Trap One: Delivery Carries the Meaning
Look at one short line: “Oh, that's just brilliant.” On the page it reads like praise. But say it warmly and it is praise; drag it out flat with an eye-roll and it means the exact opposite — something has gone badly wrong. Same six words, opposite meanings, and nothing changed but the voice. That's irony and sarcasm at work: the words say one thing while the delivery says another, and we're meant to hear the gap.
Trap Two: Context Can Flip It Again
Even the same delivery can mean different things in different rooms. “Nice one.” said to a mate who's just scored is genuine; said after they've dropped your phone, it stings. The context — who's speaking, to whom, after what — reaches in and rewrites the line. This is why you can't read sarcasm off a transcript with any confidence: strip away the voice and the situation, and the words go flat and innocent.
Written Versus Performed
This is the real difference between a script and a performance. A playwright or poet can only hint at delivery — with punctuation, line breaks, a stage direction. The performer makes the final call, and two actors can take one identical line to opposite places. When you study a speech only as words on a page, remember you're seeing the sheet music, not the song. Run the toy: same line, four deliveries, four meanings — and decide for yourself how much the page was ever really telling you.