Irony: a manner of organizing a work so as to give full expression to contradictory or complementary impulses, attitudes, etc., especially as a means of indicating detachment from a subject, theme, or emotion. Readers fail to realize the importance of irony because of its common usage in most literary works. When an author provides irony in a novel, there are specific reasons why they do. Unfortunately, as readers, the development of irony does not capture our attention immediately, nor does it often hold analytical worth. However, when viewed from many angles, irony may be in fact the most important literary device used in novels. Throughout Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities irony presents itself through hyperboles, contradictions, and sarcasm to scrutinize European society and setting.
To begin with, hyperboles become essential when illustrating the settings of the polarized society life in Europe. Dickens exaggerates the lavishness of French aristocracy and privileged class by alluding to their luxuriant attire and expresses “everyone was dressed for a Fancy Ball that was never to leave off” (108). Parallel to the extravagance present, the peasants live in areas “yielding nothing but desolation” (229). Extreme exaggerations ironically bring forward the troubled time period and setting. Dickens thoroughly states the distinction between the upper and lower classes so the reader assumes he focuses on the divisions, as well as European society due to them being the main audience of his original works. His distaste for the two extremes can be seen when he symbolizes the two groups as “the Woodman and the Farmer [laboring classes] worked unheeded, those two of the large jaws [English monarchs], and the other two of the plai...
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...ed himself, but Monseigneur needs four people to just put it in his mouth. Although slightly amusing, the absurdity of the living standards provide the audience a variation of corruption in the upper classes. Then later, when the peasants are trying to ‘better society’ and kill people ‘responsible’ for their lack of resources “ the men and women come back [from the bloody work] to the children, wailing and breadless” (227). Despite their goals the peasants still come home to the same situation before they mass slaughtered hundreds of innocent people. They are not bettering anything, just diluting society. Dickens presents both sides of the Revolution and both are just as corrupt, leading to questioning of who the real group at fault is: the upper class that refuse to cease living in a lavish lifestyle, or the peasants who just kill to make themselves feel better?
Like salt and pepper to beef, irony adds “flavor” to some of the greatest works of literature. No matter if readers look at old pieces of work like Romeo and Juliet or more modern novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, irony’s presence serve as the soul fuel that pushes stories forward. By definition, irony occurs when writers of books, plays, or movies destine for one event or choice to occur when the audiences expects the opposite; like Tom Robinson being found guilty after all evidences point other ways in To Kill a Mockingbird. These unique plot twists add mystery and enjoyability to hundreds of books. From the very beginning of The Chosen, a novel written by Chaim Potok, to the very end, irony’s presences does not leave the reader at any
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "dramatic irony (literature)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
To most, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is that book about the poor people and the French Revolution that isn’t Les Miserables where he ravages the rich people, calling them “tigerish,” (Dickens 33) following the lord “ignorancem” (Dickens 33) and saying that they “held life as of no account,” (Dickens 221) right? Wrong. Yes, A Tale of Two Cities is a book by Dickens mostly about the poor people and the French Revolution (that isn’t Les Miserables) wherein he makes metaphorically eviscerates the rich people, but these are all references to the poor, the downtrodden, the little guy, in short, the people we and Dickens are supposed to root for. Dickens, for a genuine friend of the poor, as shown in his books A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist, and as someone who wrote to the masses, disparages the poor quite a bit in A Tale of Two Cities. In the words of Frederick Busch “[Dickens] fears revolution, … the downtrodden in revolt become, to Dickens, downright revolting.” It is not that the gentry in A Tale of Two Cities are the protagonists; rather, that the poor are antagonists as well. To sum, when blood rains from the sky, no one’s hands are clean.
Some literary works exhibit structural irony, in that they show sustained irony. In such works the author, instead of using an occasional verbal irony, introduces a structural feature which serves to sustain a duplicity of meaning. One common device of this sort is the invention of a naïve hero, or else a naïve narrator or spokesman, whose invincible simplicity or obtuseness leads him to persist in putting an interpretation on affairs which the knowing reader—who penetrates to, and shares, the implicit point of view of the authorial presence behind the naïve persona—just as persistently is called on to alter and correct. (Abrams, 90)
During the 1800s, the aristocracy of England and France lived in luxury and possessed an enormous amount of power in the society while peasants live in poverty. Dickens links the two countries with the theme of how history repeats itself. Dickens compares the social rankings, rulers, and events of the two countries and warns how if the English aristocracy did not change their ways, what happens in France would happen to them. In the novel, Dickens portrays the character, Monseigneur as an individual character as well as a social class of France. Monseigneur is a character who Dickens portrays as the entire class of the French aristocracy in the way of which he abuses his power. Dickens describes how the Monseigneur was having chocolate prepared for him by four men who are wearing gold watches as peasants were starving and dying. Dickens uses the actions of the Monseigneur to represent the entire population of the aristocrats in the city of St. Antoine. Another way in which Dickens shows how the Monseigneur was corrupt was how he appointed people to be officials not by their skill but by the way they would appraise him or by their status. Dickens foreshadows how France would become corrupt over time from the action...
