Situational Irony In Mrs. Abbott's Invitation To A Murder

“Invitation to a Murder” Irony Essay “Invitation to a Murder”, a short story written by Josh Pachter, includes several evident examples of situational irony within the text. The contemporary tale takes place in Mrs. Eleanor Abbott’s home in New York City, where she summoned twelve detectives and law enforcers to witness the killing of her husband, Gregory Abbott. In the particular room of Mrs. Abbott’s house, a table sat with a collection of weapons resting upon its surface. Among these weapons was an amber-colored bottle with a skull and crossbones design printed on it. The twelve gentlemen invited to stay as spectators reasonably assumed the symbol indicated there was poison inside the bottle. Much to their surprise, though, it was later learned that the bottle with the horrid design was Mr. Abbott’s only chance of survival. He was an extremely frail man due to a skiing incident that occurred a year prior; consequently, he needed the substance in the bottle, his medicine, to sustain his life. This outcome opposed the men’s original belief, supporting the existence of situational irony in the story. Although Mrs. Abbott loved her husband dearly, she wished to release him from his pronounced misery. Cunningly, she planned on utilizing the bottle of “poison” in that endeavor, although not in the way the twelve men

Abbott was killed via the poison for her crime of first-degree murder. This fact by itself presents situational irony as well. The substance inside the bottle had the intended purpose of allowing Mr. Abbott’s life to endure by supporting his feeble heart. It was medicine for Mr. Abbott under his own circumstances; another normal human, on the other hand, would indeed know it as poison. When the stimulant entered Mrs. Abbott’s body, it acted as a catalyst to a racing heart that pumped rapidly until it eventually burned itself out, killing the woman. The substance was a lifesaver to Mr. Abbott, but deadly to his