Irony is something everyone knows from experience and can see it in life, but giving irony a definition would be a Herculean task. From reading the bedford, there are several types of irony, which is great because we use them all. Irony has a Greek origin Eiron, Eiron was a character who was essentially an underdog. He was a weakling but managed to defeat his opponents by tricking them or simply making them look foolish. Good idea when he could not match against them physically.
There is so many different elements to consider when thinking about irony. There is Socratic, romantic, structural! Of course, listing all the different ironies doesn’t mean you understand them. What I found the most fascinating of the whole chapter would be the Romantic irony. It was a little confusing when I was reading the chapter, so I looked up some examples and definitions to help me better understand. It is still a convoluted idea to me, because the narrator makes up our world but then in the middle shows us he is not a trustful narrator. How crazy is this idea?! We have been trusting the narrator the whole time and following everything he says! Bedford says the suspension of disbelief and the reader would surely feel this way, the reader would have a moment when they question whether or not to possibly continue on with the story! This isn’t what I thought romantic irony would be and it blows my mind. The reader is supposed to see through the narrator and appreciate the cunning nature they have. And I’m sure the reader would have to fall in the love with the narrator more, even if we can’t trust them. How could you hate a character with such a wide assortment of qualities?
I think romantic irony would add such amazing dynamic in a work. I tried to look up if this is a common tool in writing but was getting caught on dead ends. I read quite a bit, and I can say they I haven’t come across romantic irony in a very long time! It certainly should be used more, it’s truly a fascinating idea to make an untrustworthy narrator and see where the consequences lead you. I would love to be able to try to write in romantic irony. You can’t say this is a simple technique because the ground work you have to lay out would be extensive and then to rip all that up? This would be something that would take the author awhile, but I feel like it’s a great gutsy move. This is why it’s important to read all the boring, assigned reading. You stumble across something and get super excited. That’s the beauty of English as a whole. Romantic irony is a technique that will be useful in the future, this I am positive enough.