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Hyperbole
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 Edward II
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Queen's Lover:
Baldock and Spencer, two minor figures hoping to gain employment in the court of King Edward II, gossip about the royal family. They observe that the Queen seems pleased by news that Piers Gaveston has been recalled from exile in Ireland, and they incorrectly assume that the Queen and Gaveston are lovers in a scene rife with dramatic irony:
SPENCER
A friend of mine told me in secrecy
That he’s repealed and sent for back again,
And even now a post came from the court
With letters to our lady from the king,
And as she read, she smiled, which makes me think
‘It is about her lover Gaveston.BALDOCK
’Tis like enough, for since he was exiled
She neither walks abroad nor comes in sight.
But I had thought the match had been broke off
And that his banishment had changed her mind.SPENCER
Our lady’s first love is not wavering.
My life for thine, she will have Gaveston.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—My Friends Advance:
In a soliloquy saturated with situational irony, Mortimer reveals his plans to rule England as a King in a manner similar to his predecessor, King Edward II. Preparing to establish Edward’s son as a puppet-ruler under his control, Mortimer states:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The queen and Mortimer
Shall rule the realm, the king, and none rule us;
Mine enemies will I plague, my friends advance,
And what I list command, who dare control?
Maior sum quam cui possit fortuna nocere;
And that this be the coronation day
It pleaseth me and Isabel the queen.
Related Themes:
