The Age of Innocence: Irony 9 key examples

Near the beginning of the novel, while reflecting on the type of relationship he wants to have with May once they are married, Archer notes the situational irony inherent in the expectations of husbands and wives in their society:

What could he and she really know of each other, since it was his duty, as a “decent” fellow, to conceal his past from her, and hers, as a marriageable girl, to have no past to conceal? […] He reviewed his friends’ marriages—the supposedly happy ones—and saw none that answered, even remotely, to the passionate and tender comradeship which he pictured as his permanent relation with May Welland. He perceived that such a picture presupposed, on her part, the experience, the versatility, the freedom of judgment, which she had been carefully trained not to possess.

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Near the beginning of the novel, as May and Archer’s families try to help Ellen integrate into New York society, they connect her with the van der Luydens, a couple with a lot of power and influence in their social circle. In an example of situational irony, Archer’s family believes that Ellen has offended the van der Luydens by attending a party hosted by Mrs. Struthers (as she is not a respected member of their society), when, really, they have no problem with it.

The irony comes across in the following passage, as Mr. van der Luyden stops by Mrs. Archer’s home and the entire Archer family is shocked and relieved to find that all he wants to say about Ellen is a compliment:

“Ah—a charming woman. I have just been to see her,” said Mr. van der Luyden, complacency restored to his brow […] “She has a real gift for arranging flowers. I had sent her a few carnations from Skuytercliff, and I was astonished.”

[…]

A dead silence greeted this unusual flow of words from Mr. van der Luyden. Mrs. Archer drew her embroidery out of the basket into which she had nervously tumbled it, and Newland, leaning against the chimney-place and twisting a humming-bird-feather screen in his hand, saw Janey’s gaping countenance lit up by the coming of the second lamp.

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After Archer has accepted that he is in love with Ellen (and they have started trying to plan secret alone time together), Ellen’s aunt Medora approaches him to ask him for his assistance in reuniting Ellen with her husband. This is an example of dramatic irony, because Archer and readers know that he is the last person who wants to see Ellen go back to Europe to be with her cruel husband.

Archer’s inner reaction to Medora’s request captures the irony of this moment:

He would have laughed if any one had foretold to him that his first sight of poor Medora Manson would have been in the guise of a messenger of Satan; but he was in no mood for laughing now, and she seemed to him to come straight out of the hell from which Ellen Olenska had just escaped.

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Over the course of the novel, Archer teaches Ellen how to assimilate into upper-class New York society after many years living in Europe, sharing specifics with her about how to conform. This is an example of situational irony because what Archer ends up loving about Ellen the most is the ways that she challenges the restrictive and arbitrary rules of society, while Ellen comes to appreciate Archer for the ways that he respects and honors the rules.

The irony of their mismatched appreciation for each other comes across in the following speech Ellen gives to Archer about why they cannot be together:

“I felt there was no one as kind as you; no one who gave me reasons that I understood for doing what at first seemed so hard and—unnecessary. The very good people didn’t convince me; I felt they’d never been tempted. But you knew; you understood; you had felt the world outside tugging at one with all its golden hands—and yet you hated the things it asks of one; you hated happiness bought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference […] I can’t go back now to that other way of thinking. I can’t love you unless I give you up.”

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In an example of situational irony, Archer seeks to speed up his wedding with May while simultaneously falling in love with Ellen (and therefore wanting to end things with May). While at first he wanted to get married more quickly to avoid a year’s worth of pointless anticipation, by the time May successfully convinces her family to move the wedding up, Archer is doubting whether he wants to get married to her at all.

The irony comes across in Archer’s reaction to receiving a letter from May announcing her victory in convincing her family to speed up their nuptials:

[W]hen Archer unlocked his own front-door, he found a similar envelope on the hall-table on top of his pile of notes and letters. The message inside the envelope was also from May Welland, and ran as follows: “Parents consent wedding Tuesday after Easter at twelve Grace Church eight bridesmaids please see Rector so happy love May.”

Archer crumpled up the yellow sheet as if the gesture could annihilate the news it contained.

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On the night of May and Archer’s wedding, Mr. van der Luyden offers that they stay at Skuytercliff since there’s a leak at the house where they were supposed to be staying. In an example of both situational and dramatic irony, May is delighted at this news (since Skuytercliff is known to be a very beautiful estate) while Archer is distraught by it because, as he and readers know, this is the very house where he and Ellen revealed their feelings for each other not long ago.

The irony comes across in Archer’s reaction to learning about this offer from a member of Mr. van der Luyden’s staff:

Archer stared at the speaker so blankly that he repeated in still more apologetic accents: “It’ll be exactly the same, sir, I do assure you—” and May’s eager voice broke out, covering the embarrassed silence: “The same as Rhinebeck? The Patroon’s house? But it will be a hundred thousand times better—won’t it, Newland? It’s too dear and kind of Mr. van der Luyden to have thought of it.”

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Throughout The Age of Innocence there is tension between the American and European characters (including Ellen, who has spent so much of her life in Europe that she speaks and acts according to European customs rather than American ones). In an example of situational irony, the upper-class New York women in the novel buy the latest French fashion, only to put it aside for years so as not to seem too French, as Sophy Jackson explains:

“[I]t was considered vulgar to dress in the newest fashions; and Amy Sillerton has always told me that in Boston the rule was to put away one’s Paris dresses for two years. Old Mrs. Baxter Pennilow, who did everything handsomely, used to import twelve a year, two velvet, two satin, two silk, and the other six of poplin and the finest cashmere. It was a standing order, and as she was ill for two years before she died they found forty-eight Worth dresses that had never been taken out of tissue paper.”

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In an example of dramatic irony, May proposes to Archer near the end of the novel that they host a farewell dinner for Ellen before she leaves New York. This is ironic because, as readers and Archer know, he is in love with Ellen and does not want to see her leave, much less celebrate her departure at an event he is hosting with his wife. The irony comes across in Archer’s reaction to May’s proposal for the dinner:

It was that evening, on his return home, that May announced her intention of giving a farewell dinner to her cousin. Madame Olenska’s name had not been pronounced between them since the night of her flight to Washington; and Archer looked at his wife with surprise.

“A dinner—why?” he interrogated. Her colour rose.

“But you like Ellen—I thought you’d be pleased.”

“It’s awfully nice—your putting it in that way. But I really don’t see—”

“I mean to do it, Newland,” she said, quietly rising and going to her desk.

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In the final chapter of the novel—which takes place 26 years into the future—Archer reflects on his son Dallas’s engagement to Beaufort’s daughter Fanny. His reflections capture the situational irony inherent to their engagement:

What was left of the little world he had grown up in, and whose standards had bent and bound him? He remembered a sneering prophecy of poor Lawrence Lefferts’s, uttered years ago in that very room: “If things go on at this rate, our children will be marrying Beaufort’s bastards.” It was just what Archer’s eldest son, the pride of his life, was doing; and nobody wondered or reproved.

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