What do you mean by "dramatic irony"? Illustrate use in Macbeth.

What do you mean by “dramatic irony”? Illustrate use in Macbeth.

Ans.

1. Introduction

Irony is a special use of language. In the speaker generally does not say what he means, and vice versa. has two meanings: the one is obvious and superficial, and the her is deeper and circumstantial. When Antony in Julius Caesar beaks of Brutus as an “honourable” man. he wants to convey the exactly opposite meaning. i.e.. that Brutus has acted like a most dishonourable man in murdering Caesar. This kind of ironical use of language is quite conscious on the part of the speaker.

“Dramatic irony” is a different sort of thing. By this sort of irony is meant either a speech or a situation which can be interpreted in two different ways. This difference of meaning is the essence of dramatic irony. In it the speaker on the stage says one thing which the audience interpret as another thing. The speaker on the stage is not aware of this hidden meaning because he does not have the advantage of the audience with their fuller knowledge of the whole situation. Thus in all forms of dramatic irony irony there is involved a kind of mockery, a type of practical joke played by chance or fate or circumstance, whatever we call it. This leads to a fuller understanding of the tragic situation as a whole.

2. Uses of dramatic Irony in “Macbeth”

Macbeth is rich in the flavour of Dramatic Irony. The whole atmosphere of the play is charged with irony whether it is expressed in a developing situation or in a speech of one of the characters. Three main forms of dramatic irony in this play may be described as (1) Irony of Circumstance, (2) verbal Irony, and (3) Retrospective Irony. Let us now try to understand and illustrate all these forms separately.

(a) Irony of Circumstance – This sort of irony is implied in the prophecy of the Witches for Macbeth. Their prediction is full of mischief because what they give Macbeth with one hand is taken away from him with the other. Their prophecy for Macbeth violently clashes with their prophecy. for Banquo. The irony lies in the fact that Macbeth has blind faith in only that part of their prophecy which concerns himself and proceeds to negate the other part. This leads him to commit one crime after another till he is exposed, challenged, and destroyed in the end. Another example of irony of circumstance arises when Duncan arrives at the castle of the Macbeths and sincerely praises its sweet and balmy air. The poor man does not know that the atmosphere of the inner castle is being turned into something hellish for him. The same kind of irony is involved in the whole speech of the porter. He is not aware of the hidden meaning of his words in “I’ll devil-porter it no further.” He does not know that he is, in actual fact, turned into the porter of hell and that his jokes are revolving back on to himself.

(b) Verbal Irony- Side by side with these ironic situations, Macbeth abounds in examples of verbal irony. Almost all the major speeches of important characters are tinged with this sort of irony. For instance, the very first words utter by Macbeth are:

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”

The plain fact is that he is referring to the changing fortunes of the battle from which he has just returned. But we instantly associate the words with the words of the Witches in the opening scene, Fair is foul and foul is fair.” and we begin to feel that he is unconsciously revealing his affinity with the Witches who are going to accost him very soon, Again, when Duncan speaks of the treason of the dismissed Thane of Cawdor, he sadly observes:

“He was a gentleman on whom I built

An absolute trust.”

The poor King does not as yet realize that the new. Thane of Cawdor (i.e. Macbeth) is going to be more treacherous than his predecessor. Again and again he addresses Lady Macbeth as “our honoured hostess”, “fair and noble hostess.” But we understand very well the underlying irony because we already know the murderous intentions of the “fair hostess.” In the banquet scene, Macbeth refers to Banquo as “our chief guest”, and we begin to anticipate what the fate of this chief guest is going to be, in the light of our previous knowledge of the fate of another chief guest, a royal guest (Duncan).

(c) Retrospective Irony- By far the most interesting form of dramatic irony in Macbeth is what we may call retrospective irony. It consists in a simple, straightforward statement which is hardly noticeable at the moment but which is transformed into a superbly ironical statement in the light of further experience. Two examples of this will be enough, I think. In the scene of Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth tells her husband:

“A little water clears us of this deed.”

In the sleep-walking scene we see her horribly haunted by the hallucination of indelible blood-stains on her hands: “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” This statement retrospectively charges the previous utterance with the deepest of irony.

The second example is that of Banquo’s assurance to Macbeth, prior to the Banquet Scene, that he will not fail to attend the banquet. Macbeth hypocritically calls upon him to “fail not our feast,” and Banquo replies, “My lord, I will not.” And he keeps his word not only by attending the banquet but by occupying Macbeth’s own chair in the form of a ghost.

3. Conclusion

Thus it is quite clear that Macbeth supplies us with a rich fare of the dramatic irony of the most enjoyable types. The ironical situations, circumstances, and utterances occur in such profusion in this play and they are so rich in their variety that the play may be rightly described as one that “resounds with echoes which seem to be strange whispers of reminiscent irony.”