When Austen describes Elinor and Marianne’s half-brother John Dashwood (who has inherited their home after the death of their father and forces them to move out), she uses verbal irony:
He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted, and rather selfish, is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well respected.
As seen in the quote, Austen feigns that she is describing John in a complimentary way (as not ill-disposed), but quickly undercuts this point by describing him as cold-hearted and selfish—exactly the definition of what it means to be ill-disposed. Readers leave this moment with the sense that the narrator of Sense and Sensibility—much like its characters—may use indirect communication in an attempt to appear well-mannered while actually criticizing others.
In addition to providing readers with a humorous moment in this indirect dig at John’s character, Austen is highlighting how certain wealthy people will be greedy and seek to hoard wealth at the expense of those less fortunate; even though John is financially well-off, he forces the Dashwoods to leave their home and also only gives them 1,500 pounds a year to live off of, after initially deciding to give them 3,000 pounds a year. This is particularly selfish of him because the Dashwoods are all women who would not be earning an income of their own.
Near the start of the novel, Fanny Dashwood tries to convince her husband John that his half-sisters don’t need more than 1,500 pounds a year each to live off of (after he has proposed 3,000 pounds), inadvertently using verbal irony:
“Altogether, they will have five hundred a year amongst them, and what on earth can four women want for more than that? They will live so cheap! Their housekeeping will be nothing at all. They will have no carriage, no horses, and hardly any servants; they will keep no company, and can have no expences of any kind! Only conceive how comfortable they will be!”
This is ironic because, while trying to frame this relatively small amount of money as reasonable and “comfortable” for three women (and their mother), Fanny lists all of the amenities they will not have access to, such as transportation and help around the house. The fact that she goes as far as stating that they will not be able to keep company or have any expenses at all and that this will be a comfortable life for them takes the irony to a new level. This is Austen’s way of showing how greedy people with wealth in her particular society can be; not only do they take from the less fortunate, but they also frame their actions as if they are being kind and generous in the process. This is also an example of Fanny strategizing in order to maximize wealth for herself and her immediate family.
In an example of verbal irony, Lucy Steele communicates to Elinor how glad she is to find her still in town when she, in fact, means the opposite, given her awareness of Elinor and Edward’s love for each other:
“I should have been quite disappointed if I had not found you here still,” said she repeatedly, with a strong emphasis on the word. “But I always thought I should. I was almost sure you would not leave London yet awhile; though you told me, you know, at Barton, that you should not stay above a month. But I thought, at the time, that you would most likely change your mind when it came to the point […] And now to be sure you will be in no hurry to be gone. I am amazingly glad you did not keep to your word.”
The verbal irony comes across via Austen’s use of italics—each time Lucy emphasizes a word, readers can imagine her smiling through her teeth. She is not happy to find Elinor in town “still” because she wants Edward all to herself. Elinor “told” Lucy that she would leave in less than a “month,” so, the italics imply, she should have kept to her “word.”
The irony becomes even more obvious when Austen describes Elinor’s reaction to Lucy’s sweetly sarcastic welcome; as the narrator writes, “she hardly knew how to make a very gracious return to the overpowering delight of Lucy in finding her still in town.” Here Austen implies that Elinor is herself aware of the verbal irony and knows that Lucy is not being genuine in her performance of “overpowering delight.” Overall, this moment shows Lucy’s true character—that she is rude and passive-aggressive, wanting Edward (and his wealth) all to herself.
In an example of verbal irony, Austen describes Mrs. Ferrars—Edward’s mother—as if she is complimenting her when really she is criticizing her:
Mrs. Ferrars was a little, thin woman, upright, even to formality, in her figure, and serious, even to sourness, in her aspect. Her complexion was sallow; and her features small, without beauty, and naturally without expression; but a lucky contraction of the brow had rescued her countenance from the disgrace of insipidity, by giving it the strong characters of pride and ill nature. She was not a woman of many words: for, unlike people in general, she proportioned them to the number of her ideas.
While there are moments in Austen’s description of Mrs. Ferrars that are overtly unflattering—“her complexion was sallow,” she was “serious, even to sourness”—she also includes descriptions that appear to be complimentary when they are not. For example, the fact that Mrs. Ferrars’s brow made her seem prideful and ill-natured is not “lucky.” Similarly, stating that she had few ideas to contribute in conversation does not set her apart from “people in general” in a positive way, as Austen implies, but in a negative way.
In typical Austen fashion, she takes time to mock arrogant, wealthy people who take themselves too seriously. This is just one of the ways that she satirizes the class-divided British society of her time.
