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Hyperbole
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
Key Examples in The Playboy of the Western World
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—"God Help You":
In Act 2, four girls attend the pub to meet Christy, at which point Pegeen uses verbal irony to express her jealousy:
CHRISTY. very miserably.—Oh, God help me. Are you thinking I’m safe? You were saying at the fall of night, I was shut of jeopardy and I here with yourselves.
PEGEEN. severely.—You’ll be shut of jeopardy no place if you go talking with a pack of wild girls the like of them do be walking abroad with the peelers, talking whispers at the fall of night.
CHRISTY. with terror.—And you’re thinking they’d tell?
PEGEEN. with mock sympathy.—Who knows, God help you.
Related Themes:
