reader laughs because the writer suffers quietly while she pretends innocence She speaks softly She smiles sweetly She acts like a modest woman But her behaviour shows the opposite She says she eats only one thing but she eats five expensive things She calls each item just a bite This polite language hides her greed This is verbal irony Her voice is sweet but her appetite is costly nbsp Situational Irony Again her health excuses turn into tricks We can see another major irony is her drink choice She says I never drink anything for luncheon The writer feels safe But she adds Except white wine Then she finally says My doctor won t let me drink anything but champagne A health excuse becomes a tool to force the writer to buy champagne The writer orders half a bottle of champagne for her lady guest This is situational irony The writer pays and she enjoys Dramatic Irony When the bill comes the writer has no money left He gives a very small tip The lady sees the three-franc tip and thinks he is mean This is dramatic irony The reader knows the truth The reader knows the writer is poor afraid and helpless But the lady thinks he is mean This misunderstanding creates sharp humour At the end she proudly tells him Never eat more than one thing for luncheon This is the biggest irony of all The woman who ate the most expensive foods gives advice on eating less The writer replies I shall eat nothing for dinner tonight She laughs and calls him Humorist The irony is that his words are not a joke They are painful truth The Irony of Revenge At the end of the story the writer reveals the final ironic twist He says the woman now weighs twenty-one stone stone pounds about kg This is a gentle and humorous revenge The woman who claimed to eat little now has a huge body Her past lies become a present reality This final line completes the circle of irony The Luncheon uses irony to expose human greed false modesty and social pretence The lady eats but claims she does not The writer pays but gets blamed Her politeness hides selfishness His kindness brings suffering Through these ironies Maugham creates humour and teaches a quiet lesson about human nature