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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Book 1
Explanation and Analysis—Athena's Prophecy:
In a speech saturated with dramatic and verbal irony, Athena, a powerful goddess, disguises herself as an old man and tells Telemachus that "the immortal gods" have "planted" a vision of the future in her mind:
And now I’ve come—and why? I heard that he was back . . .
your father, that is. But no, the gods thwart his passage.
Yet I tell you great Odysseus is not dead [...]
Wait,
I’ll make you a prophecy, one the immortal gods
have planted in my mind—it will come true, I think,
though I am hardly a seer or know the flights of birds.
He won’t be gone long from the native land he loves,
not even if iron shackles bind your father down.
He’s plotting a way to journey home at last;
he’s never at a loss.
Athena has traveled to Ithaca in order to prepare Telemachus for the return of his father and the ensuing battle against the suitors who harass his mother, Penelope. When a mournful Telemachus suggests that his father, who has not returned from the Trojan War after many years, has likely died, Athena predicts that Odysseus is still alive. Further, she makes a "prophecy" that he will return to Ithaca soon, though she notes that she is "hardly a seer" and instead credits the gods. There are multiple levels of irony operating in this scene. The reader, unlike Telemachus, is aware that he is speaking to the goddess Athena, who exerts a powerful influence over the fates of men—a clear instance of dramatic irony. Verbal irony shows up in her careful and deceptive language, as she claims to merely transmit a "prophecy" from the gods when she is a god herself and in fact plays an active role in shaping Odysseus's fate.
Related Themes:
