Macbeth: The Story Within

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Verbal Irony

Definition: to mean the opposite of what you say.


Example:

"While you perform your antick round,
That this great kind may kindly say our duties did his welcome pay.
Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour stand aye accursed in the calendar!"
(Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 130-133).


Explanation:

On the exit of Macbeth's final visit to the weird sisters, the first witch wryly comments on Macbeth's forgetting to thank them. The witch is also deceiving the readers by calling Macbeth a "great king," when really, he is anything but.


confrontingwitchesagain.jpg

Situational Irony


Courtney Brock, Mr. Brisebois, English 11 A2, May 12, 2005