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Dramatic Irony
Key Examples in Piranesi
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Resurfaced Memories:
At times, Piranesi experiences flashbacks from his former life in the form of surreal, fragmented images. Take this passage from Part 2:
I saw a black scribble against a grey Sky and a flicker of bright red; words drifted towards me – white words on a black background. At the same time, there was a sudden blare of noise and a metallic taste on my tongue. And all of the images – no more than fragments or ghosts of images really – seemed to coalesce around the strange word, ‘Batter-Sea’. I tried to get hold of them, to bring them into sharper focus, but like a dream they faded and were gone.
Related Themes:
Part 4
Explanation and Analysis—Resurfaced Memories:
At times, Piranesi experiences flashbacks from his former life in the form of surreal, fragmented images. Take this passage from Part 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I saw a black scribble against a grey Sky and a flicker of bright red; words drifted towards me – white words on a black background. At the same time, there was a sudden blare of noise and a metallic taste on my tongue. And all of the images – no more than fragments or ghosts of images really – seemed to coalesce around the strange word, ‘Batter-Sea’. I tried to get hold of them, to bring them into sharper focus, but like a dream they faded and were gone.
Related Themes:
Part 5
Explanation and Analysis—Sorensen and Ketterly:
Part 5 of Piranesi uses forgotten journal entries as a mechanism to flash back in time to when Matthew Rose Sorensen and Dr. Valentine Ketterley first met:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I visited him in mid-November. It was just after four, a cold blue twilight. The afternoon had been stormy and the lights of the cars were pixelated by rain; the pavements collaged with wet black leaves.
When I got to his house I heard music playing. A requiem. I waited for him to answer the door to an accompaniment of Berlioz. The door opened.
‘Dr Ketterley?’ I said.
Related Themes:
