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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
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Diana:
When detailing the various ways that Mrs. Packletide flaunts her newfound status as a skilled huntress once back in London, Saki includes an allusion to Greek mythology, as seen in the following passage:
From Curzon Street the tiger-skin rug travelled down to the Manor House, and was duly inspected and admired by the county, and it seemed a fitting and appropriate thing when Mrs Packletide went to the County Costume Ball in the character of Diana.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Tame Tiger:
In the key example of situational irony in the story, the tiger that Mrs. Packletide kills is not a ferocious beast that she outwits and overpowers, but a sick and tame animal who dies mostly due to old age and general weakness. The irony of Mrs. Packletide’s “hunt” comes across in the following passage, in which the narrator describes how the Indian villagers did a lot of Mrs. Packletide’s work for her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The one great anxiety was lest he should die of old age before the date appointed for the memsahib’s shoot. Mothers carrying their babies home through the jungle after the day’s work in the fields hushed their singing lest they might curtail the restful sleep of the venerable herd-robber.
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Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Packletide’s Status:
In an example of dramatic irony, readers know that Mrs. Packletide did not actually shoot and kill the tiger, while all of the people in her upper-class English social circle believe that she did. (Though Mrs. Packletide killed the tiger in a way, it was only due to the sound of the explosive that he died from a heart attack, not from the actual shot.) The following passage captures the dramatic irony of Mrs. Packletide receiving endless praise and an increase in her social status for something she did not actually do:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Therefore did Mrs Packletide face the cameras with a light heart, and her pictured fame reached from the pages of the Texas Weekly Snapshot to the illustrated Monday supplement of the Novoe Vremya. As for Loona Bimberton, she refused to look at an illustrated paper for weeks, and her letter of thanks for the gift of a tiger-claw brooch was a model of repressed emotions.
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