Epicene's Silence (Dramatic Irony)
After the marriage between Morose and Epicene is made legal, Epicene finds her voice and starts criticizing her new husband at every turn. Upon hearing this, Morose became enraged and panicked, wanting to get a divorce from her so he can enjoy the silence he assumed he had procured. This central irony of the play produces entertainment for the audience in the moment (as Epicene berates the selfish Morose) and allows the rest of the events to unfold as Morose begins searching for grounds for divorce.
Captain and Mistress Otter (Situational Irony)
The marriage between Captain and Mistress Otter is, from the outset, portrayed as a fundamentally humorous but unstable one: Mistress Otter appears to control the household, criticizing Captain Otter for his bear-fighting hobby and beating him when he talks back to her. Despite his best efforts, this is ironically the same kind of relationship into which Morose enters when he marries the presumably silent Epicene.
Morose's Hypocrisy (Situational Irony)
The defining characteristic of Morose is that he detests noise of any kind, even moving to a narrow street in town that few people can travel through. He makes his servants address him with gestures rather than words, and he interrogates Epicene about her own willingness to remain silently obedient before marrying her. Morose, however, does not abide by his own standards, frequently speaking at length about his penchant for silence and therefore revealing himself as a hypocrite.
Truewit's Influence (Dramatic Irony)
When Dauphine discovers that Truewit visited Morose to convince him not to get married, he believes his plan has been foiled. However, Cutbeard later explains that Morose assumed Truewit had been sent there by Dauphine, and thus Morose has only strengthened his desire to marry in order to disinherit his nephew. This moment of irony is what allows the remainder of Dauphine's plan to take action, as Morose marries the disguised Epicene soon after.
Epicene's Disguise (Dramatic Irony)
The final reveal of the play – that Epicene is a boy in disguise – is ironic because it toys with audience's own expectations throughout the play. At the time, female roles were played by young boys, so the audience would have already been suspending their disbelief in order to perceive Epicene as a woman. When the final reveal occurs in Act V, the play thrusts audiences out of its own artifice and reminds them what they are actually looking at: a boy in a dress.
