Arsenic and Old Lace

First of all, define:  irony. 

Irony is the use of words, gestures, actions or other forms of communication, to state or convey the opposite of what the real message is. It is a juxtaposition or incongruence between the presented truth and literal truth.  

Secondly, list and briefly discuss as many examples if irony that you can find and/or remember in the movie. 

The title, Arsenic and Old Lace, is in itself an irony or juxtaposition, as arsenic is a corrosive and highly destructive chemical, whereas lace is soft, harmless (or so we thought).

The irony that was the most appealing to me was that of Mortimer being the author of various anti-marriage books, including   Marriage: Failure and Fraud, and yet he is getting married.

The Police showing up and being a ‘fixture’ pretty much at the house and not knowing what the aunts are up to or that there is a dead body in the window seat is another irony; just as the police being there when Jonathan is there (him being wanted by the police) and them not knowing it.  

Another funny irony is that the aunts bury the dead bodies in their cellar/house when they live next to a  cemetery. How funny is that! They have the perfect place for a dead body right next door.

The fact that Jonathan’s latest face looks like that of the acclaimed terror movie actor Boris Karloff, greatly hinting at his character and defeating the purpose of blending in and looking harmless.  Which takes me to another irony, the aunts don’t like scary/terror movies and yet they kill people.

Everybody sitting on the window seat when there is a dead body in it and not suspecting a thing is another constant irony in the movie.

Of particular humor is the irony of how Mortimer describes the murder scene of a movie, including the character’s lack of logic to see it develop under his nose, and how Jonathan is doing the exact same thing the scene’s murderer is described of doing and Mortimer is erring just like the murder victim he is describing.