The Possibility of Evil is full of literary devices. The one that is mostly used throughout this short story is irony. A lot of things that appear to be one way, turn out to be another. This story leaves a feeling as if everyone can be evil… To portray this feeling the author uses three various types of irony; situational, dramatic and verbal. Dramatic irony plays a big part in what makes this story interesting to the readers. In the short-story it says “ she was fond of doing things exactly right”, this shows her perfectionist personality which shows why she sends those cruel letters to criticize others.
She seems to be blinded by the wickedness within herself, that she only sees it in others. However, she turns out to be the worst of them all. Towards the end of the story one of her recipients happens to pick up on of the letters she has dropped. This creates suspense for the reader for what is going to happen next… Situational irony is also a key role that The Possibility of Evil centers around The way that Miss Strangeworth acts so kindly and polite to everyone in the town is situational irony.
This is an example because this situation turns out much different than one may think… Her letters caused so much suffering to everyone in the little town that once one of her letters were discovered, that person wanted to create suffering for her. “ Everything literally looked like it had not been touched. Her roses were flawless. However, the town was proud of Miss Strangeworth and her perfectionist ways. ” This revealing statement begins to give away what is going to happen next. It seems that the one who found the letter believed the ONLY way to create suffering for Miss Strangeworth was to destroy what she loved most. Her roses.