Situational Irony in Literature

Situational irony refers to the occurrence of unexpected situations in a plot, creating a twist and making the story more appealing. It is one type of irony used in literature, along with dramatic and verbal irony. Situational irony aims at surprising the audience by deviating from their expectations, as seen in examples like Dr. Seuss's 'The Green Eggs and Ham', where the narrator initially refuses to try green eggs and ham but later ends up liking them.

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Situational Irony
The situational irony is the occurrence of unexpected situation in the plot. The stories are often
set up in a way where the readers can expect what to do. In such situation something different
might happen and it creates a twist. It is called situational irony. In literature, three types of irony
are used. The situational irony is one of them. The other two are dramatic and verbal. In all
cases, a discrepancy between the reality and appearance is used. The verbal irony indicates the
discrepancy between the reality and appearance in the words. In other words, the verbal irony
happens when someone says different than their intended meaning. Dramatic irony is the
situation where the discrepancy occurs between the knowledge of the readers and that of the
characters. The situational irony, on the contrary, aims at creating surprised effect for the
audience. It makes the story more appealing as the readers often prefer unexpected occurrences.
There are many instances of situational irony in the literature.
The Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss is a piece that presents situational irony. The narrator
initially refuses to have green eggs and hams because of his dislike. At the end of the story, the
character tries the same food. The initial claim indicated that he would be disgusted whereas he
actually liked it.