amusement of listeners and readers. Situational Irony The term situational irony,or irony of situation,refers to conditions that are measured against forces that transcend and overpower human capacities.These forces may be psychological,social,political,or environmental.For example,Collier's story,The Chaser is based on the irony of situation in which an unrealistic desire for romantic possession leads people inevitably toward destructiveness rather than everlasting love. Such kind of situational irony connected with a pessimistic or fatalistic view of life is sometimes also called irony of fate or cosmic irony. Situational irony could of course work in a more optimistic context.For example, an average,or even blockheaded person could go through a set of difficult circumstances and be on the verge of losing everything in life,but,through someone's perversity or through luck,might emerge successfully,as does Scoresby in Samuel Clemens's story Luck (cf.P.180).Such a situation could reflect an author's conception of a benevolent universe,or,as in the case of Scoresby,a more arbitrarily comic one. Dramatic Irony Dramatic irony is a special kind of situational irony;it applies when a character perceives a situation in a limited way while the audience,including other characters, may see it in greater perspective.The character therefore is able to understand things in only one way while the larger audience can perceive two.The character Austen in The Chaser is locked into such irony;he believes that the only poison he will ever need is the one that will win him love,while the old man and the readers know that he will one day return for the poison.The classic example of dramatic irony is found in the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.All his life Oedipus has been entrapped by fate, which he can never escape.As the play draws to its climax and Oedipus believes that he is about to discover the murderer of his father,the audience knows that he is drawing closer to the point of his own self-destruction:as he condemns the murderer,amusement of listeners and readers. Situational Irony The term situational irony, or irony of situation, refers to conditions that are measured against forces that transcend and overpower human capacities. These forces may be psychological, social, political, or environmental. For example, Collier’s story, The Chaser is based on the irony of situation in which an unrealistic desire for romantic possession leads people inevitably toward destructiveness rather than everlasting love. Such kind of situational irony connected with a pessimistic or fatalistic view of life is sometimes also called irony of fate or cosmic irony. Situational irony could of course work in a more optimistic context. For example, an average, or even blockheaded person could go through a set of difficult circumstances and be on the verge of losing everything in life, but, through someone’s perversity or through luck, might emerge successfully, as does Scoresby in Samuel Clemens’s story Luck (cf. P. 180). Such a situation could reflect an author’s conception of a benevolent universe, or, as in the case of Scoresby, a more arbitrarily comic one. Dramatic Irony Dramatic irony is a special kind of situational irony; it applies when a character perceives a situation in a limited way while the audience, including other characters, may see it in greater perspective. The character therefore is able to understand things in only one way while the larger audience can perceive two. The character Austen in The Chaser is locked into such irony; he believes that the only poison he will ever need is the one that will win him love, while the old man and the readers know that he will one day return for the poison. The classic example of dramatic irony is found in the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. All his life Oedipus has been entrapped by fate, which he can never escape. As the play draws to its climax and Oedipus believes that he is about to discover the murderer of his father, the audience knows that he is drawing closer to the point of his own self-destruction: as he condemns the murderer