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Irony Journal

Irony is a complex trope in which words convey meanings that are in tension with or even opposite to their literal meanings. Readers who catch the irony realize that a writer is asking them (or someone else) to think about all the potential connotations in their language. One of the most famous uses of satiric irony in literature occurs in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar when Antony punctuates his condemnation of Caesar’s assassins with the repeated word honourable. He begins by admitting, “So are they all, honourable men” but ends railing against “the honourable men / Whose daggers have stabb’d Caesar.” Within  just a few lines, Antony’s funeral speech has altered the meaning of the term.

In popular culture, irony often takes a humorous bent in publications such as the Onion and the appropriately named Ironic Times. Yet even serious critics of society and politics use satiric devices to undercut celebrities and politicians, particularly when such public figures ignore the irony in their own positions.