On The Irony Of Jane Austen

As one of the greatest writers in the world, Jane Austen exploited the art of irony supremely well, which attracted critics and readers of many generations. The concept of irony can be traced back to the time of Socrates. In Europe, it attained a high degree of sophistication in the 18th century. In addition to the influence of the ironic tradition, Jane Austen's inherent gift enabled her to use irony perfectly. This thesis is an attempt to explore this specific aspect of Jane Austen. In this thesis, two of Austen's novels ?Pride and Prejudice and Emma ?will be taken as subjects to illustrate the use of irony in her fiction.The thesis consists of four parts:Part One gives a general survey of various criticisms of Jane Austen's art, especially the evaluations of her irony, and argues about the value of its study.Part Two looks back to the development of the concept of irony and the major types of irony. A brief introduction is also given to the types of irony used in Austen's novels and their functions.Part Three elaborates the use and functions of the irony in Austen. The varieties the narrator exploits skillfully are verbal irony, dramatic irony, situational irony, and general irony. Verbal irony serves to express the ironic idea of the narrator and to depict flat and round characters. The narrator ironises the defects in flat and round characters and shows us the process in which round characters,especially protagonists, overcome their defects. It is in this process that Elizabeth and Darcy become more sensible and reach accord.Dramatic irony also plays an important role in exposing flat characters' absurdity and round characters' defects. An important variety, self-betrayal irony, is used abundantly in Austen. The flat characters' ridiculous qualities are all vividly shown in their self-exhibition: speeches, letters and actions.Situational irony is woven into the structure in Austen's novels with subtlety and skill. The variety exploited constantly is the irony of events. In Emma, Emma's fancies are frustrated by the reality once and again. In this process she carries on self-education, casting away her illusions eventually.The narrator posits a general irony between sense and sensibility. "Sense and sensibility" is an eternal subject for Austen. In her works "sense" and "sensibility" contradict each other, but also influence each other, depend on each other, and even blend with each other. It reflects the way the narrator apprehends life: while showing the contradiction and the ridiculous phenomena with an ironic attitude, she does so with generosity.Part Four concludes that in Austen verbal irony and dramatic irony contribute greatly to characterization, situational irony is conducive to characterization and dramatic structure, and general irony well serves the theme ?sense and sensibility.