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Similes
Part V
Explanation and Analysis—Tea Time:
The final scene in the story is a key example of dramatic irony. This is because readers are aware that Waythorn does not want to be having a casual cup of tea with his wife and her two ex-husbands in his own home, but he acquiesces anyway, pretending to be totally fine with the situation. The irony comes across in the following passage:
[Alice] stood drawing off her gloves, propitiatory and graceful, diffusing about her a sense of ease and familiarity in which the situation lost its grotesqueness. “But before talking business,” she added brightly, “I’m sure everyone wants a cup of tea.”
She dropped into her low chair by the tea table, and the two visitors, as if drawn by her smile, advanced to receive the cups she held out.
She glanced about for Waythorn, and he took the third cup with a laugh.
Despite the fact that Waythorn has been reacting angrily to both Haskett’s and Varick’s presence in his life for weeks now, he accepts his wife's offer for tea, taking his cup “with a laugh.” Readers are aware that Waythorn is acting composed despite his rage, especially since he hates it when either of them is inside his home (which he sees as his personal space).
This scene is also an example of situational irony, as Waythorn is pretending to enjoy this situation right after criticizing his wife for prioritizing social etiquette over sharing her real feelings and setting boundaries with her ex-husbands. In other words, he is behaving in exactly the way he is expecting his wife not to behave, demonstrating that he understands, like her, the primacy of etiquette in their upper-class New York society.
Related Themes:
