Situational Irony

Situational irony is often used in literature to make a story clever and interesting. It also is used as a tool in a plot twist. Have the writers at Paper Masters explain the situational irony of any work of literature that you have been assigned to explicate. Sometimes irony is not always obvious and you may need help in disecting the full influence of it. Get help today for any literature project that includes ironic situations.

Works of literature that use situational irony include the following:

• Harry Potter
• The Story of an Hour
• The Wizard of Oz
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• Many of Edgar Allen Poe's works

Of the three main types of irony-verbal, dramatic, and situational-situational irony is the one that occurs randomly in life. One of the most famous examples of situational irony was the 1981 assassination attempt of President Reagan. The shooter, John Hinckley, fired several shots at the president, none of which hit the intended target. However, one bullet did ricochet off of the bullet-proof presidential limousine, striking Reagan in the chest. The situational irony of the situation is that President Reagan was injured when the bullet deflected off of the very vehicle designed to keep him safe.

When used in literature, situational irony is designed to emphasize certain elements of the story and allow the ending to take a surprising turn of events for the audience. One of the more famous examples is Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour." In that story, the main character believes that her husband has died, and comes to grips with the resulting freedom that comes with that knowledge. At the end, when he walks in the door, she drops dead from the shock.

One subset of situational irony is known as historical irony. For example, in the 1920s, the New York Times was highly critical of the new phenomenon of crosswords puzzles. The irony is that, today, the New York Times crossword puzzle is considered to be the preeminent example of a newspaper crossword puzzle.