Lecture (5)
What are the types of irony?
In irony, we have a certain situations مواقفin a novel, one character understands something, knows something the other characters do not know it, the audience know this thing. This is very general meaning of irony. It can be applied يطبق علىto all types انواعof irony.
There are other types of irony:
1. Verbal irony
2. Irony of situations
3. Phrasal irony- when the irony is a sentence.
4. Ironic presentation of characters.
It can be a character, a situation, a sentence or a dialogue, commentaryتعليق. So, there are many types of irony.
Sometimes we have the difference between appearance المظهرand reality. When the words used in a dialogue have superficial سطحيmeanings, by the appearance they mean something. If we think about these words deeply, we find another meaning. We find this contrastتناقض in meaning between appearance and reality.
Whether it is the difference in the appearance of meanings of words, the difference between the appearance of characters to be understood by other characters in a different way and the readers also see this character in this way. Towards the end of the novel, we have like a surpriseمفاجأة. We find out that the character is not like as we thought it to be. This will be an irony.
Sometimes we have a situation. Some of the character know something the other characters know something else. So, there is a difference, there is some sort of misunderstandingسؤ فهم.
So, the general definition of irony is when we have a contrast تناقضbetween the appearance of something and the reality of this thing.
Irony is when we see a person as something, the other characters and the readers know this character as something and in reality it is something else.
In "Pride and Prejudice" we have a very ironic character. Darcy has some irony in his character. There is some irony in the representation تمثيل شخصيةof Darcy.
Mrs. Bennet is represented as a foolish woman. Her only concern is to find husbands for her daughters. She cares يهتمabout money. She is materialisticمادي. She told Elizabeth that if she did not marry Collins, they will never talk to her. She is jealousغيور of her friends and neighborsجيران. There is no irony in her character. She can be part of situation and the situation might be ironic. She is what she appears to be. She is an exaggeration- a caricature of humor
Collins' character is a mixture of servilityخنوع and pomposityمباهاة. He appears to be like this. He is like this till the very end. He never changes. He never surprises us. He is an exaggerated مبالغ فيهcaricatureرسم كاريكاتوري of humor.
Lydia is a very foolish young woman. She never cares about anything except ما عداthe officersالضباط, going to parties. There is no irony in her character. She starts and ends like this. She is shown in a certain way, the novelist and the readers can see her in this way. She continues in this way till the very end. Her elopement الهروبdoes not surprise us.
Each of these characters is represented in a way and they remain consistentثابت in this way.
In a dialogue between Charlotte and Elizabeth, Jane Austin is preparing us for the choice that Charlotte is going to make in a very wise حكيمmanner about marriage. She is going to choose Mr. Collins for marriage. Sop there is no irony in the character of Charlotte Lucas.
The best character that shows irony is the character of Wickham. He is the modelنموذج of ironic character. He is a representation of irony in characters. At first, we see him as an officer, who seems to be very handsomeوسيم. He is a new arrival. We find that there is a past acquaintanceمعرفة قديمة between Darcy and Wickham when they first meet. It seems that there is some trouble in this past acquaintance. They are not very friendly together. They are not happy to see each other. They are very anxious to get away from each other, not to be in the same place. We get to know Wickham clearly in the supperعشاء at Mrs. Bennett's house. She invited Collins and the officers. In this supper, Wickham appears to be nice, open, frankصريح young man. He meets Elizabeth. They have a very important conversation. During this conversation, Elizabeth is very curious فضولىto know what the secret that Darcy and Wickham have is. Because she is well manneredسلوك جيد, she does not want to ask direct question. To her surprise and her delight that Wickham started this story about himself and Darcy. He asks her a number of questions about the history of Darcy in that place- what people think of him- what she thinks of him. He is the one who opens the subject. She thinks that Wickham is a frank open young man. He does not hide anything from her. She tells herself that if there was something shamefulمخجل, embarrassingمحرج, wrong he would not open the subjects. She is trying to talk to this man whom she thinks by opening the subject has proved that there is nothing at all wrong on his side, nothing embarrassing, nothing shameful at all. He tells her a story. The story he tells her is a narrative technique in the novel.
This is a forth narrative technique used in the novel. When we have a character telling us a story, this is one version of the story. Wickham is having one version روايةof the story. There is no proofدليل at all whether this version of the story is right or wrong. This is one method of narration.
When Jane Austin is using this narrative technique which is- a character's version of a story- a version given by one character about a story- the reader has to be careful. This is what one character says. It can never be true 100% unless we have more proof from other characters, certain materials. This narrative technique needs us to be very careful. This is not Jane Austin as the author commenting to us. It is not a dialogue between characters. In this conversation one of the characters is giving his own version of the story. This story may turn out to be true or not.
We have one story version given by one character and we have another version of the story- the reality. She is now ready to believe what Wickham is saying. Because he begins the topic, she is going to believe him. He appears to be nice and speaks to every body in a nice way. She is being prepared to believe what he says.