Definition, Insights and Examples of Dramatic Irony

Definition, Insights and Examples of Dramatic Irony Dramatic irony, also known as tragic irony, is an occasion in a play, film, or other work in which a characters words or actions convey a meaning unperceived by the character but understood by the audience. Nineteenth-century critic Connop Thirlwall is often credited with developing the modern notion of dramatic irony, although the concept is ancient and Thirwall himself never used the term.   Examples and Observations Dramatic irony is profoundly visible in works of tragedy; in fact, dramatic irony is sometimes equated with tragic irony. For example, in Sophocles Oedipus Rex, the audience clearly detects long before he does that Oedipus acts are tragic mistakes.  In theater, dramatic irony  refers to a situation in which the audience has knowledge denied to one or more of the characters on stage. In the above example of dramatic irony, the audience is aware that a characters actions or words will ​bring about his downfall long before the character realizes it.In A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning and the Reptile Room, Lemony Snicket says, Simply put, dramatic irony is when a person makes a harmless remark, and someone else who hears it knows something that makes the remark have a different, and usually unpleasant, meaning. For instance, if you were in a restaurant and said out loud, I cant wait to eat the veal marsala I ordered, and there were people around who knew that the veal marsala was poisoned and that you would die as soon as you took a bite, your situation would be one of dramatic irony. The function of dramatic irony is to sustain the readers interest, pique curiosity, and create a contrast between the situation of the characters and the episode that ultimately unfolds. This leads to the audience waiting in fear, anticipation, and hope, waiting for the moment when the character learns the truth behind the events of the story. Readers end up sympathizing with the main characters, hence the irony.In Francois Trauffauts Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock is quoted as saying, Let us suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, Boom! There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the audience knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware that the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, this same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There’s a bomb beneath you and it’s about to explode! Also See IronySituational IronyVerbal IronyWhat Is Irony?

A Personal Manifesto on Success and Happiness Essay

A Personal Manifesto on Success and Happiness - Essay Example The essay "A Personal Manifesto on Success and Happiness" talks about the responsibilities that one needs to fulfill once the body and mind are able to since work is needed so that a person is able to obtain the necessities needed in the world. Not everybody is born with a silver spoon in the mouth. Work is often perceived as a product of modern life. The work known during the past few decades are far more different than the work introduced and during the earlier centuries. Work in the late 20th context is often concluded into giving up freedom and serenity. When one is said to be at work, one can be concluded to be both stressed and worn down. This should not be the case. Work should be the foundation of fulfillment and the workplace should be a place not just to learn but also to enjoy. Just like how the world was created according to the Bible, even if God was doing so many things for consecutive days still he needed time to rest. Humans are made in the image of God, therefore, re st is also needed. It is not just the body that needs rest but also the mind. Often, the day of rest is consumed by enjoying the fruits of hard labor though the labor that is known in present days is not the same work that was done by man’s forefathers. As man continues to progress, the definition and connotation of the word work also evolve. One, however, should make it a point not to make boredom or sacrifice words that go with it. Though the man was created to work, it does not necessarily mean that one should die of work.

The Process of Parenting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Process of Parenting - Essay Example In fact, the punishment may be not related to mistakes done by the child. For instance, an example of punishment and discipline can be applied to distinguish both of them when a child does wrong things. In this case, of a four-year old child throws his or her crayons on the floor, punishment can be inflicted by telling them that they are undisciplined and slapping their fingers. On the other hand, discipline was be imposed by making them pick their crayons; in fact, there is a need to issue them an explanation that by throwing the crayons on the floor, they can get broken. In addition, the crayons should also be put out of their reach for a period. Erikson asserted that during this stage, children develop a sense of fundamental trust and their aptitude to influence events surrounding them. However, their development is based on the regularity, predictability and consistency, which leads to development of a sense of trust. On the other hand, a child also carries a fundamental sense of mistrust if they are subjected to a harsh and inconsistent, unreliable conditions (Doug & Clifton, 1995). Erikson claims that this is a stage involving development of a particular amount of independence or autonomy. Moreover, during their stage the children require support offered to avoid encountering of only failures and mockery. On the other hand, if children are criticized, over controlled or denied a chance to assert themselves, they develop a feeling of inadequacy, thereby becoming dependent upon others. In this case, they develop a low self-esteem, which is considered a sense of shame (Doug & Clifton, 1995). Erikson contends that children undergo frequent assertion, whereby they commence planning their activities and initiating these activities. Therefore, in this stage they get a chance to develop a sense of initiative and security through their ability to make decisions. On the other hand, if they are criticized and controlled, they develop a sense of guilt and

