ipl-logo

How Does Lawrence Rattigan Use Dramatic Irony In The Play

679 Words3 Pages

How Terence Rattigan uses dramatic irony to present truth and deception in The Browning Version to create audience's expectations. Terence Rattigan’s play, The Browning Version (1949) is a what play set in a schoolmaster’s house in England. Dramatic irony is the audience’s awareness of a situation within a play that the characters do not know about. The essay explores how dramatic irony is used to portray truth and deception to create audience’s expectations of tension. The playwright uses dramatic irony to comment on the duplicitous nature of individuals within society and the universalisation of the facades as well as the fact that truth will always prevail despite the multiple facades. Rattigan uses dramatic irony to comment on duplicitous …show more content…

He also acts in this way to distract Andrew from the reality as well as to assure himself that he has not been found out. They are very …show more content…

The audience assumes that Andrew is oblivious to the relationship giving no indication he was aware of their relationship. The audience has expectations of tension between Frank and Andrew and implies a climactic revelation at the end when Andrew finds out. However, in a twist, Andrew appears to have already known about it seven months ago and wittily comments, “so that you may more easily carry on your intrigue with her?”. Even more surprising is Andrew’s almost calm and docile reaction to the situation, where Frank shares the audience expectations, anticipating him to have ‘made a scene, knocked [him] down’ for behaving inappropriately with his wife. The fact that he knew of this from his wife herself, shows that her wife was truthful to her husband and while also deceiving Frank, using multiple facades to protect her interests. The use of dramatic irony to create audience’s expectations than subverting them suggests that truth will ultimately prevail and the multiple facades of deception are not advantageous to either

Show More
Related
637 Words | 3 Pages

Dramatic irony is employed to inform the audience of Macbeth’s emotions and foreshadows the possible murder of

Read More
1565 Words | 7 Pages

Situational irony is irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected. dramatic irony is used a lot within books, plays, and movies. It is when the audience is aware of something that the characters in the story are not aware of. Within this paper, I will demonstrate on how Ray Bradbury utilizes irony within the novel Fahrenheit 451. First example of situational irony would most likely be with the firefighters in this novel.

Read More
398 Words | 2 Pages

Another way the author A.C.H Smith uses irony to establish surprise is from dramatic irony. Dramatic irony

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

One of the first instances of situational irony is when the “would be” kidnappers first carry little “Red Chief” off to their lair. The reader expects the kidnappers to be serious and smarter than they are in the story. They try to be serious but they just can’t control themselves. However, the kidnappers do not behave as the reader would expect, instead they act kind of scared of “Red Chief”.

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

Dramatic irony is the contrast between what the reader knows to be true and what the character knows to be true (Arp 360). The dramatic irony employed by Jackson tells us that even though there was no particular reason as to why the villagers carry out their tradition, they still know how to do it. They blinding follow the tradition without questioning whether it’s ethical or not. The title also has element of irony in it. A reader can judge what the story might be like, or what the ending might be like.

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

Dramatic irony plays a role in shaping the plot and the audience’s experience by creating conflict and suspense. Dramatic irony plays a role in shaping the plot and the audience’s experience by creating

Read More
369 Words | 2 Pages

Situational irony can affect people in many different ways. Surprise is an emotion that often comes with almost all situational irony, but there are many other emotions that are felt as well. In O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Redchief,” situational irony is used to produce humor. When an original plan completely backfires, and has an opposite effect than what should have happened, people usually feel pity but because of the mischievous characterization, the effect will be humorus. A similar result comes from

Read More
1353 Words | 6 Pages

Many of this is reflected in the story The Ransom of Red Chief. We never really saw any verbal irony in this passage. We did however, see situational irony. An example of situational irony we observed in this story is how we expected Red Chief’s father to react to the kidnapping. We think he would be like any parent and be absolutely terrified that his child is gone.

Read More
1842 Words | 8 Pages

Dramatic irony is a literal technique used religiously in the horror genre, in which the audience is aware of something that the character(s) are not. The audience witnesses something happen,

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

Emotions Created by Situational Irony Surprise is an emotion that leads to other feelings. Situational irony uses surprising twists to create other emotions. For example, “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry uses situational irony to instill humor in those who read the short story. Guy de Maupassant also uses situational irony in “The Necklace,” but the feeling he creates is one of justice. Both short stories, when analyzed, show the effect of situational irony on a reader’s emotions.

Read More
774 Words | 4 Pages

Situational irony is a key factor for a dramatic, two sided story. To use situational irony tells the reader to expect the unexpected, to think beyond enemy lines. Just like in the thrilling short stories in O. Henry’s “The Necklace” and Guy De Maupassant’s “The Ransom of Redchief.” Situational irony shows that things do not always go the way you think they will. But why does the author make the reader almost feel sorry for the antagonists in the story.

Read More
408 Words | 2 Pages

This use of dramatic irony serves to heighten the emotional impact of the play's tragic ending and to emphasize the characters' misunderstandings of each other's

Read More
1446 Words | 6 Pages

Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience.

Read More
1052 Words | 5 Pages

Some people believe that what Montresor did isn't that bad, but bringing a drunk person to a vault, chaining them up, and then surrounding them in bricks so they die, that's pretty bad. The story of "The Cask of Amontillado" is a story where Montresor or also known as the narrator has thought of a plan to kill Fortunato, a wine-loving person. At the end of the short story, he surprises us by describing that he never got caught and that no one has disturbed those vaults in over a couple of decades. The short story proves the reader cannot trust the narrator in "The Cask of Amontillado" to accurately portray events in the short story because he acted all nice just to manipulate Fortunato into thinking he was his friend and then ended up killing

Read More
823 Words | 4 Pages

The dramatic irony plays a huge role throughout the play, especially in wrapping up the

Read More

More about How Does Lawrence Rattigan Use Dramatic Irony In The Play

Related Topics

Open Document