The Once and Future King: Irony 6 key examples

The imagery that makes the knight seem so beautiful is simple but effective. A long, confident sentence describes the knight's grand posture and appearance, its syntax following Wart's eyes as he surveys the mounted fighter. There is a sense of quiet, resting power in the scene. To the reader, this knight is as beautiful and awe-inspiring as it is to Wart. The reader has gotten exactly what they expected from this deus ex machina.

Then, the knight (who the reader eventually learns is King Pellinore) turns out to look like a stereotypical nerd from the fifties. This image is complete with "horn-rimmed spectacles, fogged by the inside of his helmet" and an overwhelming clumsiness. This archetype was used often as the butt of jokes in popular media when White was writing the novel. (The character of the nerd, then, had none of the redeeming qualities and cultural affinity that it gained in the 21st century.) So the expectations of this knight as a capable, chivalrous guardian are subverted—particularly by using the rich imagery of the description of the knight.

This is the first instance of the phrase "King Arthur" in the text. This is such an explicit and undramatic bit of foreshadowing that it catches the reader off guard. It is, indeed, foreshadowing, as White uses one of the problems of an earlier point in the narrative (the moral status of feudalism) to describe a later point in the narrative (Arthur's Round Table maintaining peace in the land). 

This unusual foreshadowing has particular effects. It confirms the total omniscience of the narrator, that it is entirely aware of all parts of Arthur's life at all times. This foreshadowing also suggests that the concepts of equality and justice exemplified in Arthur's Round Table were, perhaps, on his mind since his childhood.

It is, also, simply a funny subversion of expectations from White. The author made a bold decision by using one of the most famous characters in English literature, King Arthur, but referring to him with a false name for the first hundred pages of his novel. The reader might expect a grand reveal or tortuous quest to learn his real identity. Instead, White drops the name "King Arthur" in an innocuous bit of foreshadowing in the middle of Wart's narrative. This is one of the many ways that White manipulates a storybook structure to ironic effect.

One would think this gross, absurd situation would have some level of rigor and knowledge to it. White's version of witchcraft and magic in the novel usually has a distinct specificity. This witch, the reader thinks, ought to at least know this "easy and well known charm." But, in an ironic turn, she doesn't know this, and neither does anyone else. This particular instance of irony relies on the reader having a post-Enlightenment, post–Scientific Revolution mindset. In other words, such a reader believes, like many in the modern era, that experts ought to know which bones are which, relying on rigorous scientific methods. The situational irony in this passage works only with this modern-day mindset in the reader.

Note, also, that this cat potion was "an easy and well known charm" that "was an excuse for lingering with the mirror," and yet the queen still struggles with it. This ironic moment also works as characterization for the queen, suggesting that she would like an excuse for lingering in the mirror.

Merlyn responds using language from Newtonian physics. He first refers to the speed of acceleration due to gravity, 32 feet per second, but expresses it incorrectly as a velocity. (It is unclear if this error is the fault of Merlyn or White.) Then Merlyn remarks that "Four hundred g is enough to shatter the skull": he is referring to "g-forces." Merlyn has calculated that the rock would hit the man's head with a force equal to 400 times the force of gravity on Earth.

This statement from Merlyn is intentionally anachronistic. Gravity would not be widely understood this way until the 17th century, and this book does not take place in the 17th century. Merlyn certainly makes many anachronistic statements, on account of his aging backwards. But this one is one of the few instances (if not the only one) in which the anachronism is not meant as a helpful teaching tool for Arthur. Merlyn does not attempt to explain the anachronism; in fact, it seems to be entirely for his own delight or intellectual enjoyment. This makes this particular version of Merlyn's anachronism especially effective because it uses dramatic irony: the audience knows things that some characters in the scene do not. Modern-day readers, understanding Newtonian laws of gravity, enjoy Merlyn's joke at Arthur's expense, none the wiser.

This moment is funny because of the dramatic irony that White uses. The "smaller captains" thought Arthur was working hard on war planning. The fact that the audience knows Arthur is doing other things makes this dramatic irony.

White emphasizes this dramatic irony by withholding information of what Arthur is actually discussing. It is even more ironically funny that White only says (in this sentence) that the real conversation "was about other things." What Arthur and the others are talking about is so unimportant that White doesn't even bother to specify what it is. Given that the "smaller captains" think that Arthur is discussing complex war matters, this is quite the inversion of expectations. Later in the scene, we find that what Arthur was discussing was the shape of his table where all his knights will meet: should it be round or square? What about the space in the middle? These questions, at first, seem like especially inane, petty concerns when an enemy force is gathering just outside the castle gates. But readers learn that the Round Table will become a symbol of Arthur's understanding of justice and that the equal brotherhood of many strong knights can maintain safety in the land.

In sum, there are multiple layers of irony in this moment: the "smaller captains," watching the lights and activity in the "silk tent," think that Arthur and his knights are discussing the battle. In fact, they are discussing "different things," presented as unimportant by White. But these matters of table organization are themselves in fact important, as the Round Table will become an essential image in the novel.

This is a rather simple but funny instance of situational irony. The leader is led to believe that there is a horde of scary knights just outside the door. White builds the suspense and tension as Lancelot, nearly naked and weaponless, scrambles to defend himself. Then, just as the moment of conflict arrives, Lancelot opens the door and one knight "blunder[s] through the gap." This sort of joke—the blundering knight—is used often throughout the book. It is a compelling irony, as the book also puts a special focus on chivalry and the training involved in knighthood. Even in a scene that is generally quite serious, White, as he does so often, uses physical, slapstick humor. This is perhaps the fundamental joke of the novel: we expect knights to always be coordinated, strong, and chivalrous, when in reality they are just people—and people often blunder.