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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Book 2, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Lammles' Finances:
A novel with as many characters as Our Mutual Friend is bound to have dramatic irony. Its characters hatch plots, entertain private confidences, and unearth secrets among themselves. Introduced in Book 2, Chapter 4, Dickens introduces the state of the Lammles’ circumstances following their marriage:
Mr. and Mrs. Lammle’s house in Sackville Street, Piccadilly, was but a temporary residence. It had done well enough, they informed their friends, for Mr. Lammle when a bachelor, but it would not do now. So, they were always looking at palatial residences in the best situations, and always very nearly taking or buying one, but never quite concluding the bargain. Hereby they made for themselves a shining little reputation apart. People said, on seeing a vacant palatial residence, ‘The very thing for the Lammles!’ and wrote to the Lammles about it, and the Lammles always went to look at it, but unfortunately it never exactly answered. In short, they suffered so many disappointments, that they began to think it would be necessary to build a palatial residence. And hereby they made another shining reputation; many persons of their acquaintance becoming by anticipation dissatisfied with their own houses, and envious of the non-existent Lammle structure.
The irony of the Lammles’ dilemma lies in its sheer misinterpretation. Book 1, Chapter 10 previously revealed to the reader that neither husband nor wife actually owns any property—frauds attract frauds, and both Mr. and Mrs. Lammle find themselves victims of their own schemes. But the charade, once started, goes on. London’s high society assumes that the Lammles’ many house-purchasing “disappointments” stem from high tastes rather than cash-strapped finances. Their poverty gets misinterpreted instead as a sign of overwhelming wealth.
Dickens extends this irony to satirical proportions. The reader knows, but the others don’t. In fact, the couple’s elite acquaintances are so mistaken that they envy the Lammles for their nonexistent “palatial residence.” The newlyweds create for themselves a “shining little reputation” and lofty expectations that send their friends to shame. Possessing no property of their own, they even inspire dissatisfaction among those who do. The Lammles’ new home goes the way of the emperor’s new clothes.
Through this irony, Dickens attacks all sides of upper-class society. He condemns the shallow judgment of its members and—even more—the nerve of its imposters. The novel strikes a reactionary stance amid the rise of a newly moneyed class, criticizing them through a couple that is all style and no substance.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Bella's Rejection:
For a novel organized around John Harmon’s quest for his inheritance, Bella’s rejection of his marriage proposal may be the work’s prime irony. After revealing to the reader that he is John Harmon in disguise, John Rokesmith offers his hand to his landlord’s daughter but gets dealt a brutal put-down in Book 2, Chapter 13:
‘Yes. I appeal to you, sir,’ proceeded Bella with increasing spirit, ‘not to pursue me. I appeal to you not to take advantage of your position in this house to make my position in it distressing and disagreeable. I appeal to you to discontinue your habit of making your misplaced attentions as plain to Mrs. Boffin as to me.’
‘Have I done so?’
‘I should think you have,’ replied Bella. ‘In any case it is not your fault if you have not, Mr. Rokesmith.’
‘I hope you are wrong in that impression. I should be very sorry to have justified it. I think I have not. For the future there is no apprehension. It is all over.’
‘I am much relieved to hear it,’ said Bella. ‘I have far other views in life, and why should you waste your own?’
Rokesmith’s humiliation exploits ironies situational and dramatic. Bella—unaware of his true identity—scoffs at his marriage proposal, finding him too far below her newly elevated status. As a young lady exalted to fortune’s dizzying heights, her “other views in life” exclude union with a lowly household secretary. But by revealing Rokesmith’s identity to the reader, Dickens manages to secure his audience’s emotional investment. This secretly disclosed knowledge only makes the mis-recognition all the more painful. The reader, who “knows,” cannot help but feel a prick of indignation on Rokesmith’s behalf.
Readerly secrets notwithstanding, Bella’s rejection is as much an instance of situational irony. Through her needy gripes and self-regard, Dickens reveals the destructive consequences of material greed. Bella’s single-minded pursuit of “money, money, money” in this scene actually leads her to overlook the novel’s wealthiest man. Her gold-digging spirit blindsides and does not benefit her. Bella’s unmerited arrogance closes her off from the true sources of wealth around her. By emphasizing Bella’s shortcomings with these double ironies, the novel sets the stage for her spiritual development.
Related Themes:
Book 3, Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Pubsey and Co.:
Our Mutual Friend turns to dramatic irony for suspense and satire but also shows its more troubling dimensions. In Book 3, Chapter 13, it shows dramatic irony in some of the most disturbing ways possible. With Jenny Wren and Twemlow waiting at the entrance of his own Pubsey and Co., Fledgeby unsparingly maligns Riah:
He is a thorough Jew to look at, but he is a more thorough Jew to deal with. He’s worst when he’s quiet. If he’s quiet, I shall take it as a very bad sign. Keep your eye upon him when he comes in, and, if he’s quiet, don’t be hopeful. Here he is!—he looks quiet.
Here, Fledgeby hides his exploitation in plain sight. This far into the novel, the reader knows that Fledgeby uses Riah to solicit the payments to his own company. But before his two bewildered guests, he smears his own loyal servant. The greedy “Fox” draws upon anti-Semitic stereotypes to cast Riah as an unprincipled interest-collector. Under his account, the dignified old man gets twisted into a shameless financial predator.
The exploitation is two-fold in its injustice: Fledgeby not only forces Riah to the drudgery of scrip-collecting, but he spares his own reputation through a vicious campaign of slander. In the span of two consecutive chapters, Fledgeby singlehandedly escapes scrutiny from Twemlow, Jenny, and Mrs. Lammle with his lies. Dickens intensifies the reader’s awareness of brutal wrongdoing.
In many ways, Pubsey and Co. is an operation of dramatic irony at large. Fledgeby uses the company name and Riah as cover for his own usury schemes. He lives off lies and underscores the shifting appearances of the upper class. In a world where servants are made masters and the good portrayed as evil, Dickens exposes the dangerous fictions that abuse and oppress.
Related Themes:
