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Allusions
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. Application
Explanation and Analysis—Over the Flames:
Although dramatic irony is most often employed in a narrative, it also operates in this sermon, within the metaphor about the sinner suspended over the fire.
You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
The horror of Edwards’s sermon stems not only from his descriptions of hell and God’s anger, but also from the ignorance and stubbornness of the sinners that Edwards describes. By this point in the sermon, Edwards directly refers to the audience themselves as sinners: "you have no interest in any Mediator." The individuals in the audience are not only in horrible danger, but also do not seek out any rescue from that danger, even though God’s mercy and forgiveness is available to sinners while they are alive on Earth. The repeated inaction Edwards describes in the face of eternal torment is highly ironic; shouldn't the audience try everything in their power to avoid the ultimate punishment? The problem is that the audience does not realize how near hell they are, and so they fail to turn to Christ, which is the one action (Edwards is quite emphatic about this) which would save them. This irony would have made the audience feel foolish and near-sighted for not relying on Jesus sooner. And in fact, after this sermon, people in the area converted in droves!
Related Themes:
