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Imagery
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
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Diana:
When detailing the various ways that Mrs. Packletide flaunts her newfound status as a skilled huntress once back in London, Saki includes an allusion to Greek mythology, as seen in the following passage:
From Curzon Street the tiger-skin rug travelled down to the Manor House, and was duly inspected and admired by the county, and it seemed a fitting and appropriate thing when Mrs Packletide went to the County Costume Ball in the character of Diana.
When Saki writes that Mrs. Packletide “went to the County Costume Ball in the character of Diana,” he is referencing the Greek goddess Diana, patroness of the countryside, the moon, and—most importantly—the hunt. In dressing up as Diana, Mrs. Packletide is encouraging those in her upper-class social circle to view her as not only a skilled hunter but also a divine being. This choice exemplifies Mrs. Packletide’s vanity as well as her drive to make the other women in her elite circles jealous of her.
The statement that “it seemed a fitting and appropriate thing” for Mrs. Packletide to dress up as Diana is an example of verbal irony. This is because, as readers know, Mrs. Packletide did not actually shoot the tiger the way a true hunter would and is merely pretending to have done so for social clout.
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Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Packletide’s Status:
In an example of dramatic irony, readers know that Mrs. Packletide did not actually shoot and kill the tiger, while all of the people in her upper-class English social circle believe that she did. (Though Mrs. Packletide killed the tiger in a way, it was only due to the sound of the explosive that he died from a heart attack, not from the actual shot.) The following passage captures the dramatic irony of Mrs. Packletide receiving endless praise and an increase in her social status for something she did not actually do:
Therefore did Mrs Packletide face the cameras with a light heart, and her pictured fame reached from the pages of the Texas Weekly Snapshot to the illustrated Monday supplement of the Novoe Vremya. As for Loona Bimberton, she refused to look at an illustrated paper for weeks, and her letter of thanks for the gift of a tiger-claw brooch was a model of repressed emotions.
As the narrator notes, Mrs. Packletide not only had her picture printed in newspapers from the United States to Russia, but she also achieved what she hoped for most: to make Loona Bimberton jealous (as seen in the combination of Loona's thank you letter and “repressed emotions”). The irony comes from the fact that readers know Mrs. Packletide is not telling the full truth. Of course, there is another person who knows the truth—Louisa Mebbin—and she ultimately blackmails Mrs. Packletide, committing to keep the secret in exchange for a weekend cottage.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Tame Tiger:
In the key example of situational irony in the story, the tiger that Mrs. Packletide kills is not a ferocious beast that she outwits and overpowers, but a sick and tame animal who dies mostly due to old age and general weakness. The irony of Mrs. Packletide’s “hunt” comes across in the following passage, in which the narrator describes how the Indian villagers did a lot of Mrs. Packletide’s work for her:
The one great anxiety was lest he should die of old age before the date appointed for the memsahib’s shoot. Mothers carrying their babies home through the jungle after the day’s work in the fields hushed their singing lest they might curtail the restful sleep of the venerable herd-robber.
There are a couple layers of irony here. First is the irony of how Mrs. Packletide believes herself to be "hunting" a wild tiger when, really, the local villagers have trapped an old and feeble animal for her that they worry might “die of old age before the date appointed for the memsahib’s shoot.” (“Memsahib” was a Hindi term often used for white upper-class women at the time.) An additional layer of irony is the fact that the villagers are valiantly protecting this tiger only so that it can die in a few days—as the narrator describes, the villagers don’t want to "curtail" the tiger's "restful sleep."
While the upper-class English Mrs. Packletide believes herself to be superior to the Indian locals whom she bribes to help her catch the tiger, this moment makes it clear that the villagers are, in effect, outsmarting her by supplying her with a weak tiger, thereby ensuring that they will earn their monetary reward.
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