Some forty years ago, a story broke in the British media about an unfortunate event where the local fire brigade was called by an old lady who had her cat stuck up a high tree. The fire brigade was kind enough to send a truck with a team of fire fighters. When they arrived, they used their tractable ladder to ascend along the tall tree and the fireman on the ladder was able to rescue the cat with little trouble. Old lady and cat reunited, the neighbourhood applauded the fire fighters, tea and biscuits were brought out and everyone was happy. The fire fighters finished their tea, climbed the fire truck and drove off, running over the rescued cat and killing it!
At this point, let us get one thing out of the way. Alanis Morrissette, an accomplished US/Canadian singer, song writer had a massive hit with a song called ‘Ironic’ which had a catchy easy-on-the-ear tune. However, when you examine the lyrics, none of her musings, in my view, are ironic at all. They are simply a list of unfortunate situations like ‘ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife’ or ‘a traffic jam when you’re already late’.
With this song, Alanis has unintentionally reinforced a stereotype that Americans don’t get irony. I disagree with that completely. For a start, on of their more respected dictionaries ‘American Heritage Dictionary’ gives a very clear explanation of irony thus: ‘incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occur’. The dictionary also states that it is unacceptable to use the word ‘ironic’ to describe mere unfortunate coincidences or surprising disappointments. In more recent times, Americans introduced the world to irony by creating a new urban culture turn of phrase which states exactly the opposite of what is being felt or taking place. So much so, they actually employ the word ‘not’ at the end to make sure the listener/reader gets the irony straight away. Examples of this are: ‘that was helpful, not!’ or ‘I am happy for you getting this promotion, not!’ Some would argue that the use of the word ‘not’ is redundant but hey, this is the English language which has an amazing flexibility to adapt to change as culture changes occur.
I suppose it is inevitable that Shakespeare would employ irony in the most dramatic of fashions. In the play Julius Caesar, Mark Antony makes a speech, thinly veiled to explain Brutus’ part in the assassination of Julius Caesar: ‘Brutus says he was ambitious; / And Brutus is an honourable man’, clearly meaning that Brutus was not an honourable man.
The Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t help much due to the complexity of the explanation: ‘a condition of affairs or events of a character opposite to what was, or might naturally be, expected; a contradictory outcome of events as if in mockery of the promise and fitness of things.’ Clear as mud!
Incidentally, that last statement ‘clear as mud’ is an ironic simile statement as in ‘as welcome as a snake in a telephone box’ or ‘as engaging as watching paint dry’
There is verbal irony which is close to sarcasm like ‘and there was me thinking you came because you missed me’ when said to a debt collector, or ‘where is the fire, sir?’ when a policeman stops you for speeding. In all of these examples, the speaker is intentionally stating something he/she knows to be false.
There is situational irony which I find the most interesting. It is the disparity of intention and results, where the result of the action is contrary to the desired / expected outcome. This leaves a lot of headroom to include many situations that can be referred to as ironic.
I understand there is also Dramatic Irony but, that’s delving into Greek Civilisation and drama where I have little knowledge of so, I will leave well alone.
You could argue that the story of the old lady’s cat being accidentally killed by the people who set out to rescue it is ironic. I would like to think it is.
Here is an old story: a deer hunter was out in the forest one day when he happens upon an injured bear. The hunter takes pity on the bear, dresses his wound, gives him food and water and carries on with his deer stalking. The following day, he returns to where he found the bear, checks his wound and gives him more food and water. This goes on for a few days and finally, the bear recovers sufficiently to get up and carry on being a wild animal looking for his next meal. But the bear waits for the hunter to arrive and decides to follow him. After the initial nervousness, the hunter, realises he has acquired a friend who wishes to remain with him. The hunter kind of likes the idea and sure enough, the two became inseparable. The bear learnt to carry the hunter’s bag and guns, he fetched drinking water from the river, he carried the dead deer back to the hunter’s lodge and stood guard outside the lodge while his master slept inside. One hot summer’s day, they stopped for lunch and the hunter fell asleep in the shade of the large fig tree. The bear sat guard next to his master. A fly comes buzzing around and lands on the sleeping hunter’s face, the bear waves it off, the fly flies off and comes back a few seconds later and lands on the hunter’s face again. Again, the bear waves it off. This went on for a while and the bear was getting increasingly frustrated. Finally, the bear gets up finds a huge rock, picks it up and returns to where his master was still fast asleep. The fly had already landed on the hunter’s face and the bear, lifts his arms high up in the air and crashes the rock over his master’s head, killing him instantly. Needless to say, the fly flew off before the rock reached the hunter’s head.
The story was told to us as kids to demonstrate the principle that a ‘foolish friend is more dangerous than a wise enemy’. I am not sure wise enemies are not dangerous but, I find the story quite ironic.
What do you think?
Mufid
