Irony In The Heart Of The Matter

Irony is one of the oldest concepts in western literary criticism. In its long developing history, irony has experienced four periods:the classical period, the romantic period, the new critical period, the modern and post-modern period. Irony is also an elusive concept. Both dictionaries and theorists could hardly provide a clear-cut definition. Generally speaking, irony can be divided into three major categories--situational irony, verbal irony and structural irony,Based on the theory of irony, this thesis attempts to make a study of the application of irony in The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene's masterpiece. In The Heart of the Matter, there exists situational irony, verbal irony and the irony of fate, a subtype of structural irony. Situational irony exists in the arrangement of the plot: both the plotline and the subline. Verbal irony is characterized by the irony of the text's descriptive language. The ironic effect is achieved by employing the techniques like overstatement, understatement, irony of simple incongruity, paradox, and the like. The irony of fate explores the three kinds of forces that determine Scobie's fate: the internal force, the external force and the cosmic force. Scobie's superabundant sense of pity and duty is the internal force. The social environment, in which people supervise and mistrust each other, makes up the external force. The cosmic force exerts its power in the form of chance and coincidence. Scobie's fate is the result of these forcesThe application of irony in The Heart of the Matter shows Graham Greene's ironic attitude toward the characters and the social environment of the novel.