3.2 Author's Irony in Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen is renowned for her use of irony in Sense and Sensibility.Irony is an artistic device used everywhere in Jane Austen's novels and a groundwork on which constitutes the artistic world of Jane Austen.It is generally regarded as the keynote and symbol of Jane Austen's style.Owing to the subtle use ofirony in her novels，the common and uneventful daily life，the stereotyped love stories of the heroines have become such an everlasting attraction and specialty that most of the characters in her novels leave the reader a deep impression.Jane Austen in fact develops a unique art in fiction through the use ofirony，which can both hide and expose the strongest feelings ofthe author.Here，people's value and some seemingly contradictory concepts changed dramatically，the ideas，which the author（including the reader）admires atfirst induce cruel mock while some fools jeered initially became the most right person.Such kind of novels requires readers to explore the author's real intention with a more complicated state of mind，for the skin-deep understanding is far from enough.Irony in this sense is very different from sarcasm in people's mind.The biggest difference lies in that the former requires objective description while the latter show strong subjective feelings.“The basis of Jane Austen's irony is usually shown to be the conflicting systems of norms and values in the world portrayed，the contrast between the author's values and those in the little country village of her setting or a combination of these possibilities.”（Odmark，1964，p.72）
In Sense and Sensibility，her irony brings out the foolishness and hypocrisy in people and events.She always jokes about wrong impression and mistaken ideas about one's self or the attempt to make fools of others.Sometimes certain words uttered by a particular character and certain situation get imputed with ironic implication in the light of what happen later in the novel.Jane Austen's use of irony as a social critique has long been remarked upon.In Sense and Sensibility，Austen uses irony to comment on the British society，especially on the titled gentry.She also uses irony to satire the point of marriage of the society.
Austen's use of irony has been well researched and studied during the last several centuries.One of the most important works on this subject is Marvin Mudrick's Jane Austen：Irony as Defense and Discovery，published in 1952.Mudrick identifies two usages of Elinor and Marianne's irony in Sense and Sensibility：it is used to sustain the action of the novel and as a tool for judging others.Of the two characters'irony as a means of sustaining action，Mudrick writes，“it is their irony that fills out and sustains the action.Their slightest perception ofincongruity reverberates through the scene and from it out into the atmosphere of the book”.（Mudrick，1952，p.120）