“Irony and Paradox”
Linguistic irony is based on language, and requires both a sender and a receiver, while situational irony requires only an observer with a clever mind, as when Lily Tomlin buys a waste basket. The clerk puts it into a paper sack so she can take it home, and the first thing Tomlin does when she gets home is to put the paper sack into the waste basket.
Stable Irony refers to that which humans create to be heard or read and understood with some precision. Stable irony allows readers glimpses into an authors’ most private thoughts. In contrast to Stable Irony, there is Observable (or Situational) Irony. An example is when lightning strikes just as a preacher raises his arms in the air to make a dramatic point about God. In such situations, all that is needed is an aware observer.
Because paradoxes appear to be contradictions, they are ironic in that observers must view the paradox from two competing points of view at the same time. They seem contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd, but in some sense they are true. People can talk about a “large mouse” running between the legs of a “small elephant,” or can make sense out of the Yiddish curse, “He should drop dead, God forbid!”
Socratic irony occurs in a teacher-student relationship. The teacher pretends to be ignorant and willing to learn from the student, but then asks adroit questions that expose the weaknesses in the student’s arguments. Along with Aristotle and Plato, Socrates is given credit for laying the philosophical foundations of Western culture.
In literature, dramatic irony occurs whenever the audience or one of the characters knows something that the other characters do not know. Jerzy Kosinski’s novel and movie Being There is an example. This is the story of a mentally disabled gardener named Chauncey Gardner. Because he dresses so well, uses proper grammar, and is seen in wandering in a very affluent neighborhood, Chauncey is mistaken for lord of the mannor who has just died. As Chauncy makes ordinary comments appropriate to his gardening, his listeners supply grandiose metaphorical meanings.
Some scholars feel that Tragic Irony only occurs when a significant figure, like a King, falls from grace. Thus Oedipus Rex from Greek drama, and King Lear from Shakespeare’s drama are examples of Tragic Irony. Other scholars, however, feel that the person who falls from grace does not have to be a significant figure. These scholars would consider Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to be an example of Tragic Irony.
Examples of Gallows Humor or Irony include Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, John Irving’s The World According to Garp, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s Slaughterhouse 5.
In conclusion,
Joseph Heller said, “When I grow up, I want to be a little boy.”
Oscar Wilde said, “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Gertrude Stein said, “There isn’t any answer. There isn’t going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer.”
Don and Alleen Nilsen “Humor Across the Academic Disciplines” PowerPoints:
https://www.public.asu.edu/~dnilsen/
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