The Matrix

In the movie The Matrix one of the leading characters says, “Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony (The Matrix).” When analyzed closely, this statement is a classic use of irony. When stating this, Morpheus was making relation to the human dealing with machines where he stated that “throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive." From this and the subsequent quote on fate, one can deduce that the relationship between humans and machines have changed over time as fate would have it. Considering the two statements as a single one, they can be considered to mean that throughout human history, people have been over reliant on machines to live. Humans needed the machines to exist, but with time the technology got out of hand, given that people were killing their natural power source. However, the irony here is that humans heavily depended on machines to leave, but fate has change, and now machines heavily rely on humans for energy.

The quote from Morpheus is a classic use of rhetorical devices, which, in this case, is an irony, to elaborate something that is happening and needed human attention (The Matrix). In most cases, the use of irony in explaining world events has often been misunderstood as people confuse it with coincidence. By the Merriam-Webster dictionary irony is defined as “the utilization of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

When the words of Morpheus are closely examined, they can be classified under two forms of irony. The first form of irony that can be used to analyze the words of Morpheus is the tragic or dramatic irony. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the tragic irony as the one that happens when the words used or the action of a character contradicts the reality of the narrative that the audience can recognize (The Oxford English Dictionary). In this case, the audience senses the irony in the words of Morpheus on how he explains humans and machines. In his statement, Morpheus speaks of the human creation of machines to survive on. However, the irony in his statement is that machines are now feeding off energy harvested from humans to survive (The Matrix). Given that in the movie viewers are unable to see the change from the decree of man to the rule of machines, it can be easily argued that the statement is an example of tragic irony. This is particularly due to the fact that as humans we have always promoted the use of machines to improve our standard of living. However, people are now watching as machines lead to their demise.

Another form of irony that can be used in analyzing the statement made by Morpheus is the cosmic irony which can be defined as an implementation of an idea in which those involved often do not see the effects of their action (The Matrix). In most cases, the expected results of the idea are often out of the control of those responsible for its implementation. In this case, the adoption of the machines by humans seemed to have been a great idea; however, from the statement, it is clear that while creating the machines, there was no forecast on the effects resulting from depending on them.

Overall, humans created machines hoping that the apparatus would be able to serve and improve their lives. However, throughout the movie The Matrix the same machines that humans created and hoped to rely on are now ruling and controlling them. The film shows that overlying on something can be detrimental to the dependents.

Work Cited

The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999. DVD.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2016.

The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon, 2016.