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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Part 2: Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—David and Hella:
Hella’s return in Part 2, Chapter 4 threatens David’s “double-minded” life. Following through on his relationship with her requires David to conceal his gay identity, trapping him in a delicate—even unsustainable—balancing act. The tension is on full display in the dramatic irony that occurs after an awkward encounter with Giovanni and Jacques:
Hella sighed. ‘I didn’t mean to get your friends mad at you,’ she said. ‘You ought to go back and have a drink with them. You said you were going to.’
‘Well, I may, I may not. I’m not married to them, you now.’
‘Well, the fact that you’re going to be married to me doesn’t mean you have to break your word to your friends. It doesn’t even mean,’ she added, shortly, ‘that I have to like your friends.’
This stretch of dialogue exploits the story’s central irony to dramatic effect. The reader clearly knows of David’s love affair, even if Hella may not, and in this moment she teeters perilously close to discovery. The couple has just bumped into a “stock-still,” “vindictive” Giovanni accompanied by Jacques, and the uncomfortable “tableau” nearly exposes David’s two lives. The moment verges on the brink of disaster.
David’s conversation with Hella lingers in the wake of this uncertainty. It is unclear whether Hella has realized his affairs, and David attempts to right the course by disavowing his connections to Giovanni and Jacques. When Hella prompts David to drink with his friends, he rejects her offer by explaining that he is “not married” to either of his friends. David’s extreme suggestion makes a show of separating himself from Giovanni and Jacques, though it ironically describes the very reality he’s concealing. In some sense, his highly exaggerated refusal backfires on itself. David is sexually involved with both men, and his mention of marriage actually brings to the surface what he is attempting to deny.
More than assuaging Hella, David potentially arouses her suspicions instead. His fiancée replies that “just because you’re going to be married to me doesn’t mean you have to break your word to your friends”—a response that subtly reasserts her exclusive relationship with him and dismisses Giovanni as a mere “friend.”
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