Despite seemingly unimportant to a novel, irony plays a crucial role in Dracula. This particular novel, however, takes irony a step further and some pieces of irony can even be analyzed so as to be justified through the Victorian values of the respective time period. Although this particular novel was first written and released in 1897, which was a prominently Victorian era and period of history, Dracula has managed to retain its prominence, popularity, and glory over the years. Likewise, the novel has also exponentially grown upon this prominence as well. The most popular example of this would be with similar modern-day adaptations of the novel, namely the Twilight series. Dracula, despite being written so long ago, has also managed to include …show more content…
One explicit example of situational irony would undeniably be when Lucy is in the process of recovery. Lucy’s mother, rather unexpectedly, ends up removing the garlic flowers and ultimately spoiling the recovery process. “I feared the heavy odour would be too much for the dear child...so I took them all away and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air” (Stoker 129). The situational irony in this quote is that Van Helsing had never expected Lucy’s mother to be the one individual who essentially ended up sealing Lucy’s fate, as she was left defenseless without the garlic flowers in the room and the window was left wide open for Count Dracula to enter and attack Lucy. One more example of situational irony would be in regards with the importance of Mina to her male counterparts, as she is heavily undermined and judged throughout the entirety of the novel primarily and solely due to her gender. “Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain...and a woman’s heart” (335). Despite being undermined constantly, however, Mina effectively continues about the miniscule amount of tasks she is entrusted with. Eventually, Mina is granted with the ability to come along with her male counterparts, for instance when they are tracking Dracula down, and be fully involved in conversations regarding
There are good examples of verbal and situational irony in Elsie Wiesel's memoir Night. Verbal irony occurs when words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant. It is grimly ironic when, after the Jews are ordered to wear yellow stars, Elise’s father says, "The yellow star? Oh well, what of it? You don't die of it..." The statement is ironic because that is precisely how Elise’s father died. The wearing of the yellow star was one step on the path to the concentration camps and almost certain death. After almost a year in the camps, Elise’s father dies from dysentery at Buchenwald.
In the novel ‘’Night’’ Eliezer survives from Auschwitz and surprisingly almost dies from food poisoning.The irony in this is that he could of died many ways at Auschwitz but ultimately almost dies from food poisoning.That is also a form of situational irony meaning that the situation turns opposite of what you expect.Another example of situational irony in’’Night’’ is when Chlomo Wiesel makes a remark about the yellow Jewish star,mocking it by asking if its lethal,but wearing the yellow star is what kills him in the story.In this essay I’ll be giving you more three more examples of irony throughout the novel ‘’Night’’.
This occurs frequently throughout “Night,” because generations following World War II are taught in school of the horrors of the holocaust. One example of this is when Madame Schachter has a vision of a furnace while traveling on the car to a concentration camp. She was beaten and gagged by her fellow passengers to shut her up, but little did they know how accurate her predictions were. Another example situational irony was when the prisoners finally arrived at Auschwitz. As they entered the camp, they passed through a gate with the words “Work will set you free” on it and their motto “Work is liberty.” This is an example of situational irony, because readers know that Auschwitz was one of the most famous death camps and the only way to truly obtain freedom from the Nazi’s confinement is through
In the novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, there is much evidence of foreshadowing and parallels to other myths. Dracula was not the first story featuring a vampire myth, nor was it the last. Some would even argue that it was not the best. However, it was the most original, using foreshadowing and mood to create horrific imagery, mythical parallels to draw upon a source of superstition, and original narrative elements that make this story unique.
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
There are many examples of situational irony in Othello. One big example that went throughout the story was the triangle of Cassio, Othello, and Iago. Iago wanted Cassio dead, while Othello promoted Cassio to a higher position, and later in
In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, Stoker’s use of inverted gender roles allows readers to grasp the sense of obscureness throughout, eventually leading to the reader’s realization that these characters are rather similar to the “monster” which they call Dracula. Despite being in the Victorian era, Stoker’s use of sexuality in the novel contributes to the reasoning of obscureness going against the Victorian morals and values. Throughout the novel the stereotypical roles of the Victorian man and woman are inverted to draw attention to the similarities between Dracula and the characters. Vague to a majority of readers, Bram Stoker uses Dracula as a negative connotation on society being that the values of
The novel Dracula had, and still has an immense effect on horror through its use of literary elements which are observable in horror movies. Bram Stoker's Dracula was revolutionary in its use of literary devices such as dramatic irony, to convey suspense, and the use of sexuality in literature. These devices were adapted to film in early horror movies and continue to appear till today. Dracula was very influential to the film industry when it comes to horror movies because horror movies draw a lot of devices used in Dracula and use them in their movies, this can be seen in movies such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the movie adaptation of Dracula.
More often than not, dramatic irony causes the novel to not be as gripping as it could be since the readers already know a large part of the suspense. However, in the case of Dracula, it is anything but this. Dracula was one of the first novels of its kind and gave the readers a new kind of thrill and is as gripping as any of the contemporary horror novels. The dramatic irony actually acts as a means to keep the readers glued to the novel since the readers know what Jonathan’s fate will be but can do nothing but wait for the inevitable. As the novel proceeds, the readers cannot help but worry about the safety of Jonathan and this makes the novel very
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
A horror classic by Abraham Stocker, Dracula, may be one of the most notorious villain stories of all time. Bram Stocker is a Irish writer who changed the view of what to read in his time. He shows dark and twisted situations and metaphors throughout Dracula and many other of his horror novels. This novel was released in the Victorian era, which saw his type of writing as equivalent to the devil. This era was a long time of peace and bright minded people. Stockers style surprised many readers, because he always has you thinking it can’t get any darker than it is but it always exceeds the previous twisted situation or event. Bram Stocker shows Dracula as an iconic creature, with many reasons to be feared, but displayed in the wrong time era.
Situational irony occurs when there is a situation which appears to have an assumed conclusion, but then something ironic happens and the end result is different than what was expected. Harrison, the unique son of George and Hazel, is a tall, strong man who is attempting to overthrow the government. He manages to break out of jail and takes control of the television station, declaring himself the Emperor. Just as it appears that he is going to succeed in his takeover, the Handicapper General came into the studio. ”She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.” This is not the expected outcome and creates irony in this situation.
The first example of situational irony would be Fortunato’s name, which means fortunate in Italian, an ironic name for someone who is about to be left in the catacombs to die. Another example of irony is when Montresor says, “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe, 3). Obviously this is dramatic irony as Fortunato has no idea that Montresor is smiling because he will kill him rather than actually being happy to meet him. Also verbal irony is present when Montresor says,
Another example is in act 3, scene 2, page 6/7. When Puck puts the love juice in Lysander’s and Demetrius’s eyes. The audience knows that Lysander and Demetrius have the love juice in their eyes, but they don’t know and Hermia and Helena don’t know. This is another example of dramatic irony because we the audience know about the love juice and nobody else does. This irony adds tension to the story because Hermia is now mad at Lysander because he doesn’t love her anymore, Helena thinks everyone is making fun of her, and Lysander and Demetrius now both love Helena and are willing to kill each other over her. Now even with this example, there are still many examples of
Bram Stoker’s ingenious piece of work on writing Dracula has set the expectation for gothic novels all over the world and time to come. The mindset of writing Dracula through the Victorian Era really sets the tone for the reader by creating a spine-tingling sensation right through the novel. With this in mind, Stoker wouldn’t have been able to succeed his masterpiece without the effective uses of symbolism, imagery, foreshadowing, and its overall theme.