Situational Irony

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

As You Like It: Situational Irony 1 key example

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Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Free from Peril:

In a moment of situational irony in Act 2, Scene 1, Duke Senior admits that he is safer in the Woods of Arden than he ever was in the court:

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court? [...]
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
“This is no flattery. These are counselors
That feelingly persuade me of what I am.”