The prosecution of James Phang Wah and Jackie Hoo Choon Cheat Essay

The prosecution of James Phang Wah and Jackie Hoo Choon Cheat directors of an insolvent company, Sunshine Empire - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the firm swindled investors who bought lifestyle packages. The firm also promised investors returns which were not from genuine profits but were actually funds recycled from new members joining the scheme. These two scenarios constituted criminal law. Another case is where Phang’s wife was paid a commission of nearly 950,000 US dollars for her work as the company’s group sales director, a job she never had or did. Sunshine empire was a corporation. Therefore all its operations were governed by the corporations’ law that existed. Some of the requirements of this law are proper maintenance of books of accounts. This company never kept proper books of account. On the other hand, a company is normally formed with the sole object of not dealing in illegal trade. The company also breached this by processing uncensored and obscene films. All these cases led to the breach of corporations’ law. The company is being wound up. Therefore, t he Commercial affairs department has seized about twenty-one million US dollars and will establish how these funds should be disbursed to the firm’s creditors. This constitutes property law. The directors’ intention of selling 26,000 packages and earning 180, 000 US dollars was unacceptable. They knew that the scheme would fail. An important aspect of Law of contract is ‘acting in good faith.’ The directors breached this provision. On the other hand, Phang’s wife is also being fined for falsifying payment vouchers. This constituted a breach of contract law. How the Law helps in the following Situations Allows people to Organize and Plan Law in itself can help people organize and plan their future actions. In the case of Sunshine Empire, investors are applying the provision of the law to plan their future actions. This is evidenced by the fact that they buy packages from Sunshine Empire with the hope that they will get higher returns. There was a ris k though with such investment as the company could collapse in the future leading to heavy losses to investors; and true to this, the company eventually went under receivership. How Law Encourages or discourages Particular activities Law can act to encourage or discourage certain activities. The prosecution of directors is a common example where the law doe not permit swindling of investors money through fraudulent activities. The directors defrauded the public of their through false investment activities, hence had to pay for their illegal acts (Howitt, p68). The law also acts to encourage compensation in cases of losses being suffered by a given party to a contract. This is seen when the commercial affairs department of company sets aside money to disburse to the firm’s creditors. How Law Creates Rights and Duties that can be enforced The contract between Sunshine Empire and its investors is a clear indication of a situation where law can create rights and duties which can be enforced. The investors invest their funds in the hope of higher returns in the future. The company gets wound up and the Commercial Affairs Department sets aside funds to settle creditors’ claims. By settling the creditors claim, a right of compensation in case of damages or loss is being enforced. How Law Provides remedies when Rights are interfered with or duties are not discharged In this case, creditors are being given funds set aside to cover for their losses as the company goes into liquidation. This clearly shows how law can be used to provide remedy in case of interference with somebody’s rights or where duties in a contract are not fully discharged. Why it is Important to know the law in the circumstances described in the Media report Members of the public at large should know the

