Choose one of the following topics and write a well-organized and insightful essay. Be sure to use quotations and specific examples to support your points.
a) Analyze the use of irony in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Discuss Austen’s overall irony, the use of dramatic, situational, and verbal irony within the text and by the characters, and the effect of Austen’s pervasive use of irony. What does Austen express about 19th Century society through irony? How does irony contribute to the novel as a whole (i.e. humor, tension, social commentary, etc.)?
b) Analyze Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice using the frame of the classical romance. Look at the definition on the web page and argue how the novel fits within the definition. (For example, discuss how the terms hubris, sophrosune, dissoi logi, education for right rule, the beautiful is the good, etc. apply to the novel). How is Austen’s novel more political than it appears on the surface? How does Austen mock the genre and then use it as a model for her novel as well? How has Austen adapted the classical romance with this novel?
Due Dates
Pre-writing: Wednesday, March 18
First Draft: Friday, March 20
Second Draft: Monday, March 23 (end of the period)
Final Draft: