1. Situational and Dramatic Irony

2. Learning Targets:
Students will be able to define situational irony and dramatic irony.
Students will be able to identify situational irony and dramatic irony in Things Fall Apart.
Students will be able to define prolepsis, incongruent, and foreshadowing

3. Dramatic Irony occurs in literature and media when the audience knows more about what is going to happen than the characters do.
Why would an author want to do this?
What effect could it create?
HOW could an author do this?

4. Dramatic Irony occurs in literature and media when the audience knows more about what is going to happen than the characters do.
Creates interest, anticipation, tension and fear for the audience leading up to THE MOMENT
Almost always tragic (sad or disastrous)
Created by authors in many ways: prolepsis, foreshadowing, flash-backs, narration, distortions of time, non-linear story telling, and well known stories (like Titanic)
Prolepsis: flash-forwards
Foreshadowing: occurs in literature when the author explicitly or implicitly hints at what is going to happen

5. dramatic irony examples
What examples of dramatic irony can you think of?

6. dramatic irony examples
Star Wars Episodes I, II, III: the audience knows that Anakin Skywalker will become evil and turn into Darth Vader What is the effect of dramatic irony on the audience?

7. Situational Irony occurs in literature when incongruity appears between expectations of what is going to happen and what happens instead.
Can be tragic or funny
Incongruous (adjective): something out of balance/harmony; or inconsistent with expectations; or out of place/the ordinary
incongruity (noun)

8. Situational Irony examples
What examples of Situational Irony can you think of?

9. Situational Irony examples
Harry Potter: readers believe that Harry Potter is the only one who can kill Voldemort but it turns out _____________________________.
The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy and the others expect to get something from the Wizard that it turns out they already have.
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back:

11. situational irony & dramatic irony in Things Fall Apart
We already know one example of dramatic irony from chapters 1 and 2 in Things Fall Apart. What is it?
There is a great example of situational irony in chapter 3. What is it?

12. Situational Irony & Dramatic Irony in Things Fall Apart
We already know one example of dramatic irony from chapters 1 and 2 in Things Fall Apart. What is it?
Ikemefuna’s death is dramatic irony because of foreshadowing; creating a feeling of dread.
There is a great example of Situational Irony in chapter 3. Identify it as you read!