A Study of Irony in The Merchant of Venice from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

摘要

The Merchant of Venice is one of the four classic comedies of Shakespeare.In this work,the author skillfully depicts the characters in the novel with a sharp irony,making the drama plot interlocking.Based on the Austin-Searle’s Speech Act Theory,this paper makes a macro and micro analysis of the ironic speech act in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice,mainly from the literal irony,situational irony,dramatic irony three aspects of the macro-analysis of speech acts as well as the elaboration,directive,commitment,expressive irony for the micro-analysis.