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How are verbal, situational, and dramatic irony used in "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut?

"Harrison Bergeron" is replete with irony, including situational, verbal, and dramatic irony. Situational irony is when the opposite of what is expected occurs. The entire society depicted in the story, therefore, exhibits situational irony. In the effort to create an ideal society where everyone is equal, the government and people have created a dystopia where people are deprived of their basic right to be themselves. It's ironic that people with speech impediments are chosen to be television announcers, and it's ironic that the ballerina apologizes that "her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody." One would expect speech impediments to disqualify a person from being an announcer, and one usually apologizes for having a raspy or unpleasant voice, not a pleasant one. That Hazel and George are unable to properly mourn for their son who has just been murdered on TV displays situational irony since that should have been a deeply traumatic event for them, yet they go on as if nothing happened.


Verbal irony is when the words used have an opposite meaning from the message they convey. Harrison Bergeron says, "I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived!" and he claims to be an Emperor. However, the irony of these words is soon revealed when Diana Moon Glampers comes in and shoots him with a "double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun," killing Harrison immediately. Readers realize Harrison's claims were empty; he was just as subjugated as every other person in that society, despite his few minutes of freedom.


Dramatic irony is when readers know something that a character in the story doesn't know. In a sense, the entire story is based on dramatic irony because readers understand the misguided attempts of the society to be fair even as most of the characters are fully compliant with their country's outrageous rules and laws. The ending is full of dramatic irony because readers know the horrible scene that has just taken place on TV, but Hazel immediately forgets seeing her son executed and George missed the whole thing while in the kitchen getting a beer. 


Vonnegut uses different types of irony throughout the story to support his theme that a society where everyone is equal is not necessarily an ideal one.

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