The Research Of Kierkegaard's Concept Of Irony

Kierkegaard is a famous Danish Mysticism philosopher, Christian theologian, and great pioneer of existentialism in the nineteenth century. His accomplishment is extremely rich both theoretically and mentally, which involves in several disciplines and fields, and among which, his idea of irony is a special and creative one. Through his analysis on texts of Xenophon, Plato and Aristophanes, he reverts the original image of Socrates, and penetrates further into his standpoint of existence. In this process, he interprets the idea of irony and believes the essence of this concept is Socrates'standpoint of existence.According to this analysis and his theory of existence spheres, the idea of Kierkegaard's irony can be identified as existential irony. He does not limit it in the realm of a concept, but spreads it into his philosophy of existence. In the theory of existence spheres, irony steps across and runs through three spheres of existence, bearing Kierkegaard's thought of existence and his religious ideal. His distinctive idea of irony gives this old theory some new features, they are practical, individual, subjective, negative and religious, etc. Though the existential irony is a groundbreaking theory, it is not an original creation of Kierkegaard. On the contrary, it is closely related to other theories of irony. Through comparative analysis, the existential irony has inheriting relation with classical irony of traditional rhetoric. It not only inherits and deepens classical irony from the perspective of standpoint of existence, but also has been influenced by the German Romantic Irony. However, the existential irony holds critical attitude on romantic irony and exceeds in criticism. Also, the irony of existence has mutually opposite relationship with the later New Criticism, but from another point, it is a useful complement of subjectivity and individuality.In conclusion, existential irony almost gets rid of the restrictions of texts and limitations of irony, which is not a mere description of phenomenon, instead, it stresses on the subjectivity and individuality, which helps explore the attitudes and positions that texts take. As a result, irony surpasses itself to an existential substance, which helps reveal the essence of irony, being purer, more direct and more universal. Thereby, it throws some light on the decoding of texts in literature criticism; in fact, Kierkegaard's analysis of Socrates is a well-set paradigm. However, existential irony puts too much emphasis on the subjectivity and individuality, and over-explores the existential senses, leading to ignorance in terms of texts, and makes it a little farfetched theory, which seems too one-sided and extreme.