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Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Act 1, Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Wrong Read:
In Act 1, Part 3, immediately after the scene of Cheveley's confrontation with Robert Chiltern—in which Cheveley initiates her blackmail and the audience learns of the deceitful beginning to Chiltern's career after his sale of insider knowledge of the Suez Canal project—Wilde builds some dramatic irony for the audience by having Lady Markby compliment the Chilterns and their virtues to Cheveley herself:
Lady Markby: Well, dear Mrs. Cheveley, I hope you have enjoyed yourself. Sir Robert is very entertaining, is he not?
Mrs. Cheveley: Most entertaining! I have enjoyed my talk with him immensely.
Lady Markby: He has had a very interesting and brilliant career. And he has married a most admirable wife. Lady Chiltern is a woman of the very highest principles, I am glad to say.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Gospel of Greed:
In Act 2, Part 1, Sir Robert Chiltern woefully describes how Baron Arnheim seduced him with talk of power and wealth—talk that ultimately convinced Robert to sell a government secret to Arnheim in order to give momentum to his own political career. With considerable verbal irony, he recounts his experience of Arnheim’s persuasion using the language of philosophy and religion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+With that wonderfully fascinating quiet voice of his he expounded to us the most terrible of all philosophies, the philosophy of power, preached to us the most marvellous of all gospels, the gospel of gold. I think he saw the effect he had produced on me, for some days afterwards he wrote and asked me to come and see him.
Act 4, Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Prodigal Son?:
In Act 4, Part 1, Lord Caversham heartily criticizes his son for embodying what Caversham sees as the failings of the younger generation. In a moment of special dramatic irony, he contrasts his son’s behavior with that of Sir Robert Chiltern, who has just given a rousing speech against the Argentine Canal project in Parliament:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Lord Caversham: Do you mean to say you have not read The Times leading article on Robert Chiltern’s career?
Lord Goring: Good heavens! No. What does it say?
Lord Caversham: What should it say, sir? Everything complimentary, of course. Chiltern’s speech last night on this Argentine Canal scheme was one of the finest pieces of oratory ever delivered in the House since Canning.
Lord Goring: Ah! Never heard of Canning. Never wanted to. And did ... did Chiltern uphold the scheme?
Lord Caversham: Uphold it, sir? How little you know him! Why, he denounced it roundly…
Related Themes:
