The Opening Credits (Dramatic Irony)
Dramatic irony pervades the opening credits of Raging Bull. Here, we receive a romanticized image of Jake: accompanied to the lush, beautiful “Intermezzo,” Jake shadowboxes and gracefully bops up and down like a dancer in foggy, dream-like black-and-white photography. This will be the only time in the film when Jake appears elegant and poised. Quickly, we cut to a shot of Jake as he will be by the end: overweight, washed out, pathetic. When we then cut back to Jake's younger self and observe his "rise to success," dramatic irony pervades the entire story. We know what Jake will become, while he thinks he is rising to the top. This tragic sense of dramatic irony shapes the entire film.
"That's entertainment." (Situational Irony)
After the older, overweight Jake closes his monologue with “That’s entertainment,” Scorsese bridges the soundbite over to a young Jake enduring two hits to the face. The ironic, jarring transition from a mundane rehearsal to violence in the ring isn’t what audiences expect, but it illuminates Scorsese’s association between boxing and the notion of entertainment. He employs this situational irony to criticize the public’s reliance on violence, brutality, and physical abuse for entertainment.
Jake's connection with Terry Maloy (Dramatic Irony)
At the end of Raging Bull, Jake recites Terry Maloy (Marlon Brando)’s famous, beloved monologue in On the Waterfront. Jake deeply relates to Terry’s character—he views himself as a broken but heroic victim who never received a shot at professional success because of his selfish brother. However, as the audience, we know that Jake’s idealized perception of himself and identification with Terry is dripping with dramatic irony. Jake and Terry are two diametrically opposed protagonists: Jake achieved admirable professional success, largely because of Joey’s help and mentorship, while Terry was prevented from achieving success by his brother. Also, Jake inflicts all of his misery onto himself; his jealousy and aggression results in destroyed relationships and a severe isolation. Thus, irony pervades Jake’s self-identification with Terry. From the audience's perspective, this identification embodies not the truth about his life, but rather Jake’s inability to examine his own character.
"You never got me down, Ray." (Dramatic Irony)
After Jake induces Robinson into beating him to a pulp, he taunts his opponent for not getting him down. Dramatic irony permeates this quote, as there is a fundamental disconnect between the way audiences view Jake and the way Jake views himself. Because Jake ultimately didn’t go down to the ring’s canvas, he believes he has displayed a victorious and masculine resilience, which prompts him to say this quote to Robinson. However, the audience views Jake’s endurance of pain as pitiful and humiliating. Jake believes the fight to be a triumph, but his mangled face and inability to hold himself upright suggests otherwise. The dramatic irony reveals Jake’s motivations for undergoing this unbearable pain in the ring. He believes he deserves to hurt, but he still wants to exert some dominance over his opponent. By masochistically goading Robinson to savagely attack him and later refusing to go down, Jake accomplishes his desire for both suffering and control.
