A Speech-Act Theoretic Study Of Irony In Gone With The Wind

With the rapid development of pragmatics, many linguists begin to focus their attention on a new discipline—literary pragmatics, in which speech act theory enjoys a wide range of application. This thesis aims to analyze irony in detail in Mitchell's masterpiece, Gone with the Wind, on the basis of Austin and Searle's Speech Act Theory in pragmatics.The thesis reviews studies on irony in both foreign and domestic ranges, analyzes the close relations between irony and speech act theory, proves the feasibility of irony study within the framework of speech act theory, and finally makes a detailed case study of irony in Gone with the Wind within the framework of SAT.Irony is one of the most prominent characteristics in many literary works, especially in Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind. However, previous studies mainly stressed on the literary value or ideological content of Gone with the Wind other than the irony in it.The following points are the major findings of the study:First, irony bears same characteristics with indirect speech acts and therefore, it can be well regarded as a kind of indirect speech act. Second, violation of felicity conditions is a prerequisite of performing ironic speech acts. In other words, irony is based on insincere intentions. Third, it is the illocutionary force of the irony rather than its literal meaning that guarantees a successful understanding of irony. Fourth, the perlocutionary effect of irony not only deepens ideological content of literary works but facilitates the reader in understanding real intention of the author. By taking Scarlett and Rhett's marriage as a counter-example, the reader may examine themselves in their own daily lives and reconsider their views on love and marriage. This perlocutionary effect imposed on the readers makes the fiction withstand the time. In this way, the significance and the theme of the fiction under the guise of irony are revealed.Irony is an interesting language phenomenon, thus a detailed and systematic study on it has both theoretical and practical significances. Firstly, the study of irony within the framework of SAT in literary pragmatics broadens the research range of irony. Secondly, the study can help the readers understand the themes of the literary works, interpret utterance and text and have a better understanding of protagonists.