Situational Irony

in Shakespeare’s

Romeo and Juliet

Created for a Form 2 student

studying in Hong Kong

Definition

Situational irony is defined as:

“An occasion in which the outcome is significantly different

from what was expected or considered appropriate.”

http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/situationalironyterm.htm

The Ball

Situation: Romeo is in love with Rosaline and

wants her to be in love with him.

Proposed Solution: Go to the Capulet’s Ball

and make her fall in love with him.

Expected Outcome: Rosaline will fall in love

with him.

Actual Outcome: Romeo falls in love with Juliet

who falls in love with him.

Why is this ironic

“An occasion in which the outcome is significantly different

from what was expected or considered appropriate.”

Romeo falling in love with Juliet is vastly different from the

expected outcome of Rosaline falling in love with Romeo.

The Marriage

Situation: Romeo and Juliet are in love and want to get married.

Proposed Solution: They go to Friar Lawrence to persuade him

to marry them.

Expected Outcome: Friar Lawrence agrees to perform the

ceremony believing the love of Romeo and Juliet will bring the

feud between the Montagues and the Capulets to an end.

Actual Outcome: The feud actually does come to an end, but

only because Romeo and Juliet die as events unfold that relate

to their getting married.

Why is this ironic

“An occasion in which the outcome is significantly different

from what was expected or considered appropriate.”

The deaths of Romeo and Juliet are vastly different from

the expectation that they will live happily in love. Even

though the two families are now united, the fact that the

lovers have had to die in order for this to happen is not

appropriate nor what is expected when Friar Lawrence

agrees to marry them.

Romeo encounters Tybalt

Situation: Romeo has married Juliet and he does not wish

conflict with her favoured cousin Tybalt.

Solution: Romeo brushes aside Tybalt’s insults and challenges.

Expected Outcome: No harm will come to Tybalt.

Actual Outcome: Mercutio is angered by both Tybalt’s insults

and Romeo’s perceived cowardness and he accepts the duel.

Tybalt kills Mercutio and in his grief Romeo takes revenge and

kills Tybalt.

Why is this ironic

“An occasion in which the outcome is significantly different

from what was expected or considered appropriate.”

The expected and actual outcomes are vastly different.

Romeo tries to avoid harming Tybalt and in doing so sets

off a chain of reactions which leads first to Mercutio's

death, then Tybalt’s. This then leads to Romeo’s expulsion

from Verona and the subsequent events that lead to his

and Juliet’s deaths.

Juliet fakes her own death

Problem: Juliet must marry Paris but she is already secretly

married to Romeo who is now banished.

Solution: To avoid bigamy and to get Romeo back, Juliet drinks

a potion which makes her appear dead.

Expected Outcome: Romeo will return at the time she will awake

and they will be together.

Actual Outcome: Romeo does not learn that Juliet is not really

dead and when he finds her in the crypt he kills himself. She

then finds him dead and kills herself.

Why is this ironic

“An occasion in which the outcome is significantly different

from what was expected or considered appropriate.”

The expected and actual outcomes are vastly different.

Instead of being alive and together the two lovers end up

dead together.

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