The ironic island princess
The main protagonist literally gets a fairy tale romance when he travels to an exotic island and falls in love with the island's princess. She is described as being of extreme beauty, and she's obviously charming as the reader can tell. This looks like the beginning of a wonderful story. But actually, the marriage ends up being almost immediately dysfunctional.
The irony of Louis's paranoia
Louis suspects his wife of cheating, and he spirals into negative emotion and negative self-esteem. Ironically, this does make his wife think less of him, but not because she doesn't like him—because he will not trust her or talk openly about how he feels.
The irony of Hugh's aunt
The spinster aunt of Hugh is an ironic character for many reasons. First, she is not in a relationship, but she is constantly occupying herself with love and love stories. Also, she is Hugh's wealthy ancestor, but she isn't giving anything to him in the will. Also, she is extremely nosy and involved, but also pious and conservative. All these ironies signify that there is something important and archetypal about the aunt's role in the story, otherwise, why make her character so perplexing?
The irony of marriage
The fun and magic of marriage quickly fades in this novel. Before long, couples are engaged in a kind of warfare against each other, fighting for leverage against each other. Each person seems only interested in their own point of view, and each person is so willing to point at the other person to blame them and criticize their character. This highly ironic aspect of marriage is what defines it; marriage looks like it's going to be a euphoric paradise, until you're in one, and you're being asked to make serious sacrifices.
The irony of love and pain
Love is about pleasure and pain in this novel. First of all, the young people are obviously not having fun falling in love; they're bemoaning their attractions. Each person in the novel seems to be suffering because of romance and love. For some people, the challenge of romance is unbearable emotionally, bringing up self-esteem issues. For others, the commitment brings hopelessness and disappointment with their spouse. In every case though, love is an affliction.
