Question

Read the following example and identify the type of irony being used:
A movie you are watching shows a woman jogging in the woods. The next scene shows a mountain lion lying in wait down the path where the woman is jogging.
(a)Situational irony
(b)Verbal irony
(c)Dramatic irony
(d)None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Read the sentence and try to understand the irony present in it. Go through the options, recall what they define and select the one which describes the irony present the best.

Complete answer: Irony is a figure of speech or literary device in which what happens is completely different or opposite from the reader or audience’s expectations.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
(a)Situational Irony- It is incorrect because situational irony occurs when the actual result of a situation is different (often, the complete opposite) from what the audience expects the result to be. However, in this case, it is the audience who knows the result of a situation while the character doesn’t. There is no surprising turn for the audience. Thus, there is not any situational irony.
(b)Verbal Irony- It is incorrect because verbal Irony shows a contrast between what is said and what is meant. The most obvious thing to notice is that there is no dialogue in the question. No one is speaking. Thus, there is no verbal irony.
(c)Dramatic Irony- It is correct because dramatic Irony is often found when the audience is aware of something that the character is not. For example, the audience watches the villain of the movie to enter the main character’s empty house and hide in a dark room. Then the main character walks into the house, not knowing the villain is hiding there. But the audience does. It is ironic because the audience knows more than the character.
(d)None of the above- It is also an incorrect option.
Hence, option ‘c’ is the correct answer.

Note: In the given question, you (the audience) see that a woman is jogging in the woods and also that a mountain lion is waiting to attack her. But the woman does not know this. Thus, it is a dramatic irony since the audience knows more than the character.