Chapter 26: "Is He Serious? And Other Ironies"

Irony is a clever way of getting points across, and there are multiple was to do it. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a great example of verbal irony. Verbal irony tends to be the most presented form of irony that is used. When the speaker is using verbal irony it means the opposite of what s/he says. Tis is shown in the immediate line of Romeo and Juliet's prologue "Two households both alike in dignity...". This line is extremely ironic because throughout the play neither house displays the character of having any dignity. The Montagues  only care about their family, and the Capulets only care about their family. Each house is only concerned about its house and no one else. Another example of irony in Romeo and Juliet is when Juliet is anxious to get married and asks Nurse "Go ask his name: If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed." This statement that Juliet makes is ironic because of the fatal ending in this famous Shakespeare play. The young lovers that we have grown with throughout the play die. Juliet dies in the end after Romeo kills himself because he thinks that she is dead (drama, right?). When Juliet asks her Nurse about Romeo then makes the reference to a grave and death she is foreshadowing what is to come. All of this by using irony!