Irony/wit and Romance in Jane Austen

Irony

According to The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, “Most forms of irony involve the perception or awareness of a discrepancy or incongruity between words and their meaning, or between actions and their results, or between appearance and reality. The two basic kinds of irony are verbal irony and irony of the situation (for the latter one may substitute, on occasions, the irony of behavior). At its simplest, verbal irony involves saying what one does not mean. Johnson defined it as a mode of speech in which meaning is contrary to the words.

Situational irony occurs when, for instance, a man is laughing uproariously at the misfortune of another even while the same misfortune, unbeknownst, is happening to him…Irony has many functions. It is often the witting and unwitting instrument of truth.  It chides, purifies, refines…It is not surprising, therefore, that irony is the most efficient weapon of the satirist” (430, 431).

Wit 

Wit suggests “intellectual brilliance and ingenuity” (The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory 986). Wit is often expressed verbally. 

Romanticism 

“Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental. Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities; a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general, and a focus on his passions and inner struggles; a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures; an emphasis upon imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth…” (Encyclopedia Britannica) 

Realism

“Realist tenets entered the mainstream of European literature during the 1860s and ’70s. Realism’s emphasis on detachment, objectivity, and accurate observation, its lucid but restrained criticism of social environment and mores, and the humane understanding that underlay its moral judgments became an integral part of the fabric of the modern novel during the height of that form’s development “(Encyclopedia Britannica). 

Credit goes to Ma'am Saima Najib

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