Joy Luck Club Character Analysis :: essays research papers

Lindo Jong is a member of the Joy Luck Club along with Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, and Ying-ying St. Clair. Lindo Jong is a mother to three children, a divorcee, and a wife to a second husband. She grew up in China, and even though her children are American, she wants them to have some Chinese character also. Lindo’s character encompasses three major traits including cleverness, being controlling, and loving.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Lindo turned the age of two, she was engaged to marry Tyan-yu who was one year old at the time. When her family's house was destroyed by a flood, Lindo left her mother to live with Tyan-yu and his family while her’s lived with other relatives. Over a time period of about 4 years, Lindo began to forget who she was and where she came from partly because of Huang Taitai’s supervision. Since she didn’t want to be in the marriage, she cleverly devised a plot to escape from her awful commitment with Tyan-yu. She told Huang Taitai that their ancestor is going to give their family three forewarnings that Lindo and Tyan-yu should not be married. First, a black. finger-print sized mark on Tyan-yu’s back will start to eat away at his flesh. Lindo saw this mark ever since she had been sleeping with him as if they were brother and sister. Secondly, the tooth in Lindo’s mouth, which had rotted and fallen out four years ago, had disappeare d. She said â€Å"He said my teeth would start to fall out one by one, until I could no longer protest leaving this marriage.† (Tan 61) Lastly, Lindo proclaimed that the servant girl has already been chosen to be Tyan-yu’s true wife, and that a seed has already been planted into her. Unknowingly to Huang Taitai, Lindo had seen the servant girl speaking to a delivery man who had actually impregnated her. After receiving a ticket to Peking, she married Tin Jong and had three children, Winston, Vincent, and Waverly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Waverly, her only daughter, became a national chess champion by the time she was nine years old. After she and Lindo got into an argument over chess, Waverly decided she would stop playing. After Waverly and Lindo have a chance to think about their argument, Waverly decides to play chess again. Her mother remarks with â€Å"You think it is so easy. One day quit. Next day play. Everything for you is this way.

Movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” Essay

An amazing movie, The Pursuit of Happiness illustrates through the examples of Chris Gardener’s life that anyone has the opportunity to achieve their own pursuit of happiness, if they have self-motivation and determination. Happiness is not something that can be pursued. We already have all the capacity for happiness that we need. Happiness comes from within, and from being content with oneself. People can choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. But to be happy or to be sad they need to have particular motivation or self-determination for it. Motivation is defined as a desire or need which directs towards a goal or something that someone wants. Motivation is an inherent response; it comes from inside and cannot be imposed from the outside, and comes from wanting to do something of one’s own free will. A motivating condition may be defined as an emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an animating to action and is the set of processes that moves a person towards a goal. Motivation consists of five basic theories. The last theory is called humanistic theory and this is perhaps the most important of all. According to Abraham Maslow, an inventor of humanistic psychology, humans are driven to achieve the maximum point of goal at some point of their lives regardless of any obstacles and hindrances. Maslow developed a pyramid called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and it argues about five levels of needs beginning with physiological needs and ending with our need for self-actualization. In the movie Pursuit of Happiness, the main character Chris Gardner was played by Will Smith, who had lost everything in some financial crisis. He ended up living in homeless shelter with his kid. He was jobless to support his kid and his wife, so his wife leaves him. Motivation drives him to struggle until the very end to get rid of this situation. Chris had motivation, he had to feed and care for his child. To feed your child and raise them properly is probably about the strongest motivation a person could have. Chris’ son reminded him daily of his need to succeed and get control of his life. Not only did Chris have motivation, he had an  incredible attitude and was confident in himself. If not for his confidence and attitude he most likely would have never become the successful stock broker he ended up being, much less even made it into the internship. Chris, after falling on hard financial times his son was left homeless. Chris manipulates working a full time unpaid internship, bringing his son to daycare, and finding a bed to sleep each night in Church. Chris and his son are not leading an easy life. One day, Chris finds some free time and decides to play basketball with his son. Where he tells his son that his dream to play basketball as an NBA player will never become true, and he can never be a good player, so he should stop playing. Yet Chris has a sudden change of heart and gives his son a speech to encourage him to always try his hardest and not let anyone shuts him down. Chris tells his son, â€Å"Don’t let anybody tell you, you can’t do something. Even me,† â€Å"You gotta dream, you gotta protect it†¦ You want something? Go get it. Period (_The Pursuit of Happiness.)†_ In first Chris decreases his son’s expectancy by telling him that he wouldn’t be able to play as a basketba ll player. In this movie the character of Chris is shown an extremely determined person. According to psychology, in order to be determined you have to let your mind make the decision that you have to get to the very end. It’s like a goal that you have to achieve it. It’s the end of your work. It could be either good or bad. A very good example which proves that Chris Gardner is determined person is when Chris did not have any money left to pay for his rent. He didn’t just say I don’t have any money and give up on everything, he rather told his land owner that he will pay him the money and so he did, he was so determined to pay for his rent, so determined that he painted the walls of his apartment to make money so that he could pay off his rent. The another great example of being determined is when Chris trusted the hippie girl with one of his bone scanners and when the hippie ran away with the scanner, he did not just sit back and lose his faith. He runs after that lady and finally gets his scanner back. The third example of being determined is when Chris kept calling although many people such as his manager keep distracting him from his work and turned him down, but he never gives up and ended up getting business from a CEO of a big company which  shows that what determination brings to him. Chris Gardner had hope and motivation not to give up. He was very hopeful and optimistic individual and never gave up throughout his life. He decided what he wanted to do and he actually went for it. Even though his motivations for being in the stock market were not the correct ones, but it still even didn’t drag him to despair. An admirable illustration that proves Chris Gardner really is a hopeful and Optimistic person is when Chris’s wife had left him and he did not break down. He in fact was totally optimistic and did as far as conceivable to take care of his child as a single parent. Further example for Chris Gardner’s optimistic nevertheless hopeful individuality is when he took a chance of an internship that offered no salary, and he took that job even though he was literally broke. The third impressive example would be when one of his scanners that Chris was selling got broke. He did not get disappointed and lost his hope. He actually took some notable action and donated blood to the hospital so he could get paid for that. With that money in his hand he bought the bulb for his machine and repaired it. According to Maslow’s pyramid Chris was hanging on the very bottom of it, because he did not have a permanent shelter where he could live with his son, and he has very little money for the food. Since he had no job so he was not secured either. With all these negative things Chris’ self-esteem was very high as is shown in the movie when he showed up into interview with no shirt on and paint all over his body and hair and he still gets selected. The reason why, is because he was very and confident and he had firm belief in himself, so he gets respected by others too. They didn’t just judge him the way he looks but how well he can perform his job and they offered him the internship job. Even though the job was no salary based he still accepted it and worked very hard till the end to get the actual job at same place. In the end, your motivation to change something about yourself may come from a variety of sources, perhaps a little because of pain, a little because you’re inspired to be a better person, and a little because your spouse  would like you to stop a habit that’s driving both of you crazy. Becoming aware of your primary motivation to change is the best source for setting off a new path, a new direction of life. No matter who or what the circumstances are, every person who is considering changing something about her or himself has a reason; a motive to change that can reinforce and strengthen the resolve to change when change becomes difficult. WORKS CITED â€Å"Motivation in Psychology 101 at AllPsych Online.† _Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. . â€Å"Literature Class Ppt.† _Google_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. . â€Å"Motivation in Psychology.† _Encyclopedia of Psychology – Psychology Websites_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .

