Shame of the Nation
Perhaps the biggest irony of Scarface is that its release was delayed so its content could be reconstructed in order to become a message film warning viewers about the dangers of mobsters and asking them what they were going to do about gangsters. The purpose was, therefore, to make the gangland lifestyle less appealing. They failed.
"The World Is Yours"
The sign outside Tony’s window promising “The World Is Yours” is a running motif in the film. Ultimately, it becomes the most ironic aspect shown since Tony dies violently and all alone beneath its ironic promise.
Marriage Annulled: With Extreme Prejudice
Tony finds his number two man alone with his sister and murders him. Seconds later he finds out that they had just gotten married. This is actually a double irony: ironic because he just killed his sister’s husband on the basis that they were having sex without being married, but even more so because it really doesn’t matter that they were married. Tony wants Cesca for himself: body and soul.
Body and Soul Delivered
Not long after watching her husband get shot to death by Tony, Cesca shows up at Tony’s apartment with the intention to kill him. The sexual desire between brother and sister goes both ways, however, as just minutes later she is packing bullets into the guns for Tony during his shootout with the cops below. While doing this, Cesca gets shot. That certainly ranks as one of the most ironic deaths of a female character in the history of 1930’s gangster movies.
The Last Strike
Gaffney gets killed after tossing a strike on his last ball of a game of bowling. Here's another example of dual irony: it is one thing to throw a strike on your last ball and no longer be alive in the time it takes to release the ball and for it to hit the pins. In the overall scheme of the film, however, where "X" is a recurring symbol of death, there is irony in the fact that he does not get to mark that final X on his scorecard. Just one of the subtle little touches that lifts Scarface to the top of 1930's gangster flicks.
