Characterization, Structure And Theme

Irony is a very important concept in western literary theory. The concept of ironyhas undergone the development of more than two thousand years since Socratic irony.As a concept with multi-layered meanings, it has some fixed features. Jane Austenartfully used this artistic strategy in her writing. This thesis will study Austen’s novelsfrom the perspectives of verbal irony, dramatic irony, situational irony, structural irony,mode irony and general irony. Through the review of Jane Austen’s use of these sixtypes of irony, how she finishes the process of novel writing will be clearly shown.The thesis consists of six chapters.The first chapter gives a survey of various criticisms of Jane Austen’s novels athome and abroad, especially experts’ evaluations of irony in her novels. I will brieflyintroduce my approaches to the study of Jane Austen’s novels.The second chapter introduces the basic features of irony, and the classification ofirony will be given.The third chapter argues about the reasons for the strategy of irony Austen adoptsin her novels. It will be pointed out that irony is a writing strategy for a female writer tocriticize society without suffering the likely attacks from it.The fourth and fifth chapters discuss four types of irony concerning text, and twotypes of irony concerning context, which are used in Jane Austen’s novels. Meanwhile,their respective function in Austen’s novel writing will be naturally shown to us.Flat characters are the main targets of verbal irony. Their snobbery or conceitednessor foolishness is ridiculed sharply, while round characters are usually satirizedmoderately.The characters’ weaknesses are the targets of dramatic irony. It can produce strongcomic effect. As one category of dramatic irony, self-betrayal irony targets characters’ absurdity through their own words or conducts.Situational irony is artfully interwoven into the structure of Austen’s novels,particularly in Emma. There are all together ten situations, in which Emma’s fantasiesare frustrated again and again, and Emma finally awakens from her fantasies andbecomes mature in mind.Author and reader share the truth, while the na ve person knows nothing about it.The na ve person falls prey to the mockery of author and reader. Such structural irony isused in Emma, which shows the process from the na ve to the mature on the part ofEmma through the use of such devices as authorial presence, Emma’s playing the roleas the narrative focus, and free indirect speech.In Northanger Abbey Gothic novels are ironised. Pride and Prejudice can beregarded as a correction of romantic novels, which are too ideal. The irony used inthese two novels, which has something to do with intertextuality, is called mode irony.The theme of sense and sensibility runs through all her novels. Austen takes acontradictory attitudes toward it. Generally speaking, her novels extol sense, whiledepreciate sensibility. Meanwhile, her novels tell us the characters of “reason style”are dull, while those of “passion style” are lively and active. The general irony isdecided by the trend of thought of her times. As one of Austen’s artistic traits, generalirony expresses her views about her times and even the truth of being.The sixth chapter is a summary of this thesis. Irony used in Jane Austen’s novels isthe vehicle to complete characterization, structure and theme of her novel writing.Thanks to her, novel as a literary genre grows more mature.