IRONY

QUESTION: What is Irony?

ANSWER: Irony is a device by which a writer expresses a meaning contradictory to the stated or ostensible one. There are many techniques for achieving irony.

Example: [1] When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept

                       Ambition should be made of sterner stuff;

                       Yet Brutus says he was ambition,

                       And Brutus is an honourable man. 

                       [Shakespeare: Julius Caesar]

                 [2] Hamlet: So long? ….. O heavens! die two

                                     Months ago and not forgotten yet? Then

                                     There's hope a great man's memory

                                     may outlive his life half a year.

                                     [Shakespeare: Hamlet]