Question

ituational irony is a form of irony in which a reader or character expects one thing to happen,
but something completely and surprisingly different happens. Here is an example:
The firemen of Station 12 were all called to a three-alarm fire. While they were away, their station
house catches fire an burns down.
Readers who are familiar with a particular story or a genre of fiction form a point of view, or
perspective, in which they make assumptions about the story. These assumptions may include
the types of characters that will appear in the story, what those characters are like, and how they
will behave and react to conflicts and other events in the story. Situational irony challenges those
assumptions by contradicting the expectations that readers have about the characters or the
situation.
DIRECTIONS: Read the following story summary. Then, answer the questions.
In a fairytale, a princess is believed to be a prisoner in a dragon’s castle. A handsome prince
arrives at the castle to save her.
1. Based on the events in the story, how would most readers expect it to end?
2. If the prince learns that the poor prisoner in the castle is actually the dragon, and that the
princess is keeping it prisoner, what ironic ending might come next?
3. Explain why the events in question 2 show situational irony.
B. DIRECTIONS: Read this partial story summary. Then, answer the questions.
A young married couple are both musicians. The man is a guitar player, and the woman is a
violinist. Their instruments are their prized possessions. They are very much in love but have
very little money. Their anniversary is approaching, and each wants to get the other a gift to
show their undying love. The wife decides to sell her violin in order to buy her husband a
beautiful strap for his guitar. The husband decides to . . .
1. What might the husband do to get money for his wife’s gift that demonstrates situational
irony?
2. What might the husband buy for his wife that further demonstrates situational irony?

Answer 1

Part A — fairy tale

1. Most readers would expect the prince to slay (or drive off) the dragon, free the imprisoned princess, and take her back to the kingdom — a traditional “rescue and marry” happy ending.

2. Ironic ending: the prince arrives, breaks the dragon’s chains expecting to free an innocent victim, but the “victim” is actually the dangerous dragon and the “princess” is the one who had been keeping it chained to protect the kingdom. Because the prince follows his assumptions, freeing the dragon leads to disaster (the dragon escapes or attacks), and the princess — not the dragon — is revealed as the protector/captor. The prince’s heroic action backfires.

3. Why this is situational irony: readers expect the prince’s rescue to restore the proper order (princess freed, dragon defeated). Instead the situation is reversed: the assumed victim is the threat and the assumed damsel is the guardian/antagonist. The outcome contradicts the reader’s (and prince’s) expectations.

Part B — the musicians (Gift of the Magi–style)

1. To get money, the husband might sell his beloved guitar — the very instrument you’d expect him to protect.

2. He might spend that money on something for his wife’s violin (for example, a fine bow, new strings, or an elegant case). Because she has sold her violin to buy a strap for his guitar, his gift is useless to her.

Why this is situational irony: both spouses sacrifice their most prized instruments to buy a gift that will benefit the other; the unexpected twist is that each has sold the very thing the other’s gift is meant to accompany, so the intended helpful gifts become useless — the result directly contradicts their original purpose and the readers’ expectation of mutually useful presents.