Frederick Douglass once said, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” He meant that if people are oppressed, one day they will pass their breaking point and fight back. As a consequence neither side will be safe or secure as violence and terror would corrupt them both. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, the author employs satire, symbolism, and irony to emphasize the social/economic inequality between the wealthy and the poor. The inequality is revealed by Dicken’s satirical description of the lifestyles of Monsignor of Chocolate and the Marquis Evrémonde. In contrast with the people in the wine cask scene; the scene indicates that the people are on their breaking point. Finally, the irony of the trials emphasizes Dicken’s warning to the upper class of England during the 1850s; if they abuse power then vengence will be sought. If action is not taken, England will be engulfed in violence and both the aristocracy and the peasants will suffer.
Charles Dickens’ novels criticize the injustices of his time, especially the brutal treatment of the poor in a society sharply divided by differences of wealth. He lived through that world at an early age; he saw the bitter side of the social class system and had wanted it to be exposed, so people could see the exploitation that the system rests on. But he presents these criticisms through the lives of characters, Pip and Magwitch.
With imagery revealing the poor straits and desperation of the peasant class of France, Dickens influences the reader to pity them. He writes, “The cloud settled on Saint Antoine, which a momentary gleam had driven from his sacred countenance, the darkness of it was heavy—cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, want were the lords waiting on the saintly presence—nobles of great power all of them; but most especially the last” (Dickens 22). Through hunger, want, etc. being personified and compared to nobles through language such as “nobles” and “lords”, Dickens shows the extent of the suffering of the peasants, their deserving to be pitied, and the human nobles’ apathy towards them. The peasants of Saint Antoine suffer in the 1770s, and the town’s name is made into a play on words with “saintly presence”, with the cloud of cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, and want looming forming the imagery of irony. Another description of the peasants’ plight is revealed in the quote saying, “Ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sign Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere...Hunger was the inscription on th...
When Dickens describes the peasants he makes sure their plight is made clear to all. The nobles consistently take advantage of them and do not show any compassion. The peasants are starving to death to the extent where when a wine casket breaks on the ground they “...suspended their business or idleness to run to the spot and drink the wine”(31). The peasants are starving to death and a sincere lack of compassion is shown to them. The nobles have no regard to peasant life. After the Marquis
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
In general, the discrepancy between appearances and reality is ironic. Irony is encountered throughout our daily activities and comes in many forms; verbal, situational. and the cosmic. Verbal irony is the most familiar kind, this occurs when we understand that.
Throughout the book, Dickens portrays his objectivity between the classes through a series of graphic descriptions. For example, the horrid events that occur when the Marquis murders the child is a time when Dickens most definitely favors the rebels. Dickens’s attitude when Jacques kills the Marquis is that justice has been supplied. There is a definite tone of approval in his voice after these actions. On the other hand, Dickens’s attitude towards the mutineers is not always one of endorsement. When the activists nearly kill Gabelle and burn the Chateau, Dickens’s attitude changes from one of approval to one of disbelief. His disposition is almost one of sorrow for all the beauty being carelessly destroyed. As the reader can see, Dickens’s opinion varies greatly in accordance to the portion of the story the person is reading.
This book includes stark criticisms of many aspects of Victorian society such as child labor and class structure. He criticizes class structure by portraying other characters’ cruelty and corruption as an impediment from Copperfield’s discovery from himself. Dickens depicts an evil character as someone who is a result of their experiences such as James Steerforth or Uriah Heep or as someone who is inherently evil such as Mr. Murdstone. Also, Dickens is able to create a contrast between the evil of these characters and the warmth and goodness characterizing the people on Copperfield’s side. By comparing their characters, Dickens further emphasizes the difference between the two sides and “provides a forum for Dickens's views of the inherent nature of evil as well as a critique of a society that enables and shapes this darker side of humanity”(Miline, 102). Dickens sheds light on the negative parts of the Victorian class sytem and how it created the people Copperfield met in his life. Dickens strengthens his position on class differences in a variety of ways. Although he displays his clear disapproval, Dickens seems “to have mixed feelings about class consciousness as he has David maintain some distance from the Peggottys, but he portrays this family with an honesty and goodness of nature that is lacking in many upper-class characters” (Miline, 94). Despite clear signs of his disapproval, Dickens refuses to entirely condemn class differences because he acknowledges that it will always exist. For example, when Copperfield becomes a gentleman, he stays slightly aloof of the Peggottys due to their class differences and Dickens’ personal experiences during his lifetime as a successful author with taste of the lifestyle of the upper
Charles Dickens criticizes his society and everything that he thinks is wrong about it. He expresses all his dislikes in the society of the Victorian Era. He expresses his feelings about the Victorian society in all his writings. He criticizes many things in each book he has written. Dickens traveled a lot and had seen “many little things and some great things, which, because they interested him, he thought may interest others';(Internet Site #3). His books all contain themes that show Dickens’s dislike of the way his society is. He wrote primarily for the lower-middle class. He was not particularly fond of the aristocratic class, and how they treated the people of lower classes. His ideas and attitudes were typical to the people of the lower-middle class. His audience was people of the same class as him, so they could understand his feelings and beliefs.
While venturing through the world of “A Tale of Two Cities” there are many practices seen throughout the book that would be unheard of in society and politics today. The book, written by the famous English author Charles Dickens, explains the story of people from both France and England and what part they took in the French Revolution. Some of these people, the aristocrats, were against the revolution because they wanted to maintain the form of government where they ruled over the people. If the revolutionaries won, the aristocrats would lose both their power and their wealth. This tension between people and clear class definition is a perfect example of how far both society and