Irony.
/The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
“It involves saying one thing while meaning something else. Something that is opposite to the surface meaning. Could be humorous or deadly serious…speaker can enjoy it sometimes wryly at his own expense…it’s half-way between thought and feeling.”
John Barton, from his book Playing Shakespeare, Methuen.
“Brutus is an honourable man.”
Mark Antony from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
