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Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Very Good Lists:
Early in the novel, Knightley uses verbal irony in a conversation with Mrs. Weston about Emma’s reading habits:
“Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through—and very good lists they were—very well chosen, and very neatly arranged—sometimes alphabetically, and sometimes by some other rule.”
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Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Shakespeare:
Emma alludes to works by Shakespeare multiple times over the course of the novel. For example, in Chapter 9, when divulging to Harriet her theories about Mr. Elton being in love with Harriet, Emma makes a reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“The course of true love never did run smooth—A Hartfield edition of Shakespeare would have a long note on that passage.”
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Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Emma and Knightley:
Emma and Knightley ending up married is an example of situational irony because, throughout the novel, Emma makes it clear that she sees him more as a friend and also swears that she will never get married, as in this conversation with Harriet:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.”
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Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Mr. Elton’s Feelings:
In an example of situational irony early in the novel, Emma believes that Mr. Elton has feelings for Harriet when, it turns out, he has harbored feelings for Emma all along. Not only does Emma believe that he wants to be with Harriet, but she convinced Harriet that he loves her in return and persuaded her to turn down Mr. Martin’s marriage proposal in the process.
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Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—Emma Meddling:
After Emma is incorrect about Mr. Elton’s feelings for Harriet (as he actually loves Emma instead), she promises to stop playing matchmaker but then continues to do so—an example of dramatic irony. Emma makes it clear to herself and readers that she has learned her lesson about meddling after reflecting on how wrong she was about Mr. Elton and how much she hurt Harriet in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The first error and the worst lay at her door. It was foolish, it was wrong, to take so active a part in bringing any two people together. It was adventuring too far, assuming too much, making light of what ought to be serious, a trick of what ought to be simple. She was quite concerned and ashamed, and resolved to do such things no more.
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Chapter 24
Explanation and Analysis—Frank and Jane:
Throughout most of the novel, Emma believes that Frank wants to be with her and that Jane wants to be with her former employer, Mr. Dixon. Frank and Jane have been secretly engaged the entire time, however, and this rift between belief and reality is an example of situational irony.
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Chapter 29
Explanation and Analysis—No Dancing:
Austen’s writing style is full of humor and playful energy. Near the beginning of the novel, the narrator uses verbal irony to describe how deeply the young adults of Highbury enjoy their social dances:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively, without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind;—but when a beginning is made—when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt—it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more.
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Chapter 33
Explanation and Analysis—Emma and Knightley:
Emma and Knightley ending up married is an example of situational irony because, throughout the novel, Emma makes it clear that she sees him more as a friend and also swears that she will never get married, as in this conversation with Harriet:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.”
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Chapter 46
Explanation and Analysis—Shakespeare:
Emma alludes to works by Shakespeare multiple times over the course of the novel. For example, in Chapter 9, when divulging to Harriet her theories about Mr. Elton being in love with Harriet, Emma makes a reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“The course of true love never did run smooth—A Hartfield edition of Shakespeare would have a long note on that passage.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 47
Explanation and Analysis—Harriet's Crush:
In the latter half of the novel, Harriet tells Emma that she has feelings for someone, and Emma assumes she’s talking about Frank when she’s actually referring to Knightley. This leads to several chapters of miscommunications and situational irony as Emma tries to bring Harriet and Frank together, leading her to fretting over the fact that she will have to tell Harriet about Frank’s secret engagement to Jane:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Harriet, poor Harriet!”—Those were the words; in them lay the tormenting ideas which Emma could not get rid of, and which constituted the real misery of the business to her. Frank Churchill had behaved very ill by herself—very ill in many ways,—but it was not so much his behaviour as her own, which made her so angry with him. It was the scrape which he had drawn her into on Harriet’s account, that gave the deepest hue to his offence.—Poor Harriet! to be a second time the dupe of her misconceptions and flattery.
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