Irony of Julius Mackenzie
Julius Mackenzie is a gentleman, a scholar with extraordinary literary knowledge. Unfortunately, he made some choices that brought him into a state of miserable low life. He is desperate to use his knowledge accordingly, even if that means receiving a lower paycheck. Unfortunately, this brilliant character couldn't win the battle of humiliation that was brought onto him by his wife and the vice of drunkenness. Despite trying to make himself better and use his abilities in a right way, he was eventually led to an unfortunate end.
Irony of drunkenness
"This vice of drunkenness is often a joke in the mouths of those to whom the thing itself is a horror".
The Editor is talking about Julius Mackenzie in the story "The Spotted Dog." The unfortunate gentleman is a victim to this vice of drunkenness which is prominently shown in the redness of his nose. The Editor is self-reflecting and concludes that he would sometimes joke around with his colleagues about this vice, but to see one of them being funny in this manner would be everything but humorous.
Irony of "The Turkish Bath"
This story is filled with ironic and unpredictable plot-line. The Editor goes to the Turkish bath and there he is approached by a rather peculiarly worldly man. It turns out that this meeting wasn't an accident and that the man knows who the Editor is and he tricks his intelligence in accepting to have a meeting in hopes of publishing one of his works. As the man enters the Editor's office the next day, the persona of a worldly and knowledgeable man is gone, and the reality of an ordinary and desperate man is shown. At the end it turns out that the man lives rather well, not miserably as he told the Editor, and that writing and stalking editors is his harmless obsession.
