Ruthven's charity-giving (Situational Irony)
Lord Ruthven is a generous giver of charity. Yet in an example of situational irony, the outcome of his charitable giving is precisely the opposite of what people expect. Firstly, he gives charity only to the wicked and not to the virtuous. Moreover, all of those to whom he gives charity end up cursed rather than enjoying the presumed benefits of Ruthven's gifts.
Everybody fears Ruthven, yet everyone wants to be near him (Situational Irony)
Given the description of Ruthven's appearance and character, as well as the description of the fear that he induces in others, the reader expects people to be repulsed by Ruthven and to avoid him at all costs. His face has a "deadly hue." His gaze is cold and weighs heavily on all that it touches. With just one cold look he can suppress "the light laughter of the fair." Yet ironically, the result of Ruthven's deathly appearance and harsh character is the opposite of what we expect: everyone he meets at London's balls and drawing-rooms is awed by and attracted to him, and they all invite him into their homes.
Ruthven hurls the "adultress...from the pinnacle of unsullied virtue" (Verbal Irony)
By calling the woman that Ruthven ruins an "adultress," the narrator makes it clear that she was not a pure and innocent woman with "unsullied virtue[s]." Yet Aubrey’s guardians indicate that Ruthven was responsible for destroying her perfect virtue and turning her into a woman of despicable vice. This example of verbal irony offers a commentary on the standards of purity, innocence, and virginity to which society held women at the time of Polidori’s novella, as well as the denial of female sexuality that this entailed.
The vampire kills Miss Aubrey (Dramatic Irony)
Only the reader and Aubrey perceive that Miss Aubrey is in danger due to her marriage to Lord Ruthven. In a classic example of dramatic irony, the rest of the characters, and especially Miss Aubrey and her guardians, do not perceive this danger. Aubrey tries to warn them about Ruthven. But ironically, it is precisely the effects of Ruthven's evil on Aubrey that make his warnings to her and her guardians seem insane, and thus lead them to disregard the warnings. In the end, they ignore his warnings, and Miss Aubrey ends up "glut[ting] the thirst of a vampyre."
