Irony

The irony is a form of expression which consists in saying the reverse of what one thinks, while endeavouring to imply the distance who exists between what one says and what one really thinks.

In Literature, the irony is art to make fun somebody or of something in order to make react a reader, a listener or an interlocutor. It moreover is used in the objective to denounce, to criticize something or somebody. For that, the speaker often describes reality with terms apparently developing, with an aim of devaluing it. The irony thus invites the reader or the listener, with being active during its reading or its hearing, reflecting and to choose a position.

Etymology

The etymology of the word irony comes from the Greek εἰρωνεία ( eironeia ), who means pretended ignorance (a technique often employed by the Greek philosopher Socrate), of είρων ( eiron ), that which raises a question while being claimed credulous (a Question rhetoric), and verb είρειν meaning “to speak”. This verb είρειν ( eirein ) is itself probably resulting from the Indo-European root *wer- ' to say .

Characteristics

The verbal irony is thus often employed in texts and speeches argumentative and critical. The author uses various processes of style then:

  • the Antiphrasis: to say the opposite of what one thinks, by showing it in an obvious way. (ex: “Ah! You are clean! Looks at all these spots! ”)
  • the hyperbole: to exaggerate its remarks. (ex: “It is large, gigantic. ”)
  • the Understatement: to say little to suggest much, distorts attenuation. (“Goes, I do not hate myself” = I love you)
  • the Parodie: imitation to make fun.
  • the Pastiche: imitation of a person, a style, a profession, etc to make fun.
The irony is also characterized by the Typographie, the Ponctuation (recurring points of exclamation, questions Rhétorique S, points of suspension, brackets, quotation marks…), the Intonation… a typographical sign, the Not of irony, exists to indicate that the sentence which precedes is ironic, but really used forever.

Some literary kinds where the irony is omnipresent:

Socratic irony

The socratic irony consists, for the philosopher, to pretend the Ignorance in order to expose the weakness of the position of another person and to make some to him become aware.

The Greek word eironeia - ειρωνεία applied in particular to the Litote like forms dissimulation. Such an irony occurred particularly in the assumed ignorance adopted by Socrate, like method of dialectical: “socratic irony”. This particular irony implies a consent of the ignorance, which disguises an attitude skeptic and disengaged, with respect to certain dogmas or common opinions which lack a base in the reason or logic. The continuation of “innocent” questions of Socrate point by point reveals the vanity or the inconsistancy of the proposal, by shaking the postulates of its interlocutor, and while calling into question its initial assumptions.

But the irony also amuses the spectators of the discussion, who know that Socrate is wiser than it is allowed to appear, and who can envisage, slightly advances some, the direction that “naive” the questions will take.

With, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard admired the socratic irony and a variation employed some in several of its work. It wrote in particular its main thesis, entitled Of the concept of irony constantly brought back to Socrate , with the continual reference to Socrate. In this thesis, Kierkegaard speaks in praise of a use of the socratic irony by Aristophane and Plato. It also supports that the portrait Socrate in the clouds in one of the parts of Aristophane collected with the most exactitude the spirit of the socratic irony.

External bonds

  • Québécois Office of the French language
  • '' Of the irony, Stakes critical for modernity '', Sebastien Rongier, ED. Klincksieck

Simple: Irony

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