Jane Eyre

"Three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled: the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls."

Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre, decided to use irony in the passage above. But before I explain Bronte's use of irony, a little background about chapter 7 of Jane Eyre; Jane, a young girl in England, describes her life during the cold winter months. She tells how she and the other girls she's with live on only minimal things, such as two outfits and half a piece of bread at each meal (except at tea-time on the Sabbath, when they got a WHOLE piece of bread). When Jane goes to school, she's met with somewhat of a surprise. Mr. Brocklehurst (what a horrible name) comes to visit the girls. He surveys the classroom, and then speaks with the teacher, Miss Temple. Brocklehurst goes on a little bit of a rant about how "the laundress tells (me) some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week: it is too much; the rules limit them to one." Okay, that's crazy. You try have just one clean pair of tuckers (whatever those are) per week. Then he goes on to say "I find, in settle accounts with the housekeeper, that a lunch, consisting of bread and cheese, has twice been served out to the girls during the past fortnight. How is this? I looked over the regulations, and I find no such meal as lunch mentioned." That's a little harsh. THEN, (he's still not done commenting) he comments on how some of the girls have curly hair, to which Miss Temple tells him the girls' hair is naturally curly. He replies  "Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desiire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely." Excuse me. What? I wish some random guy would tell me I have to cut off my NATURALLY CURLY HAIR because it's CURLY. 

But here's the best part. Charlotte Bronte, the author, then describes Mr. Brocklehurst's family, specifically the girls, who happen to pop in to the classroom he's in. Guess what they are wearing. Basically clothes that, in today's world, we would attribute came from like Saks Fifth Avenue. 'They were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio had grey beaver hats, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled: the elder lady wore a false front of French curls." THEY COULD HAVE CURLY HAIR BUT THE OTHER LITTLE GIRLS COULDN'T. This use of irony, describing the things the school-girls couldn't have but his girls could, provides a commentary on the social perceptions of class at the time. This Brocklehurst guy obviously has power in society. Therefore, he and his family are above the others. They can wear whatever they want and not have to conform to the social restrictions posed on the lower-class, poor schoolgirls. Bronte's use of irony in describing Brocklehurst's family is clear. Without knowing that Brocklehurst has the power to tell girls they can't have curly hair, eat bread and cheese, and have more than one tucker, you could tell by the description of his family that they are socially higher in class than everyone else. Perceptions of class at the time were denoted by what clothing they wore. If you got more than a tucker and could have curly hair, you were better off class-wise than others. 

In some ways, this can still be seen in our society today. It's more prevalent outside of a single setting, such as in a big city, where you can distinguish between those who have money to spend on nice clothes with well-known names from expensive stores and those who have the plain, not-as-fancy, clothes. At least those who are better off don't go around telling those that have less that they can't wear their hair a certain way.