is paradox a type of verbal irony?
Or is it a type of dramatic or situational irony? Or neither? I remember learning that a paradox was a type of verbal irony but i can't find anything on the internet that confirms that. does anyone know?
Or is it a type of dramatic or situational irony? Or neither? I remember learning that a paradox was a type of verbal irony but i can't find anything on the internet that confirms that. does anyone know?
Comments
Paradoxes aren't much of irony. The figurative device they come closest to is an oxymoron, which is two words that when put together mean something different, like "pretty ugly"
A paradox is more of two conflicting ideas put together to mean something different. Or, it could be two ideas that when put together, make sense, and not make sense at the same time.
This is a classic paradox:
A man walks up to you and says "Everything I tell you is a lie." Is he telling the truth, or lying?
There are three types of irony: verbal, dramatic, and situational
To put it simply: Verbal goes more in with sarcasm. Dramatic is where the audience knows something that the characters don't know, and situational is when something happens that you don't expect, such as a surprise ending.
This was in wiki - as you say it does not confirm your idea.
A paradox is ironic. But it would be the way that the paradox is used that would determine its (probably) situational irony.
"A fair amount of confusion has surrounded the issue regarding the relationship between verbal irony and sarcasm, and psychology researchers have addressed the issue directly (e.g, Lee & Katz, 1998). For example, ridicule is an important aspect of sarcasm, but not verbal irony in general. By this account, sarcasm is a particular kind of personal criticism leveled against a person or group of persons that incorporates verbal irony. For example, a person reports to her friend that rather than going to a medical doctor to treat her ovarian cancer, she has decided to see a spiritual healer instead. In response her friend says sarcastically, "Great idea! I hear they do fine work!" (Note that this could easily be spoken literally by a person who believes in spiritual healing as a legitimate treatment for cancer.) The friend could have also replied with any number of ironic expressions that should not be labeled as sarcasm exactly, but still have many shared elements with sarcasm."
A very difficult semantic argument.....