The Price Of Gasoline Prices - 1437 Words

Anybody from Texas who drives a truck has felt glad about paying less money in regards to purchasing gasoline at a gas station. The truth is that the price of gasoline has been dramatically affected by the recent plunge in oil prices. There are different theories that explain the reason of this phenomenon. This paper will analyze the current oil market, as well as the key players who are winning the â€Å"war† of the oil prices. One of the theories that is used to explain this trend in the market is the one exposed by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations. Smith generally assumed that the supply price was fixed but that it’s merit (value) would decrease as it’s scarcity increased, creating the law of demand (Smith 57). In this case we can†¦show more content†¦the price) of oil. However, they decided to do the complete opposite. All these global policies and strategies not only include OPEC, but other countries such as the United States of America, who is the third world oil producer. This has changed many times throughout the history, as shown by Tabak Cajueiro who stated â€Å"Due to the limited production of crude oil in the United States in 1971, the power of control of crude oil was shifted from USA to OPEC† (30). This gives us a hint about who the â€Å"players† are that were mentioned above. This is referring to USA and OPEC (led by Saudi Arabia). In this â€Å"battle†, these two countries determine who leads the oil market and control the oil prices. As now the unconventional market is actually led by the United States of America and its amazing development in the technical part of the production. This has led to an extensive production of different types of crude oil that previously were not considered economical. Kilian points out one of these types by stating â€Å"the production of shale oil (also referred to as tight (rock) oil) exploits technological advances in drilling† (1). This was started near 2003 when â€Å"the rapid expansion of U.S. shale oil production was stimulated by the high price of conventional crude oil† (Kilian 1). Therefore, due to a dramatic change in the quotes of the production, the market is affected, which is presented by â€Å"Rising non-OPEC oil production is changing global trade patterns†