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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Act 3
Explanation and Analysis—Private Hotel:
In the following scene from Act 3, Crofts utilizes veiled language and verbal irony as he addresses Vivie, offering to share the truth of Mrs. Warren's profession with her. Though hesitant, Vivie relents:
CROFTS. I'll tell you all about it if you like. I don't know whether you've found in travelling how hard it is to find a really comfortable private hotel.
VIVIE [sickened, averting her face] Yes: go on.
CROFTS. Well, that's all it is. Your mother has got a genius for managing such things. We've got
two in Brussels, one in Ostend, one in Vienna, and two in Budapest.
Both Vivie and Crofts utilize verbal irony in this situation, speaking of Mrs. Warren's business as simply a trade in "comfortable private hotel[s]." Both characters know that what they refer to are much more than hotels, more akin to brothels; yet they speak in code, shrouding the perceived indecency of Mrs. Warren's work in irony.
This manner of speaking accords with what would have been appropriate in polite society at the time. For sensitive subjects like sex, it would have been considered improper to speak too directly on the subject matter. In this passage, Crofts and Vivie shroud their language in irony and indirectness, likely because it is ingrained in them to do so.
Related Themes:
