26. Irony. Bathos.

Irony is a stylistic device also based on the simultaneous reali­zation of two logical meanings—dictionary and contextual, but the two meanings stand in opposition to each other. For example: "It must be delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one's pocket." Word “delightful” acquires a meaning quite the opposite to its primary dictionary meaning, that is, 'unpleasant', 'not delightful'. The word containing the irony is strongly marked by intonation. Irony must not be confused with humour, although they have very much in common. But the function of irony is not confined to producing a humorous effect. In a sentence like "How clever of you!" where, due to the intonation pattern, the word 'clever' conveys a sense opposite to its literal signification, the irony does not cause a ludicrous effect. It rather expresses a feeling of irritation, displeasure, pity or regret. A word used ironically may sometimes express very subtle, almost im­perceptible nuances of meaning.

Irony may be expressed by any part of speech, most often by a noun, adjective and adverb.

The effect of irony largely depends on the unexpectedness and seeming lack of logic of a word used by the author in an incompatible context. The reader is fully aware of the contrast between what is logically expected and what is said. This contrast, this interaction of the contextual logical and logical meanings of the word often produces a humorous effect.

Irony may be used to achieve an effect of bitter mockery and sarcasm as well, especially when it concerns some social phenomena.

Bathos is a literary term derived from a Greek word meaning “depth”. Bathos is when a writer or a poet falls into inconsequential and absurd metaphors, descriptions or ideas in an effort to be increasingly emotional or passionate. Some confuse with pathos. The term was used by Alexander Pope to explain the blunders committed inadvertently by unskilled writers or poets. However, later on, the comic writers used it intentionally to create humorous effects. The most commonly used Bathos involves a sequence of items that descend from worthiness to silliness.

Jane Austen is among the few serious writers who used this tool. It helped her give a sense of merriness to her novelNorthanger Abbey. In this novel, Austen highlights the ingenuous and imaginative nature of the leading character Catherine Morland. She uses Catherine’s increasingly active imagination to work like Bathos in order to parody the plotused in Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic novels and the likes of her.

In Northanger Abbey, Austen uses a mysterious chest in her story as a prop to build on and successfully satirize the extremes of the Gothic fiction of eighteenth century.

Catherine became skeptical when she saw the enormous chest in her room during her stay at the Abbey. Certain questions arose in her mind about that chest and about what it held and why it was placed in her room. Catherine, who seemed to be very naïve, went on investigating the chest. You can see that the novel at this particular point adopts a very gothic tone. It starts using short clauses that consist of many inauspicious words, for instance ‘trembling hands’, ‘alarming violence’ and ‘fearful curiosity’. The selection of words at this point aids in building up the suspense in the readers’ and audience’s heads only to discover consequently that the chest holds only a folded bed sheet.

Bathos is a device, which if used skillfully, can really build up a nice comic scene. Bathos brings a certain degree of wit to a scene by highlighting the contrast in tone. Initially, it is used to create a serious and powerful dramatic situation. This might be slightly hard to create for comedy writers. Thus, comedy writers must be very careful when they insert jokes here and there in the middle of a serious scene. There is a great danger that their jokes will break the tempo of a serious scene in a prose.