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Unreliable Narrator
Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Part 1, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Honourable Profession:
Cervantes employs verbal irony and numerous allusions in a scene in which an innkeeper decides to “humour” Don Quixote after recognizing that the knight isn’t “in his right mind”:
The innkeeper, who, as I’ve said, was something of a wag, and had already suspected that his guest wasn’t in his right mind [...] decided to humour him; so he said that he was quite right to pursue these objectives [...] and that he himself in his younger days had followed the same honourable profession, roaming through different parts of the world in search of adventure, without omitting to visit such districts as Percheles and Islas de Riarán in Malaga, Compás in Seville, Azoguejo in Segovia, Olivera in Valencia, Rondilla in Granada, Playa in Sanlúcar, Potro in Cordova and Ventillas in Toledo.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Farmer and the Boy:
In a scene suffused with both situational and verbal irony, a farmer brutally punishes a young boy as a result of Don Quixote’s attempt to help the boy. Previously, Don Quixote encountered the farmer flogging the boy. Outraged, he threatened the farmer and demanded that he pay the boy the wages he is owed. After Don Quixote leaves, however, the farmer swiftly resumes the beating:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘Come here, my son, I want to pay you what I owe you, just as that righter of wrongs has ordered.’
‘I swear you will, too,’ said Andrés, ‘and you’ll do well to obey that good knight’s commands, God bless him, because he’s such a brave man [...]'
‘And I swear I will, too,’ said the farmer, ‘but, since I’m so very fond of you, I think I’ll increase the debt first, just so as to increase the repayment.’ And seizing him by the arm, he tied him back to the evergreen oak and flogged him half dead.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Like the Sabbath :
Cervantes employs verbal irony and a simile in a scene in which Don Quixote forbids Sanch Panzo from aiding him if he is engaged in combat with another knight, as he claims that it is forbidden in the rules of chivalry for a commoner to attack a knight:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘You can be sure, sir,’ replied Sancho, ‘of being fully obeyed there [...] Though I do have to say that when it comes to defending myself I’m not going to take much notice of those there laws of yours, because divine and human justice both let anyone defend himself against attack.’
‘I do not disagree in the slightest,’ replied Don Quixote, ‘but as regards assisting me against knights, you must keep your natural impetuosity under control.’
‘I’ll do that all right,’ replied Sancho. ‘I’ll keep that particular promise as strictly as the Sabbath.’
