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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
Part I
Explanation and Analysis—Arabian Nights:
When learning about the supposed abilities of the monkey’s paw, Mrs. White compares the item's magic to something one would read about in Arabian Nights, alluding to a collection of Middle Eastern folktales:
“Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud,” said the sergeant-major, “but I warn you of the consequences.”
“Sounds like the Arabian Nights” said Mrs White, as she rose and began to set the supper. “Don’t you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me?”
Arabian Nights—officially titled One Thousand and One Nights—is a story collection made up of folktales compiled over the course of many centuries from the Middle East (as well as South Asia and North Africa). While it’s likely that the text existed in some form as early as the 10th century, it was not translated into English until 1706. Since then, it has been translated numerous times and has inspired countless renditions of the stories contained within, such as the 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin.
When Mrs. White says that the process of holding the monkey’s paw in one’s right hand and wishing aloud upon it reminds her of Arabian Nights, she is referencing the many stories in the collection that feature magical or supernatural elements, such as Aladdin being granted three wishes by a genie living in a lamp. When Mrs. White mentions "wish[ing] for four pairs of hands," she is making a point about the types of magic and wishes in these stories.
The way in which Mrs. White sarcastically asks this question to Sergeant-Major Morris makes it an example of verbal irony—she doesn’t actually want four pairs of hands. Rather, she is mocking the idea that such an object could grant wishes in the first place. Unlike the characters in these make-believe stories, she implies, she does not believe that inanimate objects can change one’s fate.
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