Acknowledgments I would like to express my appreciation to a number of people for their invaluable assistance in preparation and development of this thesis.

    My most sincere thanks goes to Professor Ma Xian, my supervisor, for his detailed instructions, valuable advice, and constant supports as well as encouragements from the selection of topic to the final completion of this paper, without whose guidance the paper would not have been completed.43954

I also thank Professor Li Yi, who has taught me the Thesis Design and Writing Guide for English Majors translation course and influenced me with his insightful lectures, profound knowledge. It has been a great privilege and joy to study under his guidance. 

Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my roommates, friends and classmates for their consistent company and support all these years.

 Jane Austen’s Irony in Emma 

Abstract

Jane Austen is a female writer of great influence in 19th century. She is praised by the world for her unique writing style. Emma is a successful and mature novel among many of her works, which is completed in a period of great success in her writing. In this novel, she shapes Emma as an objective of irony based on marital status of women at that time. Irony has great effect on character building and plot development. According to M H Abrams’ definition of irony, there remains the root sense of dissembling or hiding what is actually the case. By shaping a naive and arrogant heroine and making Emma becomes the victim of a series of irony, the author reveals to the readers a story that a woman becomes mature and finally gets happiness. This paper will focus specific use of irony and its effect. It includes two aspects: structural irony and dramatic irony. 

Keywords: Jane Austen; Emma; irony; character

简·奥斯丁在《爱玛》中反讽的运用

摘  要简·奥斯丁是英国19世纪极具影响力的作家，以其独特的写作风格被世人所称颂。《爱玛》是她的众多作品中，较为成功和成熟的作品，是在她写作鼎盛时期完成的。小说中，作者以那个时代的婚姻状况为载体，塑造了爱玛这个充满反讽意义的主人公`751~文[论]文'网www.751com.cn。其反讽手法在人物性格塑造和情节发展上有重要作用。本文根据曼·赫·艾布拉姆斯对反讽的定义,反讽在存在其根本意义上掩饰或者隐藏实际情况。文章通过塑造一个幼稚又高傲的女主人公并使她成为一系列反讽的对象，从而向读者展现了一个从幼稚走向成熟并最终获得幸福婚姻的故事。本篇论文主要研究反讽的使用以及其所产生的效果。主要分两个方面讨论:结构反讽和戏剧反讽。

毕业论文关键词：简·奥斯丁；爱玛；反讽；人物性格

 Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Irony in Austen’s works 3

2.1 Definition and Classification of irony 3

2.2 Characteristics of irony in Austen’s works. 3

3. Structural Irony in Emma: Character building of Emma 5

3.1 Emma’s Control toward Harriet Smith. 5

3.2 Misjudgment of Mr. Elton's intentions 6

4. Dramatic Irony in Emma: the Victim of Irony 7

4.1 An object deceived by Frank 7

4.2 Ironic marriages among three couples 8

5. Conclusion 9

References 10