Daphnis and Chloe Irony

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The irony of their shared past

The Greeks of the 2nd century had the brutal habit of sometimes leaving their babies to die in the wilderness. Daphnis and Chloe are two such babies, and the irony is that not only do they survive their attempted infanticide, but they grow up together, and their shared past brings them closer. The survival of infanticide is a common theme in epic literature. Even Jesus survives an attempted murder when his parents flee to Egypt during his early years.

The irony of love as an illness

Another common irony in romance literature is that love is commonly shown to be a negative feeling, a type of suffering. This story does this by Philetas's treatment of love as a disease with a cure, and the cure is kissing. Cute.

The irony of Chloe's suitors

By abiding his social pressures against fornication, Daphnis leaves Chloe as a virgin, meaning that her life quickly fills up with suitors and pushy men who even try to kidnap her. The irony here is that by allowing Chloe to come to her full adulthood before the two consummate their relationship, he risks losing her.

The irony of Daphnis's abduction

This leads to the next irony, the ironic abduction of the male character. His story seems to be a narrative showing his character's journey to sexual confidence, especially confidence as a man. By his abduction and his near-rape scene, the story is bring attention to Daphnis's relationship to other men, and to himself. This is shown to be a prerequisite to romance, coming to sexual confidence by working through one's relationship to masculinity.

The ironic revelation of the birth parents

Interestingly, it's not the adoptive parents who bring Daphnis and Chloe together, but the original parents. Maybe this is supposed to represent the two of them coming to terms with their difficult abandonment issues, finally finding peace with their real parents.

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