Irony in Sense and Sensibility Austen uses irony as a means of moral and social satire. Her sentences, while usually simple and direct, contain within them the basic contradictions which reveal profound insights into character and theme. This is most obvious in her blunt character sketches. John Dashwood "was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather coldhearted, and rather selfish, is to be ill-disposed." Note that in the first half of the sentence, she seems to be viewing his character amiably.
I tell yuh what yuh do’” (Wolfe 244). Through this text, we can gain insight into the character’s thoughts. Both Albaugh 2 character’s believe that their directions are the best ones, proving that they are self-assured. Because they are both certain that they are right, the other character’s thoughts are inconsequential which proves that they are also self-absorbed. This element of short fiction is easily identified in this portion of the text
‘He is the wisest character in the play,’ How far do you agree with this interpretation of Feste in Twelfth Night? The character of Feste in Twelfth Night is one that is multi layered. He may, at first, appear to be merely a ‘good fool’ however I believe that he is actually the ‘wisest’ character - although he may appear to be merely a ‘good fool’ to the majority of the other characters. Being wise could be viewed as having the capability to make sensible decisions/judgments on situations from personal experience; it could also be interpreted as being knowledgeable about different subjects. Our first impressions of the character of Feste do not give the impression of a fool.
In the Novel The Catcher in the Rye, The main character (Holden Caulfield) feels like a real human being, not a fictional character. Not only does Salinger put some of himself into the character, he also uses humorous irony, descriptive diction, and ever irksome repetition to help personify Holden, positively or negatively. Nobody can deny that Holden is an ironic person. When someone says that “It will be a terrific bore,” (pg.91) no matter what they are talking about, you know something cannot be terrific and boring. This also feeds into the whole situation with Sunny the...courtesan.
Gilbert Hernandez The Disillusion of Selfish Human Nature in the Hollow The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is a brilliant piece of storytelling by a masterful writer. Not one to shy on the power of imagination, Irving does an exceptional job of infusing the narrative with a distinct sense of plausibility which is brought forth by the rich community found in the secluded glen of Sleepy Hollow, located in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town New York. Imagination isn’t the only underlying theme that thrives in Irving’s world. I for one believe Irving is also trying to share with us a true glimpse of the selfishness that often characterizes humanity; unleashing a powerful truth that isn’t as imaginary as the essence of dark illusions which permeate throughout this work. Using snippets from this story found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker, I will try to expose that Sleepy Hollow was more than just a place of wondrous imagination that allured its folk; it was a gloomy haven for parsimoniously ravaged hearts.
Santa-Maria also says that while Franklin promotes the idea of being like Socrates, Franklin is in fact more like Epicurus. Santa-Maria ends his essay by stating that he believes that Franklin’s interpretation of virtue is a failure, and that moral perfection is impossible. I believe that Santa-Maria’s critical essay was very clearly written and thought-provoking. He expresses his ideas very clearly, and has a lot of background information to back it up. It was very easy to comprehend what he believed, and easy to see why he felt this way.
Shakespeare on the other hand chooses to primarily “delight” his audience, the processes of “instruction” and “punishment” incurred as a result of this “delight”. Dryden’s critique can be proved to a significant degree through the analysis of both plays, the contrasting attitudes of both playwrights in regards to entertaining their audience proving that “the first end of Comedie is delight” with “instruction” and “punishment” of personal and social faults second to the power of any given comedy. An apt and ingenious choice of setting is imperative to the success of any play, particularly one which belongs to the genre of comedy. Ben Jonson uses Blackfriars as his setting in order to enhance the satirical power of his play whilst Shakespeare uses Messina to punish personal and social faults in an environment which allows his audience to disassociate themselves with the characters of the play, allowing them to take “delight” in a literary fantasy. The aspects of Dryden’s critique suggesting that “the first end of comedy
Perhaps most of his admirers will concede that not every Greene story is a gem; many, in fact, are undeniably slight. Several more, however - including "The Destructors," "Under the Garden," and "The Basement Room" - must be ranked among the best of their time. Greene composed these pieces, as Kelly notes, "along traditional lines": they show the influence of James, Maupassant, and Maugham. But they also display elements of the same style that marks Greene's longer fiction - including, as Kelly puts it, "crisp dialogue, clever similes, seedy atmospheres, and recurrent themes such as innocence and betrayal." They create a "unique vision of the world" shaped, Kelly argues, by Greene's "personal demons," including "a sense of betrayed innocence; an authoritarian and puritanical father; clever school bullies; fear of the dark, birds, and water; fear of and fascination with sexuality; fear of boredom."
‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ demonstrates aspects of farce and aspects of ‘incongruity’ (Langley:2012) which at first glance make the play seem purposeless. However the ‘trivial’ aspect to ‘serious people’ suggests that maybe to someone with little understanding would struggle to infer the play but after closely reading it, I tend to agree with the statement of Simon Bubb. As Anna Sarchet says,‘In fact, it is because of the epigrammatic exchanges and witty repartees that Wilde creates the space to be subversive’. The play is overloaded with humour, wit, paradoxical twists, and epigrams.The wit is clever, subtle. As the critic Peter Raby says ‘the play remains… a critique of the absurdity of all forms and conventions’.
Voltaire uses Candide to throw his beliefs in the reader’s face with the radical extremes of his story. Kaufman mischievously uses laughter to win the minds of his reader, and then slips a lesson in while they’re not looking. Perhaps the best example of this is found by comparing a main character from each novel. Candide is the main character of the like-titled book by Voltaire; hence he has perhaps the greatest lesson of the book. At first we see Candide believing unwaveringly in Pangloss’s teachings, that “all is necessarily for the best in this best of all possible worlds” (Voltaire, 4).