Narrator
The ironic dimension of this story begins at the outset. The first-person narrator often directly addresses the reader and there is quite often an ironic distancing in that form. Although not enough to qualify him as an unreliable narrator, it certainly does occasionally become an ironic gap. For instance, the very opening paragraph is a description of the natural beauty of Moscow only for this description to be upset and undone by narrator’s personal opinions:
“But the most pleasant place for me is there by the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Simonov Monastery… that frightful mass of houses and churches that strikes the eye as a mighty amphitheatre”
Poor, Poor Pitiful Girl
The very title of the story is also given an ironic distancing effect early in the narrative. This will not be the first instance in which irony infuses economics in the tale of poor Liza. After all, she did not start out as poor:
"Liza's father was a rather well-to-do settler”
Marriage
The ironic element related to economic situation in the story extends to the two men at the forefront of Liza’s potential marital future. The star-crossed love aspect of the story springs from the fact that the romantic love interest for Liza—the daughter of a peasant—is a young nobleman and thus marriage would be a rise in social status as well as an economic boon. Despite this, however, Liza’s mother is ironically opposed:
“They have found a husband for me, the son of a rich peasant from the neighboring village; Mother wants me to marry him.”
Innocence
The tragedy of the story relies upon one of the oldest plot points in pre-21st century fiction: Liza’s loss of virginity. Throughout the first part of the story, the narrator is especially insistent upon the fact that Liza is pure, innocent and untouched with the intent seeming to be that this is a part of her very character. And yet, the plot eventually turns on her decision to actively hand over that purity rather than having it forcibly taken away. So, the irony at hand is the question of whether Liza is really as innocent as the narrator has painted her to be.
“The Island of Bornholm”
This strange and Poe-esque tale by Karamzin is an exercise in irony. It exists entirely for the point of presenting a mystery about a woman who experienced “exhausted, endless, and eternal misery.” The story builds its sense of menace and horror on the back of what the story of this woman has been. It concludes ironically with the narrator exclaiming that though he has seen her he does not know why she suffers only to be told “You will learn..and your heart will bleed with pity.” The reader, however, never learns.
