Irony - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Irony and Evaluation

A trivial study for serious people

. Slide2

…A brief

introduction

…

This group work aims to explain and analyse what irony and evaluation are by using the skills we acquired during previous years.

Using definitions and examples found in various given texts, we try to explain what irony and evaluation are and how they work and combine.

The text we chose is a classic of the English literature: “The Importance of Being Ernest” by Oscar Wilde, a well-known “comedy of irony

”.Slide3

Three Definitions of Irony

From

The Oxford Dictionary

:

The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for 

humorous

 or 

emphatic

 effect.

Example:

‘Don’t go overboard with the gratitude,’ he rejoined with heavy ironySlide4

A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.

Example:

“

There's plenty of irony in seeing one monopoly accuse another monopoly of restricting users' choices.”Slide5

(Also 

dramatic

 or 

tragic irony

) A literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

Example:

The old-fashioned respect for the young is fast dying out. Whatever influence I ever had over mamma, I lost at the age of three.Slide6

Verbal and Situational Irony

On the grounds of the above definitions, we distinguish two basic kinds of irony i.e.

verbal irony

and

situational irony

. Verbal irony involves what one does not mean. When in response to a foolish idea, we say, “what a great idea!” it is verbal irony. Situational irony occurs when, for instance, a man is chuckling at the misfortune of the other even when the same misfortune, in complete unawareness, is befalling him.Slide7

Evaluation: how does it work?

The making of a

 judgement

 about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment:

the evaluation of each method

Language is a mean of evaluation: when we talk we usually assess something or someone, except in very simple and straightforward exchanges of information, as in:

What time is it, Sir? It is nine o’clock.

Slide8

Irony and Evaluation

Evaluation is often related to irony: irony is used as a subtle way to mock or offend someone who might be unaware of it. Irony usually implies a

negative evaluation

, as in the following extracts from “The Importance of Being Earnest”:

JACK That, my dear young friend, is the theory that the corrupt French Drama has been propounding for the last fifty years.

ALGERNON Yes; and that the happy English home has proved in half the time.

(First Act, Pag.20)Slide9

The Importance

of

Being

Earnest

: the plot

Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen. Jack (known to Algernon as Ernest) lives a respectable life in the country providing an example to his young ward Cecily. Algernon lives in luxury in London and has invented an imaginary invalid friend (

Bunbury

) whom he visits in the country whenever an unappealing social engagement presents itself. Jack has also invented a character - a wayward younger brother called Ernest whom he uses as pretext for going up to London and enjoying himself.

Jack wants to marry Algernon’s cousin

Gwendolen

, but must first convince her mother, Lady

Bracknell

, of the respectability of his parents. For Jack, having been abandoned in a handbag at Victoria station, this is quite a difficult task.Slide10

Algernon visits Jack’s house in the country and introduces himself to Cecily as Ernest, knowing that Cecily is already fascinated by tales of Ernest's wickedness. He further wins her over and they become engaged.  Shortly after, Jack arrives home announcing Ernest’s death. This sets off a series of farcical events. Cecily and

Gwendolen

have a genteel stand-off over which of them has a prior claim on ‘Ernest’. Slide11

Jack and Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually, Jack discovers that his parents were Lady

Bracknell’s

sister and brother-in-law and that he is, in fact, Algernon’s older brother, called Ernest. The two sets of lovers are thus free to marry.

During these events the characters of  Canon Chasuble and Cecily’s governess Miss Prism have also fallen in love, and in the best tradition of the well-made play the story ends with all the loose ends tied up and everyone set to live happily ever after.Slide12

The Author’s Purpose

The whole play is built on witty dialogues, amusing puns, misunderstandings and paradoxes which help deal with the complexity of social and personal identification; the title is a pun in itself: the name Earnest (misspelling for “Ernest”) evokes the adjective “ earnest, honest and sincere”, while none of the characters is truthful. Slide13

The characters, used by the playwright to criticize the Victorian prudery and exaggerated seriousness, exist only because they take part in conversation. What is important to them is not what they say, but how they say it; thus Wilde’s social satire comes from the ironic use of a solemn language in situations that are utterly ridiculous and frivolous.

In this sense irony is a dominant feature of the play rather than mere decoration.Slide14

LinguaIngleseIII-Irony-Extract.docxSlide15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ64jxRf_2ESlide16

Bibliography and Webliography

R. Carter;

The

Routledge

History of Literature in English: Britain and Ireland

; London;

Routledge

; 2001

R. Carter, A.

Goddard

, D.

Reah

, K.

Sanger

, M.

Browring

;

Working

with Texts. A core book for

language

analysis; London; Routledge

; 1999

A.Stevenson

and C.

Soanes

;

The Oxford

Dictionary

of

English

; Oxford; OUP Oxford; 2010.

O. Wilde;

The

Importance

of

Being

Earnest

; London; Penguin

Classics

; 2000.Slide17

M. Spiazzi; M. Tavella;

Only

Connect…New

Directions

; Bologna; Zanichelli; 2009.

www.literarydevices.netSlide18

Federico Fabbri

Michela Fortuna

Matilde Maffei

Eleonora Paggetti