Situational Irony In The Gift Of The Magi

The story “The Gift of the Magi” Irony is the opposite of what's expected. There are three type of irony, the first type of irony is verbal irony it can also be called sarcasm or being sarcastic. The next irony is dramatic irony it is when the author lets the reader into the secret. The third irony is situational irony and it is when no one knows something was going to happen. So in this case he used dramatic irony because we knew that Della cut her hair so she can buy a Christmas gift for Jim.

Just like in the story the author used dramatic irony. One of the ways he used it is when Della says “If Jim doesn't kill me,” Della said to herself, “before he takes a second look at me, he'll say i look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what
could i do- oh ! What could i do with a dollar and eighty seven cents?”Della said falteringly. Jim doesn't know that Della cut her hair so she can buy a chain for Jim's watch. The reason why the story “The Gift of the Magi”for it's dramatic irony it's because the author let us in on the secrets which was that Della sold her beautiful long hair so she can buy a chain for Jim's watch and Jim didn't know. But Jim sold his watch so he can buy a comb for Della's hair. We know that Della cut her hair so she can buy a gift for Jim but what she doesn't know it's that Jim sold his watch so he can buy Della combs.

The couple sold their most coveted items so they could buy each other Christmas gifts. This was dramatic irony because they never thought they would give up there most coveted for each other. “The magi, as you know were wise men wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the babe in the manger and here it related the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house”. With us, the audience, in on the secret, the type of irony is dramatic.