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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Inside Joke:
In Chapter 3, the narrator squirms in secondhand awkwardness while Mrs. Van Hopper makes a fool of herself in front of Maxim. By the end of the scene, Maxim uses verbal irony and dramatic irony to establish rapport with the narrator at Mrs. Van Hopper's expense:
He got up at once, pushing back his chair. “Don’t let me keep you,” he said. “Fashions change so quickly nowadays they may even have altered by the time you get upstairs.”
The sting did not touch her, she accepted it as a pleasantry.
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Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Household Routine:
In Chapter 8, the narrator wakes up on her first morning at Manderley. Maxim leaves her largely to her own devices, and dramatic irony soon makes it clear that she is out of her element:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[O]ne of [the servants] laughed—Robert, I supposed. Perhaps they were laughing about me. I went upstairs again, to the privacy of my bedroom, but when I opened the door I found the housemaids in there doing the room; one was sweeping the floor, the other dusting the dressing table. They looked at me in surprise. I quickly went out again. It could not be right, then, for me to go to my room at that hour in the morning. It was not expected of me. It broke the household routine.
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Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Wife or Dog:
In Chapter 9, the narrator sits outside on the lawn with Maxim and Beatrice while the siblings discuss their grandmother. The narrator uses a simile to capture the situational irony of Maxim's attitude toward her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I listened to them both, leaning against Maxim’s arm, rubbing my chin on his sleeve. He stroked my hand absently, not thinking, talking to Beatrice.
“That’s what I do to Jasper,” I thought. “I’m being like Jasper now, leaning against him. He pats me now and again, when he remembers, and I’m pleased, I get closer to him for a moment. He likes me in the way I like Jasper.”
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Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—White Dress:
One important instance of dramatic irony occurs in Chapter 16, when the narrator debuts the white dress she has commissioned for the costume party. Maxim's and others' reaction to the dress takes the narrator entirely by surprise and clues her and the reader in that she has missed some very important information:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What the hell do you think you are doing?” [Maxim] asked. His eyes blazed in anger. His face was still ashen white.
I could not move, I went on standing there, my hand on the banister.
“It’s the picture,” I said, terrified at his eyes, at his voice. “It’s the picture, the one in the gallery.”
There was a long silence. We went on staring at each other. Nobody moved in the hall. I swallowed, my hand moved to my throat. “What is it?” I said. “What have I done?”
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Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Her, The Other One:
In Chapter 19, everyone is startled when a steamer runs aground in the harbor. The narrator makes small talk about it with Ben, and a poignant moment of dramatic irony ensues:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“She’ll break up bit by bit,” he said, “she’ll not sink like a stone like the little ’un.” He chuckled to himself, picking his nose. I did not say anything. “The fishes have eaten her up by now, haven’t they?” he said.
“Who?” I said.
He jerked his thumb towards the sea. “Her,” he said, “the other one.”
“Fishes don’t eat steamers, Ben,” I said.
“Eh?” he said. He stared at me, foolish and blank once more.
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Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Guilty Lovers:
In Chapter 25, Maxim and the narrator finally get some time to themselves after the inquest. There is situational irony in their behavior toward one another, which the narrator drives home with a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In a few minutes the telephone began ringing again. I did not do anything. I let it ring. I went and sat down at Maxim’s feet. It went on ringing. I did not move. Presently it stopped, as though cut suddenly in exasperation. The clock on the mantelpiece struck ten o’clock. Maxim put his arms round me and lifted me against him. We began to kiss one another, feverishly, desperately, like guilty lovers who have not kissed before.
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