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Unreliable Narrator
Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Chapter 34: My Aunt Astonishes Me
Explanation and Analysis—Upon My Property:
Verbal irony plays less of a role in David Copperfield than in some other Dickens's novels because there is no omniscient narrator to comment wryly on the characters from a remove. Nonetheless, verbal irony is one of Dickens's trademarks, and an example of it can be found in Chapter 34, when David finds his aunt in his apartment:
‘Let me draw the sofa here, or the easy chair, aunt,’ said I. ‘Why should you be so uncomfortable?’
‘Thank you, Trot,’ replied my aunt, ‘I prefer to sit upon my property.’ Here my aunt looked hard at Mrs Crupp, and observed, ‘We needn’t trouble you to wait, ma’am.’
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