Sense and Sensibility is a novel written by Jane Austen, the first she published in her career. It was released in 1811. The narration, centered in the sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, also displays a variety of characters which makes it an interesting and diverse work. One of the most remarkable features of this novel is the presence of irony, a linguistic tool usually used by the author in her works. With this paper, I will try to resolve some questions about this issue: Where can we perceive irony in the text and how is it presented? How does it affect our view of the story?
Before getting into the answers, it is important for the reader to know what we are talking about when we refer to “irony”. It is a literary figure used in speech to express something opposed to what the receiver expects us to think, as a way of showing our dissatisfied opinion.
However, this is not the only definition, there are many others. Irony does not always appear in conversations, a whole situation can be ironic (something that is contrary to what is meant to happen). Therefore, irony can be voluntary or not.
Jane Austen plays with the many faces of irony in Sense and Sensibility, and it makes it such an intriguing subject to investigate.