Irony thesis essay

The dramatic irony of the death scene heightens our emotional response to the unnecessary nature of the lovers’ deaths. That emotion then makes us more invested in the play’s resolution, when the feuding families reconcile, and helps us to internalize one of the play’s messages: Bitter hate wounds the hater most deeply.

According to the famous definition of irony given by Henry Watson Fowler in “The King’s English,” irony occurs when “...the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same.” Irony can be a powerful literary tool and is typically classified into three distinct types.

As in all literary essays, make sure to discuss plenty of quotations (here, the ironic passages) as well as the textual and historical context to demonstrate irony’s role in the text as a whole. Elissa Hansen has more than nine years of editorial experience, and she specializes in academic editing across disciplines.

The most exaggerated form of irony is situational. This occurs when neither the audience nor the characters are endowed with any special knowledge about what is about to happen. Everyone expects one set of circumstances and is, instead, confronted by another. This can be used for comedic effect but is more typically associated with tragedy.