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Hyperbole
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Act 2, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Worth Five of Agamemnon :
In a comic scene, a drunk Falstaff enjoys a rowdy dinner in Eastcheap, a low-class neighborhood in the play, with Mistress Quickly, the hostess of a tavern to whom he owes a good deal of money, and Doll Tearsheet, a prostitute. Teasing Falstaff, Doll alludes to a series of figures from Greek mythology and medieval history:
Ah, you sweet little rogue, you. Alas, poor ape,
how thou sweat’st! Come, let me wipe thy face.
Come on, you whoreson chops. Ah, rogue, i’ faith, I love thee. Thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy,
worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better
than the Nine Worthies. Ah, villain!
Here, Doll mixes insult with praise, first insulting him for being sweaty but then affectionately wiping the sweat off of his face. Teasingly, she claims that Falstaff is not only “as valorous as Hector of Troy” but also “worth five of Agamemnon” and even “ten times better / than the Nine Worthies.” Here, she alludes first to Hector, the greatest soldier in the Trojan army in Homer’s Iliad. Next, she compares Falstaff to Agamemnon, a king who, in the Iliad, leads the Greek army in the siege of Troy. Finally, she alludes to the “Nine Worthies,” or nine men from history and legend who were understood in medieval England to exemplify the virtues of “Chivalry,” including Alexander the Great and King Arthur. Doll’s praise exemplifies verbal irony; in hyperbolically comparing him to these famous and worthy men, she ironically emphasizes Falstaff’s cowardly and self-serving nature.
Act 4, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Father and Son:
In a scene that exemplifies dramatic irony, King Henry IV unfairly accuses his son, Prince Harry, of wishing for his death. Furious after learning that Harry has taken his crown, the King berates him:
Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought.
I stay too long by thee; I weary thee.
Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair
That thou wilt needs invest thee with my honors
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth,
Thou seek’st the greatness that will overwhelm
Thee [...]
My day is dim.
Thou hast stol’n that which after some few hours
Were thine without offense, and at my death
Thou hast sealed up my expectation.
He criticizes his son harshly in this scene, suggesting that Harry is so greedy for “mine empty chair” (or in other words, the royal throne) that he eagerly awaits the King’s death, and accusing him of taking his “honors” (or the crown) before he has even died. Further, he suggests that Harry is not yet ready to assume the responsibilities of kingship, a “greatness that will overwhelm” the young man. Last, he suggests that Harry has confirmed his anxieties and offended his father, who would have likely died “after some few hours” anyway.
The audience, however, witnessed the previous scene, in which Harry mourned his father under the mistaken assumption that he had already died, and so too does the audience know that Harry considers kingship a painful burden. At this point in the play, the audience has watched Harry develop into a responsible young man, but his father still considers him to be a wayward and rebellious youth—a prime example of dramatic irony.
Related Themes:
