Imagery, Symbolism, Irony, as Textual Analysis in Drama

Imagery:

A playwright could employ literal or connotative language in his work. A literal language gives a direct meaning of the words while a connotative language gives more than one meaning to the word. The language here determines how we mentally visualize the object or situation. This is called imagery. Tt also shows the playwright’s attitude towards a particular character or situation. In The Lion and the Jewel, for example, Baroka is referred to as a ‘fox’, a ‘crafty rogue’, ‘wiry’, ‘goated’, ‘tougher than his sixty-two’, these references helps the reader to have a mental picture of Baroka.

The image of a character and his mode of dressing as described in a stage-direction helps us, to a large extent, to evaluate the character’s disposition, personality, and the attitude of the playwright towards that character.

Symbolism:

In everyday life, we come across symbols and even use them at times. Symbols are objects or things that communicate meaning or messages without using words for example, a cross or a bible symbolizes Christianity. It could be a character, an object, or an incident which represents an idea, a person, a quality, a profession or situation.

Symbolism is an artistic device through which the playwright uses factual language in a way that it deviates from its simple function of describing or recording but used to stand for or represent something else not directly named. This means, therefore, that in a play, We could have symbolic action, symbolic object and symbolic character.

Irony:

A playwright uses irony to add flavor to his story. Here, a playwright uses words or action to create certain kinds of discrepancy between appearance and reality; between what is said or done and what is meant or intended. The types are verbal irony, dramatic irony and situational irony.

Verbal Irony:

This is the simplest and commonest type of irony. It is a figure of speech where the word is the opposite of what is meant; for example, when he is a giant or the tallest man refers to a very short man. 

Dramatic Irony:

Here, there is a contrast between what the character says or does and what the reader knows as the truth. If a speech is meant to be understood in one way by a certain character in a play but the audience understands it in a different way, the scenario becomes a dramatic irony. In other words, a character is under a delusion of a certain fact which has been overtaken by an intervening circumstance.

Situational Irony:

In irony of situation, the expectation does not come out in the way it is anticipated. It is a situation of appearance versus reality. The action of a character here is at variance with the consequences or result of the action.