1. Three Kinds of Irony:

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.