Iron

We explain what iron is and the types of iron that are often used. In addition, examples of this rhetorical figure and what sarcasm is.

1. What is the iron?

It is known as a rhetorical figure that consists of transmitting information completely contrary to the message that is said or written. It can be used both for the purpose that the receiver recognizes the ironic turn and thus generate a certain sense of humor or complicity, or that he cannot detect it and the expression constitutes a kind of offense.

In that sense, the `` iron a is not usually accompanied by explicit indicators that clarify the real meaning of what is said, although it can either go to gestures or, in communication n written, in quotation marks, emoticons or a sign specifically used for irony in certain contexts: (?).

The word iron a comes from the Greek word eir n e a, which can be translated as dissimulation or pretense, because whoever uses it simulates an ignorance that he does not possess. An equivalent would be the Hispanic expression t play dumb.

It also happens that, being a complex turn of language, it usually requires a cultural background or knowledge of the use of language to be able to detect it in most cases. That is why it is so difficult to translate into other languages, or so complex to detect by foreign speakers.

Types of Irony

In literary texts and narratives, the iron a can be used as a stylistic or poetic figure, m beyond the verbal iron a of everyday language. This occurs to the extent that a character is told to say something that contradicts the common knowledge of the readers or the audience.

For example, it is ironic that a character fervently expresses a point of view that he will later suffer, or that he incurs attitudes that he normally rejects. Thus, the situational irony is produced.

It is also possible for a character to take for granted something that the public knows false and act accordingly, as Juliet does in Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare, committing suicide after believing dead Your lover This figure is known as a tragic python.

It can serve you: Language functions.

1. Examples of irony

• To reject a threat: Uy, I am trembling with fear ”(verbal irony).
• A fire station on fire (situational irony).
• In Oedipus King of Sophocles, King Oedipus promises the people to punish the former king's murderer with banishment, and investigations reveal that he has been himself, without knowing it, so he must banish himself (tragic irony).
• When referring to an enemy: “Juan and I get along great” (verbal irony).
• A character prepares a trap with care and ends up falling into it (situational irony).

1. Irony and sarcasm

It is often difficult to distinguish between irony and sarcasm . Perhaps because the latter includes irony in certain cases, provided it is a particularly cruel one.

That is to say: while irony consists in expressing something with the opposite terms, sarcasm instead consists of a form of cruel mockery or scathing irony that seeks to offend or mistreat someone.

That is to say, sarcasm constitutes a maximum and more evident degree of irony, insofar as it has the more or less explicit intention of generating pain or becoming an affront.