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Dialect
Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Tirin's Play:
Shevek's childhood friend Tirin writes a satirical play about an Urrasti who smuggles himself onto Annares and tries to impose a capitalist system on the planet. The play lands Tirin in trouble—audiences interpret it as an immoral work, and the criticism, Shevek speculates, breaks Tirin's spirit. By the time the reader learns of Tirin’s play, they have already witnessed Shevek’s ill-fated attempt to become part of Urrasti society. In the play, the self-styled “Owner of Annares” attempts to practice capitalism in an anarchist society and is met with indifference to humorous results. On Urras, Shevek tries to enlighten the Urrasti to the values of Odonian society, but the response from his upper-class audiences ranges from polite disinterest to willful disagreement.
When Shevek and Takver discuss the possibility of Shevek's journey, he recalls the play to argue for the absurdity of the plan, and the narrative thus employs dramatic irony:
“What a crazy idea! Like Tirin’s play, only backwards. I’m to go subvert the anarchists. . . . Well, it would at least prove to them that Anarres exists. They talk with us on the radio, but I don’t think they really believe in us. In what we are.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Tirin's Play:
Shevek's childhood friend Tirin writes a satirical play about an Urrasti who smuggles himself onto Annares and tries to impose a capitalist system on the planet. The play lands Tirin in trouble—audiences interpret it as an immoral work, and the criticism, Shevek speculates, breaks Tirin's spirit. By the time the reader learns of Tirin’s play, they have already witnessed Shevek’s ill-fated attempt to become part of Urrasti society. In the play, the self-styled “Owner of Annares” attempts to practice capitalism in an anarchist society and is met with indifference to humorous results. On Urras, Shevek tries to enlighten the Urrasti to the values of Odonian society, but the response from his upper-class audiences ranges from polite disinterest to willful disagreement.
When Shevek and Takver discuss the possibility of Shevek's journey, he recalls the play to argue for the absurdity of the plan, and the narrative thus employs dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What a crazy idea! Like Tirin’s play, only backwards. I’m to go subvert the anarchists. . . . Well, it would at least prove to them that Anarres exists. They talk with us on the radio, but I don’t think they really believe in us. In what we are.”
Related Themes:
