Hop-Frog uses verbal irony in his speech to the king and his ministers, and this ultimately foreshadows his later plans for revenge. When asked by the king to pick for him a costume to wear to a masquerade, Hop-Frog suggests that he and his ministers wear matching “ourang-outang” (an archaic spelling of “orangutan”) costumes, as they will frighten the guests:
“The beauty of the game,” continued Hop-Frog, “lies in the fright it occasions among the women.” “Capital!” roared in chorus the monarch and his ministry. “I will equip you as ourang-outangs,” proceeded the dwarf; “leave all that to me. The resemblance shall be so striking, that the company of masqueraders will take you for real beasts—and of course, they will be as much terrified as astonished.” “Oh, this is exquisite!” exclaimed the king. “Hop-Frog! I will make a man of you.”
He presents his plan as a harmless game or prank which will terrify the guests but entertain the king himself. However, his actual motives are far darker, as he intends to kill the king and his ministers for their longstanding abuse of himself and Trippetta. His words, then, contain ironic doubled meanings. The guests will indeed experience “fright” at the masquerade, though the object of their terror will be the sight of the king and his men burning to death, not the orangutan costumes. Hop-Frog, then, does not lie, but rather, takes advantage of the ambiguities of language. His words here foreshadow the ending of the story, in which the guests are indeed “as much terrified as astonished,” though not for the reasons the king expects.
