a clear distinction between the two. In most cases, sarcasm is used to insult or to cause harm. A statement like “Great, someone stained my new dress.” is ironic, while “You call this a work of art?” is sarcastic. (typesofirony.com)

Dramatic Irony This type of irony is popular in works of art such as movies, books, poems and plays. It occurs when the audience is aware of something that the characters in the story are not aware of. (typesofirony.com)

Dramatic Irony Examples In Snow White, the audience knows the the evil queen has a poison apple, but Snow White doesn't know the old woman is the queen in disguise. This creates tension in the audience as we watch Snow White bite into the apple -- we want to warn her because she doesn't know what we know. In The Lion King, the audience knows Scar killed Mufasa, but Simba doesn't, so tension builds because we know Scar is a danger to Simba. In Mean Girls, the audience knows Kady gives weight-gain bars to the mean girl Regina, pretending they're low calorie, causing Regina to gain weight and lose prestige. (http://ask.metafilter.com)

Situational Irony It involves a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Situational irony occurs when the exact opposite of what is meant to happen, happens. (typesofirony.com)

Situational Irony Examples Someone buys a gun to protect himself, but the same gun is used by another individual to injure him. One would expect that the gun would keep him safe, but it has actually caused him injury.

Situational Irony and Coincidence/Bad luck There is however a difference between situational irony and coincidence or bad luck. When someone washes his car and it rains, that is just bad luck; nothing led him or her to think that it would not rain. However, when a TV weather presenter gets caught in an unexpected storm, it is ironic because he or she is expected to know the exact weather changes. For situational irony to occur there has to be something that leads a person to think that a particular event or situation is unlikely happen. (typesofirony.com)

Listen to the following song and find examples of irony and coincidence...

If the song was really ironic, it would sound like this...

Your turn! Pair up with someone sitting by you and come up with an examples of each type of irony that we discussed today. It can be done on one sheet of paper, but both names need to be on the MLA heading.