Read the passage.
“mistress, i dug upon your grave
to bury a bone, in case
i should be hungry near this spot
when passing on my daily trot.
i am sorry, but i quite forgot
it was your resting-place.”
how does the last stanza of “ah, are you digging on my grave? ” by thomas hardy use irony to disappoint the speaker’s expectation?

it uses irony to show the woman that she is deeply missed.

it uses irony to introduce a new character who hadn’t been mentioned before.

it uses irony to upset the dead woman’s hopes that she is mourned.

it uses irony to contradict the woman’s statements that she misses being alive.

The answer is indeed letter C) It uses irony to upset the dead woman’s hopes that she is mourned.

Explanation:

In Thomas Hardy's poem "Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave", we find a dialog between two characters. One is a dead woman who notices there is someone digging up her grave, but isn't able to tell who it is. The other is her dog, who was merely burying a bone. Throughout the poem, the woman thinks she is missed and mourned by her lover, her relatives, or even her enemy. She supposed it might be one of them digging on her grave. When she guesses it all wrong, the dog finally tells her it is him who has been digging. The woman is happy, believing he's doing so because he is still loyal to her:

"Ah yes! You dig upon my grave…

           Why flashed it not to me

That one true heart was left behind!

What feeling do we ever find

To equal among human kind

           A dog's fidelity!"

However, as we can see in the excerpt provided, he had forgotten about her, not unlike her lover, her relatives, and her enemy. Death has erased her from everyone's minds.