Craft of Writing: Irony and Symbolism

Hello! Our cohorts should be passingly familiar with both irony and symbolism by the time they reach Year 12 but it never hurts to revisit these keystone elements of writing, especially as students are preparing themselves to engage with the Craft of Writing module in the HSC. Below are some mini-lessons designed to support students in their consideration of writing craft. Students are shown how to use a technique, alongside examples, and then put it into practice. 

Irony

What is it: Irony occurs when words are used to indicate something opposite to their actual meaning. There are three types of irony, all of which reflect a difference between appearance and reality. These are:

1. Verbal irony - which can take the form of sarcasm, exaggeration, contradictory phrases, or deliberate understatement.
2. Situational irony - when an audience's expectation of something in a text is not fulfilled. Otherwise known as 'subversion'.
3. Dramatic irony - when the audience is aware of something that some of the characters are not.

Examples:

• Verbal Irony: "Some animals are more equal than others" - Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Situational Irony: A woman receives a letter about her husband's death and struggles with the news. When her husband then miraculously shows up, she dies of a heart attack from the idea of not being free of him (subverting the audience's expectation that she is upset that he has died). - The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
• Dramatic Irony: The audience knows right from the outset that Iago is manipulating Othello in regards to Desdemona's handkerchief, however, Othello is driven into a jealous rage at the ideas that Iago suggests as he is unaware of the truth. - Othello by William Shakespeare.

Why use it:

• Irony brings an additional level of meaning to a situation, and calls attention to ideas through a contrast between what is said and reality.
• Readers are forced to use their imagination to consider the full implications and underlying meanings when irony takes place.
• Verbal irony can work effectively to create humour when used in conjunction with kairos (the right time and place).
• Situational irony helps writers subvert reader expectations for more effective and original storytelling. It can add extra dimension and impact to the emotional connection between the reader and the text. 
• Dramatic irony if often associated with the tragedy genre as it emphasises the fatal impact of a character misunderstanding something. Dramatic irony also assists an author in building reader engagement as it creates a tension between the reader (who knows what is happening) and their need for a character to realise what the reader already knows.

Quick Activity #1: Write a paragraph using characters from either The Tempest or Hag-Seed that demonstrates one of the three forms of irony.

Quick Activity #2: Write an explanation of which irony you used in your previous exercise and how it was demonstrated.

Quick Activity #3: Did you write about Hag-Seed or The Tempest last time? This time write a paragraph using the characters from the other, and use a form of irony that you didn't use last time.

Quick Activity #4: Write an explanation of which irony you used in your previous exercise and how it was demonstrated.  

Symbolism

What is it: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Symbolism is closely related to the human ability to think abstractly, which is what led to the creation of language. The moment humans could think of things that didn't exist in the physical world was the moment that they needed to come up with symbols to represent them. Written language is symbolism at its most basic; a series of symbols representing different sounds.

Examples:

• "Rosebud," the final word of the ruthless entrepreneur Charles Foster Kane on his deathbed,is revealed to the bed of his childhood sled. The sled symbolises the happier childhood that he lost forever at age 8. - The film Citizen Kane directed by Orson Welles. 
• The Golden Country, dreamt of by Winston repeatedly, symbolises the pleasant world he can never live in. - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

Why use it:

• Adds depth to a text and its ideas, and demonstrates the abstract themes that 'power' the text.
• Can allow authors to 'say' things without having to explicitly say them, which in turn allows the audience to bring their own interpretation to the text.
• Symbolism can help the reader identify the sort of text or story they are reading, due to the associations and connotations that come with more well-known symbols (such as the generic convention of a full moon in a horror text).  

Quick Activity: Consider the masque scene in The Tempest, and the discussion in Chapter 28 of Hag-Seed where different ways of staging it are discussed. In what way (different to those discussed) would you stage it? Justify how your version would symbolise one or two themes from the text.  

 

Here are these two writing elements on the one sheet for ease of use:

• Writology Issue 5

Happy writing!