Middlemarch: Dramatic Irony 2 key examples

In an example of dramatic irony, readers are aware of the fact that Mr. Featherstone died with two wills, but most of the people of Middlemarch are not. While Mr. Featherstone’s family—particularly Fred—become excited at the reading of the first will because it divides Mr. Featherstone’s wealth up amongst known family members, they are shocked to learn of a second will and are alarmed by its contents (since all of his money goes to the unknown entity Mr. Rigg), as seen in the following passage:

And at the sound of the first "give and bequeath" she could see all complexions changing subtly, as if some faint vibration were passing through them, save that of Mr. Rigg. He sat in unaltered calm, and, in fact, the company, preoccupied with more important problems, and with the complication of listening to bequests which might or might not be revoked, had ceased to think of him. Fred blushed, and Mr. Vincy found it impossible to do without his snuff-box in his hand, though he kept it closed.

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Dorothea falling in love with and marrying Will is an example of situational irony because she has been explicitly forbidden from marrying him by her late husband Casaubon (who was deeply jealous of his younger cousin Will). Part of the irony is that Dorothea did not even consider marrying Will until Causabon’s will forbade it, as seen in the following passage:

Then again she was conscious of another change which also made her tremulous; it was a sudden strange yearning of heart towards Will Ladislaw. It had never before entered her mind that he could, under any circumstances, be her lover: conceive the effect of the sudden revelation that another had thought of him in that light—that perhaps he himself had been conscious of such a possibility,—and this with the hurrying, crowding vision of unfitting conditions, and questions not soon to be solved.

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