In the famous horror story "The Black Cat," by Edgar Allen Poe, the unnamed narrator is in prison awaiting execution. He first describes killing a the titular cat—of which he was extremely fond. Later, while trying to kill another black cat, he instead murders his wife and conceals her body to hide the crime.
Dictionary.com defines irony in literature as "a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated." This type of irony is known as situational irony.
A clue to the central irony in "The Black Cat" is in the first sentence, in which the narrator says: "I neither expect nor solicit belief." In other words, he is saying from the start that the reader should not trust that what he is about to write is true. This manifests in the central irony...
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of the story: those who he professes to love most are the ones that he kills.
Early on, the narrator says that when he was young he was known for his "docility" and "tenderness of heart" and that he was "especially fond of animals." He and his wife accumulate a menagerie of pets, and he is particularly affectionate towards the large black cat Pluto. However, one night he comes home drunk and cuts out one of Pluto's eyes. Later, he hangs the poor cat. This difference between his initial love for the cat and the violence he later inflicts upon it is an example of irony.
Early in the story, it seems that he has found a good match in his wife because she shares his fondness for animals. However, in a fit of rage he kills her as well. This is another example of the irony inherent in the narrator murdering someone he supposedly loves.
The central irony of the story is the narrator's refusal to accept responsibility for his actions that have brought him to a death sentence. He calls his actions little or minor household occurrences which are actually violent acts of murder.
Another major ironic twist is that the black cat seems to set off his major rage in which he eventually kills his wife, and it is the black cat that helps him pay for the crime.
My favorite ironic twist is that if he had not gotten pompous, he would have gotten away with the crime in the end, so he has only himself to blame.