Where is irony present in The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton?
Irony is the overall operating principle of Edith Wharton’s social commentaries. Her language is often mild, but the message behind it is fierce. Examples of irony in regard to particular characters and their situations are omnipresent in The Age of Innocence. Wharton succinctly states how all of New York society spoke in code:
They lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.
Wharton masterfully wields this ironic touch with Newland Archer, who loves to believe himself a superior being but even in thinking that way, shows himself a product of his over-privileged, entitled upbringing. Newland believes he has uncovered his true self when he falls in love with Ellen. He remains an innocent, however, because he cannot understand that to run away with her would be a disaster...
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for him as well as for her, although perhaps not permanently. The lack of a conventional wife would force society to shun him. The irony in regard to Newland’s understanding of his position is that he believes he is rejecting hypocrisy but he embodies it as fully as anyone in the novel.
On the other side of the equation, May is far from the naïve and unimaginative, even obtuse, creature Newland supposes her. He believes that he is cleverly fooling her when he goes off to see Ellen. Newland cannot believe that May is capable of deception—in fact, her innocence is part of her appeal to him in a wife, as he cannot fathom not being in the superior position. Instead, he finally learns, May had been fully aware of his emotional infidelities. The irony is that Newland’s pride in his self-understanding actually blocks him from comprehending the basic facts of his relationship with his own wife.
How does Wharton use irony to balance nostalgia and criticism in The Age of Innocence?
Certainly Wharton shows her expertise in the area of irony in her writing, and this great novel is no exception. Centrally, irony is used to indicate the hypocrisy that is at the heart of the society of New York. For example, you might like to consider the snobbish attitude that is revealed by the Welland family when they go to St. Augustine for the winter with a group of servants to help them survive the deprivation of being away from town. At one point, as they sit down to an incredible breakfast, Mr. Welland comments to Newland:
You see, my dear fellow, we camp—we literally camp. I tell my wife and May that I want to teach them how to rough it.
Clearly, there is no "roughing it" in such luxurious surroundings and with such people, and Wharton makes us laugh at the presumption of such characters as she exposes their various foibles.
Of course, whilst a considerable amount of the humour in this novel is thanks to irony, at the same time, irony also lends itself to augment the central tragedy of this novel. Let us remember that Newland's association with Ellen begins when he is sent to talk her out of divorcing her husband, thereby sacrificing personal happiness for the happiness of her family. When he falls in love with Ellen, she has learnt his lesson so well that she refuses to run away with him because it would hurt May. Personal happiness is something that, with bitter irony, must come second place to the happiness of the family and others.
Therefore, in answer to your question, I would want to explore the way in which irony is both used to criticise, sometimes incredibly humorously, but also it is used to create the real sense of tragedy that dominates this novel.