Tragic Irony: use of terms and words that the character intends to mean one thing, but to the reader/viewer in the know, actually portend the hero’s demise. An example of tragic irony occurs in Oedipus. When confronted with the situation and resolution to the plague of Thebes, Oedipus declares that he will either kill or banish the cause of this plague, not knowing yet that he is the cause. The viewer doesn't yet know this (unless they already know the play which contemporary viewers of the play did) and the other characters do not yet know this either. Viewers learn of the irony later on in the play, when we learn of Oedipus's guilt and we think back to his earlier comments.

Dramatic Irony occurs when the reader shares with the narrator/speaker knowledge of a situation or intention unknown to the other characters. An example of this would be "The Story of an Hour." We know that Mrs. Mallard is rejoicing in the freedom of her husband's death and she dies at the shock of losing that freedom upon his return. The others in the story believe she dies at being overjoyed upon his return. Readers know what all the living characters at the end don't, so we see things much differently. In Oedipus, probably the best examples include the words spoken by Teiresias in his first meeting with Oedipus. Teiresias says such things as “you yourself are the pollution of this country and “I say that you are the murderer whom you seek and “with both your eyes, you are blind: You can not see the wretchedness of your life.” For those readers who know what's going on, while others in the drama itself don't, that's dramatic irony.

With verbal irony, the meaning intended by the speaker differs from the meaning understood by one or more of the characters. An example occurs in Oedipus when he says that “whoever killed King Laios might—who knows?—lay violent hands on me—and soon.“ This is an example of verbal irony because we know so much more than what the speaker intends, particularly in relation to the story’s plot and action.