Question

Look at the below examples and identify which types of irony they illustrate. Each example has a line and a brief description of the context in which the line is spoken; the irony could be in the description or in the line, or in both.

1. Tybalt (Romeo's rival and Juliets cousin) tries to challenge Romeo to a fight. Romeo replies: ' do protest I never injured thee/But love thee better than thou canst devise..." (I1.1.39-40).

a. This is an example of______
because___________

2. Romeo and Juliet are dead, and the Friar has just told both of their parents everything. The Prince tells their fathers: "...Capulet!
Montague!/See what a scourge is laid upon your hate/That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love"

a.This is an example of ________. because_______


3. Juliet's mother has informed her of her engagement to Paris following Tybalt's death at Romeo's hand; Juliet is not pleased and answers: "I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam/I will not marry yet. And when I do, I swear/It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate/Rather than Paris" (Ill.v.120-124)


This is an example of _______
because__________

Answer 1

1. The first example is an instance of dramatic irony, where Romeo's statement of love for Tybalt is the opposite of what the audience knows to be true.
2. The second example is an instance of situational irony, where the very thing the families were fighting over, their honor, led to the death of their children.
3. The third example is an instance of verbal irony, where Juliet says the opposite of what she means, and the audience knows that she loves Romeo, not Paris.