Question

“okay, my dear,” he smiled genially, “and don’t worry about your poor, abused little burglar. no one is going to get hurt who hasn’t got it coming to him.” as she went down the path he started to close the closet door; then paused as he remembered his hunting boots drying outside on the porch. they belonged in the closet, so leaving the door open he went to fetch them from the heavy, rustic table on which they stood, along with his bag and top coat. alec was coming up from the lake and waved to him from a distance. a chipmunk, hearing judson’s heavy tread, abandoned the acorn he was about to add to his store within the cabin wall and disappeared, like an electric bulb burning out. judson, reaching for his boots, stepped fairly upon the acorn, his foot slid from under him and his head struck the massive table as he fell. several minutes later he began to regain his senses. alec’s strong arm was supporting his head as he lay on the porch and a kindly voice was saying: “twarn’t no much of a fall, mr. webb. you aren’t cut none; jest knocked out for a minute. here, take this; it’ll pull you together.” a small whiskey glass was pressed to his lips. dazed and half - conscious, he drank. “ruthless” by william demille, from the anthology 50 short stories: an omnibus of short stories, edited by mary anne howard (1945), is in the public domain. paragraphs 27 - 29. why is the resolution of “ruthless” an example of both dramatic irony and situational irony?

Explanation:

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something the characters do not. Situational irony is when the outcome is contrary to what is expected. Analyze the story events in paragraphs 27 - 29 to identify if the characters are unaware of something the reader knows (dramatic) or if there is an unexpected outcome (situational).

Answer:

Without the full - text of paragraphs 27 - 29, it's not possible to determine if "Ruthless" is an example of dramatic and situational irony. However, if in these paragraphs the characters are oblivious to a truth known to the reader, it's dramatic irony. If the events turn out in an unexpected way, it's situational irony.