Emma Literary Analysis
Jane Austen’s Emma is an intriguing novel. It is filled with wit, twists, and turns. Austen frequently utilizes all three classes of irony in the book: verbal, dramatic, and situational. Consequently, Jane Austen’s use of irony throughout Emma makes the novel all the better. All three types are used several times throughout the book, and that makes the book much more pleasurable and entertaining to read. Situational irony should be the first to be discussed. Jane Austen used this one the most. The first illustration shows the fiasco with Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Elton, and Harriet Smith. Emma and Harriet were friends and encountered Mr. Elton often. Emma noticed little signals from Mr. Elton as to an attachment to Harriet.
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An example of verbal irony in Emma is the situation involving Harriet Smith, Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, and Frank Churchill. At the ball, Harriet sat in solitary because no one would dance with her when Mr. Knightley asked her to dance. He “rescued” her from her sadness and loneliness. Mr. Knightley arranged the remainder of her evening to be optimistic and entertaining. Later, when Harriet walked home from the dance, she was attacked by gypsies and could not run away due to a cramp that had recently occurred, but Mr. Churchill made an appearance and carried Harriet to safety. When she exposes this to Emma, she also mentions that she has fallen in love with her rescuer and that he is exceeding her social status. Emma assumes that she suggested Mr. Churchill, but soon Emma comes to understand that when Harriet mentioned falling in love with someone above her social status was not Mr. Churchill, it was Mr. Knightley. Therefore, this realization is a surprise to readers because Mr. Knightley and Harriet were a match no one would expect, and her “rescuer” was not Mr. Churchill because of what he did to get her away from the gypsies, but when Mr. Knightley danced with her when no one else would. Jane Austen, once again, cleverly uses irony, in this case verbal, to construct additional …show more content…
An example is the time when Emma states she will never wed. It may seem closer to situational irony, but it is dramatic irony. The explanation is that at the story's beginning, Emma says multiple times that she will never marry, but then she begins displaying affection for some characters; she even voiced it at one point. Although, for a character who will never wed, saying you love someone will make readers suspect the opposite. Then at the end of the book, Emma marries Mr. Knightley. He was not the person she declared she loved, but still, when saying you have an attachment to someone and you will never marry— it seems peculiar. Therefore, the way Jane Austen used dramatic irony in this example was exceptionally cunning. Further, she utilized it so that the readers must conclude that Emma eventually will wed. Also, no other character, not even Emma herself, is aware she will ever marry. Hence, Jane Austen slyly used dramatic irony to make the readers themselves conclude that Emma would
Throughout the story, situational irony is intertwined in certain sections to create suspense and
Irony - Situational - where the character does something the reader does not expect In "The Cheat's Remorse", Phil cheats the young lady with his phoney coin. After he wins the dollar, he thought he would be happy; instead, he feels remorse and tries to return the dollar. - Dramatic - when the reader knows something the character is not aware of, until later in the story.
One example of verbal irony was when Hanna went to the first train car and Michael went into the second because he wanted to be more alone with her. However, when she didn’t go to the second one, Michael thought Hanna didn’t want to be seen with him and Hanna though Michael didn’t want to be seen with her either. One example of situational irony was on pages 54-55 when Michael had gone out to pick up a nice breakfast for Hanna and left her a note, not knowing that she was illiterate. What he had thought would turn into a romantic gesture on his part, Hanna ended up hitting him in the face with a belt because she feared he had left her. An example of dramatic irony could be when some of the readers started to catch onto the fact that Hanna was illiterate even before Michael realized
Edgar Allan Poe creates horror and suspense in his use of irony -including verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony-in his short story “ The Tell-Tale Heart”. Verbal irony is when something that is said means the opposite of what is meant. Poe uses verbal irony when he states, “ I loved the old man.” Situational irony is similar. It is defined as when what happens is different from or even the opposite of what we expected.
One example of irony is Fahrquhar is dropped into Owl Creek and he is underwater for a long period of time, this creates shock and suspense by not knowing when he will die or if he will get to the surface in time to live. Another example is near the end of the story Fahrquhar is running and he thinks he got away and he is footsore. The last example is when he finally rises to the surface of the water and notices that his sense have been amplified, he sees every bug, the soldiers grey eyes, and he also mentions seeing a drop of dew on a leaf in one of the trees. Irony plays a huge factor in this short story because it helps create more shock and suspense than most literary
In “Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, there is situational irony when brother comes back for Doodle to find him dead. This added greatly to make the plot more complex. Lastly, situational irony is used in “Gift of the Magi” when Della and
Without irony an author’s story will not be as interesting and will not keep the reader or audience’s attention for too long. Above dramatic irony was very sufficient because the reader knew about John’s affair, although Reverend Hale was unaware. This may have grabbed the reader’s attention more and lead them to suspension as to how or if Hale would find out. In my example of verbal irony, it was used in a form of sarcasm when it almost seems as if the outcome was backwards. For instance the innocents should live while the accused should be the one to die.
The two most prevalent types are perhaps situational and verbal. Towards the end of Hawthorne’s piece, after Aylmer successfully creates an elixir to remove his wife Georgiana’s birthmark, she dies after drinking it. This acts as an example of situational irony because, while Aylmer intended to create a perfect version of Georgiana by removing her birthmark with the potion, as he believed that her birthmark made her less than perfect, he ended up killing her and permanently removing his love from his life, which is certainly the opposite of what he originally intended. Other situational irony related to the event in the story is explained by the narrator’s statement that “…[the birthmark’s] departure was more awful still. Watch the stain of the rainbow fading out the sky, and you will know how that mysterious symbol passed away” (Hawthorne 377).
Several examples of situational irony occurred. From the beginning, Eleanor planned the letter, organization, and dressed in black for the purpose of her husband’s death. She discovered she had dressed for her own death as well. Eleanor did not abscond with Gregory’s murder how she
Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic.
, Austen’s utilisation of dramatic irony makes it clear to readers that Emma was wrong about Mr. Elton’s feelings for Harriet. Her employment of Emma playing a matchmaker and hurting Harriet in the process just for her benefit and entertainment affirms the idea that women don’t have boundaries and are constantly sticking their noses in other people’s business.
In writing, there are multiple types of irony. One type is verbal irony, when the character says something, but means the opposite. This is commonly recognized as sarcasm. Second, there is situational irony, where the outcome is the opposite of what was expected to happen. Last, there is dramatic irony, where the audience is told or informed of something that the characters do not yet know.
One example of situational irony is first, the name “Fortunato” means “Fortunate” in Italian, but Fortunato is actually very unfortunate. Next, the word “cask” means “wine barrel,” but coffin also comes from the same word. So in other words, Fortunato believes he will reach a cask of wine, but in all actuality he will reach his coffin. Also, another great example of situational irony comes when Montresor has just dismembered Fortunato and exits the catacombs. Then, Montresor claims, “My heart grew sick-“(240).
Irony is the use of words to portray a meaning completely opposite than the actual meaning. The first example of irony in the short story Winter Dreams is when Dexter realizes the American dream of being a rich and successful man is not what it appeared to be. He realizes that you have to sacrifice happiness in order to be a rich and successful man. This is an example is situational irony because the outcome turned out to be very different than what was expected.
One example of Irony is how Peter talks about how unfair it is to pass the final exam because some people might have more fears than others, but then throughout the whole book Peter uses unfair tricks, such as when he stabs Edward in the eye, to try to gain his way to the top of the list. This is an example of situational irony. This is situational irony because the reader would expect that Peter would do everything fairly but then he turns around and does stuff like kidnapping Tris and Stabbing people's eyes out.