Philip Hart wrote: > On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Jerry Friedman wrote: > >>Nothing else ironic? I venture to disagree. >> >>Dramatic irony: The whole Paarfiad is an example of dramatic irony >>because we know so much that the characters don't, just as >>Sophocles's audience knew what Oedipus was going to find out. > > > It's not exploited as such, though, except as noted above. There's a > tragic element in _FHYA_ that arises from our knowledge - in fact the > preface sets the tragic tone by reminding us most of the characters are > doomed. If I recall, Shakespearean tragedy isn't especially ironic, > though the audience knows the story. The characters aren't missing > some crucial (obtainable) bit of information - they're lacking prescience. The first example that came to mind of Shakespearean tragedy being ironic is Othello. Othello could at any time confront Cassius or Desdemona. It isn't prescience, but the information of what is going on is obtainable. There certainly is irony in that Iago lets the audience know what is going on (ever notice how these Shakespearean characters are always talking out loud to themselves? *grin*), but also that Othello tragically does not talk to the people he supposedly should trust, i.e. his best friend and his wife. I can come up with examples of irony in other Shakespearean dramas, but luckily, on this list we can extrapolate safely or pararectally from a sample of one. Jose, Tongan Sheik -- Jose Marquez \ Cthulhu 2004 jhereg69 at earthlink.net \ Why vote for http://home.earthlink.net/~jhereg69 \ the lesser evil?