For the absence of ironic aparts, however, Greek tragedy was richly compensated by the frequent occurrence of dramatic irony. Irony of course is a mode of speech by means of which is conveyed a meaning contrary to the literal sense of the words, and may be divided into two classes—“verbal” and “practical” (to use Bishop Thirlwall’s term) or “dramatic.” In the former the dissimulation is manifest to all concerned, else the sarcasm, passing unrecognized, would fail of its effect and recoil upon the speaker, while in the latter (which alone interests us here) concealment of the hinted truth is essential. It may be the speaker himself who fails to perceive the inner meaning of his own words (and then we call it “objective” irony), or he may employ “subjective” irony, i.e., consciously use his superior knowledge, to gloat over his victim or inveigle him to doom by an ambiguous utterance. In either case, however, the _double entente_ is usually known to the audience, a considerable part of whose pleasure consists in viewing with prophetic insight the abortive efforts of the dramatic characters to escape the impending catastrophe. An excellent instance of conscious irony occurs in Middleton and Rowley’s _Changeling_, Act III, scene 2. There De Flores is guiding Alonzo about the castle where he intends to murder him, and significantly says: All this is nothing; you shall see anon A place you little dream on. The unconscious irony, however, is likely to be more tragic in its tone. So when Iago first conceives his groundless suspicions of his wife and Othello he vows that he will be evened with him, wife for wife. [_Othello_, Act II, scene 2], and these words are fulfilled in a sense far different than he intended, by the death of both wives. For this sort of irony Sophocles was especially renowned, and his _Oedipus the King_ abounds in instances. One must suffice. Oedipus has slain his own father, the reigning king, though these facts are unknown to him. Being now directed by an oracle to investigate his predecessor’s death, he declares, with more meaning than he realized: “I will fight this battle for him as for mine own sire” (vss. 264).