Sarcasm
The term sarcasm refers to a form of verbal irony that ridicules, derides, or expresses scorn. Sarcasm is more like a tone of voice than a rhetorical device. It consists in saying the opposite of what you mean and doing it in an incredibly hostile tone.
As it’s instead a tone than a rhetorical device, sarcasm can only be applied in dialogue. Sarcasm typically shows that the speaker is being disrespectful or contemptuous. Sarcasm, specifically, is purely a feature of a character’s speech, and thus it aims to disclose aspects of that character’s personality [LiteraryTerms].
Sarcasm is mainly an ironic comment, in some measure rooted in humor, intending to mock or satirize something. To be sarcastic means to say something different from what is meant. In literature, sarcasm can transmit a writer's or character’s true feelings of disappointment, annoyance, and even mockery, though veiled by the presence of humor and phrasing inconsistent with what is deliberated.
Some examples of sarcasm in dialogues:
zombies eat brains. You’re safe;
I’m sorry – did the middle of my sentence interrupt your beginning?
I’d agree with you, but we’d both be wrong [LiteraryDevices].
used for comic aims, although it has a negative shade. Generally, people use sarcasm to convey the opposite of what is proper to make the subject of the sarcasm look or feel stupid.
In literature, when sarcasm is used throughout a whole piece of writing, audio, video, etc., it is classified as satire, which is the use of humor or mocking to expose the silliness of human vices [Study.com].
⠀ Sarcasm. LiteraryDevices. Retrieved from: https://literarydevices.net/sarcasm/.
⠀ Sarcasm. Study.com. Retrieved from: https://study.com/learn/lesson/sarcasm-literature-explanation-examples.html.