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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
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Worse Rival:
In Act 2, Scene 2, Lucy tells the servant named Fag to tell his master, Ensign Beverley, that Beverley has a new rival for his lady’s affections—but Lucy doesn't know that this supposed rival is Jack Absolute, who is actually Ensign Beverly himself! Fag, however, does know this, so the conversation between him and Lucy is a textbook example of dramatic irony:
Fag: Any message to my master?
Lucy: Sad news! Mr Fag. A worse rival than Acres! Sir Anthony Absolute has proposed his son.
Fag: What, Captain Absolute?
Lucy: Even so – I overheard it all.
Fag: Ha! ha! ha! – very good, faith. Goodbye, Lucy, I must away with this news.
Lucy: Well – you may laugh – but it is true, I assure you. [Going.] But, Mr Fag, tell your master not to be cast down by this.
Fag: Oh, he’ll be so disconsolate!
Lucy: And charge him not to think of quarrelling with young Absolute.
Fag: Never fear! – never fear!
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Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—I Think I Do Recollect:
In an example of dramatic irony, during Act 3, Scene 1 Absolute learns that his father wishes to betroth him to the very woman he is already in the process of courting: Lydia Languish. In this scene, Absolute must deceive all involved by pretending to never have heard of the women he (and the audience) knows he loves:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sir Anthony: Prepare, Jack, for wonder and rapture – prepare. What think you of Miss Lydia Languish?
Absolute: Languish! What, the Languishes of Worcestershire?
Sir Anthony: Worcestershire! No. Did you never meet Mrs Malaprop and her niece, Miss Languish, who came into our country just before you were last ordered to your regiment?
Absolute: Malaprop! Languish! I don’t remember ever to have heard the names before. Yet, stay – I think I do recollect something. – Languish! Languish! She squints, don’t she? A little, red-haired girl?
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Act 3, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—The She-Dragon:
In Act 3, Scene 3, Mrs. Malaprop reads aloud to Absolute a letter in which Mrs. Malaprop herself is compared to an “old weather-beaten she-dragon.” This metaphor is a clear insult that demonstrates how the younger generation in the play views the attempts of the older characters (like Mrs. Malaprop and Absolute’s father) to meddle in their affairs:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Absolute: As for the old weather-beaten she-dragon who guards you – who can he mean by that?
Mrs. Malaprop: Me, sir – me – he means me there – what do you think now? But go on a little further.
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Act 4, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—A Devil of a Fellow:
In Act 4, Scene 1, Squire Bob Acres anxiously frets over his decision to issue Ensign Beverley a challenge to duel for his honor and the hand of Lydia Languish. Summoning Absolute to his aid in sending out the message (unaware that Absolute is, in fact, also Ensign Beverley), Acres asks him to inspire fear in his would-be opponent through the use of metaphors:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Acres: Stay – stay, Jack. If Beverley should ask you what kind of a man your friend Acres is, tell him I am a devil of a fellow – will you, Jack?
Absolute: To be sure I shall. I’ll say you are a determined dog – hey, Bob!
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Act 5, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Bauble for Lydia:
While on his way to duel for his honor and for Lydia, Absolute encounters his father, whom he attempts to hide from unsuccessfully. The conversation that follows Sir Anthony’s recognition of his son is a perfect example of dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sir Anthony: What’s this? – here’s something damned hard!
Absolute: Oh, trinkets, sir! trinkets – a bauble for Lydia! SIR ANTHONY: Nay, let me see your taste. [Pulls his coat open, the sword falls.] Trinkets! – a bauble for Lydia! Zounds! sirrah, you are not going to cut her throat, are you? [...] Sir, I’ll explain to you. You know, sir, Lydia is romantic – devilish romantic, and very absurd of course: now, sir, I intend, if she refuses to forgive me – to unsheath this sword – and swear – I’ll fall upon its point, and expire at her feet!
Sir Anthony: [... ] Why, I suppose it is the very thing that would please her.
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