Summary:
Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" contains verbal and dramatic irony, as well as irony of the situation.
Irony Essay
In the novel A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, irony is used.
Irony is a name for a surprising, interesting, or humorous coincidences of contradictions in a book The three types of irony are verbal, dramatic, and irony of situation. Verbal irony is when words are used to mean the opposite of their meaning. Dramatic irony is when there is a contradiction between what the character knows and what the reader thinks. Irony of situation is when the eventual outcome is completely different than the reader thinks. Dickens uses each one of these types of irony to help tie his book together and to keep the readers on the edge of their seats.
Verbal irony is used many time in A Tale of Two Cities. It is used when Mr. Lorry talks about himself being a man of business. "Miss Manette, I am a man of business...." (pg. 19 Mr. Lorry). This is a type of irony because at the end of the book Mr. Lorry is very kind hearted and very friendly and very unbusiness like. Also another example of verbal irony is when Jerry Cruncher is called an honest tradesman. "Jerry you honest tradesman..." (Pg. 10 Messenger). As the book progresses it is found out that Jerry Cruncher is not an honest tradesman but a sneaky resurrection man. He ruins his honesty title by lying to his son about his job and saying that he is only going fishing. Another example of verbal irony is when Monsieur Marquis tell Gaspard that he does not know hoe to take care of his child yet Monsieur Marquis can not even take care of himself. Monsieur Marquis is killed by Gaspard in his sleep because Monsieur Marquis ran over Gaspard's child and Gaspard got really angry. Finally the last example of verbal irony used by Dickens is when at first Stryver is called the fellow of delicacy and Carton is called the fellow no delicacy. It turns out that Sydney Carton is the fellow of delicacy because of what he did for Darney at the end of the book. Stryver is really the fellow of no delicacy and it also shows at the end of the book.
The second type of irony that Charles Dickens uses is dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when there is a contradiction between what the character knows and what the reader thinks. Dickens uses dramatic irony when he writes about the French Revolution. The readers and some of the character think that the revolution will make things better but in the end it turns out to be a reign of terror. Another example of dramatic irony is when the reader think that Carton will only be a drunken bum with lots of talent for the rest of his life. It turns out that in the end he becomes the hero of a Tale of Two Cities. "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." (Pg 352 Carton) This saying was Cartons life because he took Darney's place at the guillotine. He was able to take his place at the guillotine because they resemble each other very much. Their resemblance is also an example of dramatic irony. Carton gets Darney out of two tight spots. The first court case and most importantly the guillotine. Finally the last example of dramatic irony is the note that Dr. Manette sent to the court justice about the Evermonde brothers. This note was to show the wrong doing of the brothers and get the to be convicted of their crime, rape. Unfortunately the note got into the wrong hand and Dr. Manette was convicted and put into prison wrongfully for eighteen years.
The final type of irony is irony of situation. Irony of situation is when the eventual outcome is completely different than the reader thinks. An example of this being that Dr. Manette who was wrongfully put into prison was a symbol of the revolution. At the end of the book Madame Defarge wants to kill him because he is now the brother in law to one of the Evermonde brother who rape Madame Defarge's sister. This is ironic because Dr. Manette is expected to help the revolution out because he was wrongfully put into prison by the nobility. But that is not the case. Finally the last example of irony of situation. Dr. Manette end up the father-in-law of Charles Darney who is the son of one of the Evermonde brothers. This is ironic because Dr. Manette was wrongfully put in prison because of the Evermonde brothers. Not only were the readers shock but Dr. Manette was too because of the relation to the Evermonde brothers.
In Conclusion it is obvious that Charles Dickens used irony to make his book
A Tale of Two Cites tie together and to make the book a lot more interesting. Also irony is a major part in book, shows, plays, and all aspects of life. Irony makes everything interesting and new. Charles Dickens showed how good of a writer he was by how he used irony in the book to make many different issues tie together.
This is the complete article, containing 876 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
