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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
Act 1, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Cause and Effect:
In this passage, Richard III masterfully manipulates Lady Anne as he tries to woo her. Shakespeare employs deep dramatic irony as Richard shifts the blame for the deaths of Henry VI and Anne’s own husband onto her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+RICHARD:
Is not the cause of the timeless deaths
Of these Plantagenets, Henry and Edward,
As blameful as the executioner?ANNE:
Thou wast the cause and most accursed effect.RICHARD:
Your beauty was the cause of that effect—
Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep [...]
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Act 1, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Snow in Harvest:
In Act 1, Scene 4, the First Murderer uses a simile to mock and ironize the Duke of Clarence’s faith in Richard’s kindness. Clarence believes that Richard cares for him, but the Murderer knows otherwise:
Unlock with LitCharts A+CLARENCE:
O, do not slander him, for he is kind.
FIRST MURDERER:
Right, as snow in harvest.
Come, you deceive yourself.
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Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Wingéd Mercury:
In the first scene of Act 2, King Edward expresses horror and shock that his brother Clarence had been executed before he had the chance to reprieve him. Richard, in explaining why this happened, makes an allusion to the Roman god Mercury that's heavy with dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+KING EDWARD:
Is Clarence dead? The order was reversed.
RICHARD:
But he, poor man, by your first order died,
And that a wingèd Mercury did bear.
Some tardy cripple bare the countermand,
That came too lag to see him burièd.
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Act 3, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Cheerfully and Smooth:
In Act 3, Lord Hastings makes a fatal error in judgment regarding Richard’s demeanor. He tells a group of gathered lords and the Bishop of Ely that Richard is easy to read, in the most hyperbolic of language. This is an instance of dramatic irony and also displays Hastings's blithe innocence. He says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+His Grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning.
There’s some conceit or other likes him well
When that he bids good morrow with such spirit.
I think there’s never a man in Christendom
Can lesser hide his love or hate than he,
For by his face straight shall you know his heart.
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Act 3, Scene 7
Explanation and Analysis—Unfit for State :
In Act 3, Scene 7, Richard "protests" against being given the responsibilities of the kingship. In a speech full of hyperbole and dramatic and verbal irony, he fakes humility to the Mayor of London:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Alas, why would you heap this care on me?
I am unfit for state and majesty;
I do beseech you, take it not amiss;
I cannot, nor I will not, yield to you.
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Explanation and Analysis—Endure the Load:
Near the beginning of Act 4, Richard feigns reluctance to the Duke of Buckingham in accepting the crown, personifying "fortune" as a being who deposits burdens on unwitting folk. It's a scene of dramatic and verbal irony because—while the audience knows Richard's true intentions—his apparent unwillingness makes him seem like an ideal candidate for kingship:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Since you will buckle fortune on my back,
To bear her burden, whe’er I will or no,
I must have patience to endure the load;
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Act 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—An Honest Tale:
In this passage, Queen Elizabeth is attempting to fend off Richard's desire to court her daughter. She throws a barb at Richard using verbal irony, hinting that she understands he's trying to deceive her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
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Act 5, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Have Mercy, Jesu!:
Just before the Battle of Bosworth Field comes a powerful scene where Richard experiences a prophetic nightmare. The words he utters when he wakes are both situationally ironic and dense with foreshadowing:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Richard starteth up out of a dream.
RICHARD: Give me another horse! Bind up my wounds! Have mercy, Jesu!—
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Act 5, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—A Horse!:
In Act 5, Scene 4 of Richard III, a wet and miserable scene unfolds that’s packed with situational irony. Richard—a character who throughout the play is depicted as cunning, ruthless, and power-hungry—finds himself in a dire situation on the battlefield. On foot and vulnerable in the mud, he cries out:
Unlock with LitCharts A+A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
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