Compare the uses of irony in Plato’s Republic, (Books One through Six), and in Dante’s Inferno, two works which are famous for their irony. Identify several examples in each text, and explain precisely how or why they illustrate irony. Irony can take many different forms, but try to articulate the core meaning that all examples share. Try also to limit your examples to irony which is actually present in the texts—irony intended by the authors—rather than passages that seem ironic merely because of the historical or cultural differences between our world and theirs. What do you see as the most important similarities or differences in the authors’ employment of irony?