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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 16. The Warnings of Experience
Explanation and Analysis—Poor Fools:
When Helen’s aunt Mrs. Maxwell tries to warn her about marrying a man who appears to be a good match but is actually a “reprobate” (or immoral person) or “fool,” Helen responds by teasing her aunt, using verbal irony in the process, as seen in the following passage:
“If you should marry the handsomest, and most accomplished and superficially agreeable man in the world, you little know the misery that would overwhelm you, if, after all, you should find him to be a worthless reprobate, or even an impracticable fool.”
“But what are all the poor fools and reprobates to do, aunt? If everybody followed your advice the world would soon come to an end.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 20. Persistence
Explanation and Analysis—Pious Arthur:
When Helen tells Arthur during their courtship that her aunt Mrs. Maxwell does not approve of him because she wants Helen to marry “a really good man,” Arthur understands that she means a man more devoted to his Christian faith. In his response to Helen, Arthur sarcastically commits to becoming more like a man Mrs. Maxwell would approve of, using verbal irony and a simile in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“She wishes me to – to marry none but a really good man.”
“What, a man of ‘decided piety?’ – ahem! – Well, come, I’ll manage that too! It’s Sunday today, isn’t it? I’ll go to church morning, afternoon, and evening, and comport myself in such a godly sort that she shall regard me with admiration and sisterly love […] I’ll come home sighing like a furnace, and full of the savour and unction of dear Mr Blatant’s discourse –”
Related Themes:
Chapter 44. The Retreat
Explanation and Analysis—Brilliant Specimens:
In a note at the end of Helen’s diary entries, Gilbert describes how the the rest of the pages are torn away right when she starts to describe her seemingly negative initial opinions of him. In reflecting on why Helen might have judged him so severely, Gilbert uses verbal irony, describing the men in her life as “brilliant specimens":
Unlock with LitCharts A+Here it ended. The rest was torn away. How cruel – just when she was going to mention me! for I could not doubt it was your humble servant she was about to mention, though not very favourably of course – I could tell that, as well by those few words as by the recollection of her whole aspect and demeanour towards me in the commencement of our acquaintance. Well! I could readily forgive her prejudice against me, and her hard thoughts of our sex in general, when I saw to what brilliant specimens her experience had been limited.
Related Themes:
