Previous
Imagery
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
Key Examples in Death in Venice
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Aschenbach's Career :
In a passage saturated with situational irony, the narrator contrasts the "dignity" of Aschenbach's career as a celebrated writer with the shamefulness of his behavior at the end of the novel, as he recklessly pursues Tadzio across Venice as a dangerous outbreak of cholera sweeps through the city:
He sat there, the master, the artist who had attained dignity, the author of “A Miserable Man,” who in such exemplarily pure form had renounced bohemianism and the murky depths, had abrogated his sympathy for the abyss and had vilified vileness; the man who had ascended the heights; the one who had overcome his learning and outgrown all irony, who had grown accustomed to the obligations imposed by the confidence of the masses; he whose fame was official, whose name had been ennobled and whose style boys were exhorted to take as a model—he sat there, his eyes closed [...]
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Barber's Argument :
In the final chapter of the novel, Aschenbach's obsession with Tadzio begins to take a real toll on his mental and physical health. Increasingly ashamed of his age, which he feels contrasts unflatteringly with the youth and beauty of Tadzio, he seeks out a hotel barber who uses a combination of logos and fallacy in his argument that Aschenbach should dye his graying hair a darker color:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Gray,” he said, with distorted mouth. “A bit,” the fellow replied. “And all because of a little negligence, an indifference to external things, which is understandable in important people, but is nevertheless not altogether praiseworthy, especially since it is just those people who should be free of prejudices about what is natural and what is artificial. If certain individuals’ moral objection to the cosmetic art were to be logically extended to the care of their teeth, they would give quite a bit of offense. After all, we are only as old as our mind and heart feel [...]
Related Themes:
