Irony In Pride And Prejudice Analysis

Jane Austen wrote her novels as a source for comedy to her readers also so she could be able to express her views on what was around her and what left an impact on her in anyway .Austen is famous for using irony by exaggerating many of her characters to make it obvious how foolish they can be . One of her most famous works Pride and Prejudice ,uses irony to distinguish and judge, critics also believe it to be the most comical . Pride and Prejudice is also the first novel which many critics have been known to comment about the fact that Elizabeth Bennet , the main protagonist and Jane Austen seem to share the same mind . As Carole Moses comments “Elizabeth’s wit and playfulness, the argument goes, reflect Austen’s own personality.” This allowed …show more content…
Bennet and Mr. Bennet are discussing are discussing Netherfield Park .The opening sentence “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” We can see the verbal irony very clearly in this sentence because its not true that a man would want to marry just because he is rich , so it is clearly not universally known ,it is actually the opposite single ladies are the ones who want to marry for fortune . Mrs. Bennet’s simple mind and her actions are overemphasised in order to make the people laugh .She is very badly behaved , and the more she wants to get her daughters married , the more she ruins their …show more content…
Bennet views himself as a very intelligent man , Austen actually calls him a “true philosopher” because even though he married an unintelligent woman just for her beauty , he tries to make the best of it by making fun of her . But this of course is also ironic because he only does this for his own amusement and for nothing else. The conversations and character description of these two characters mixed together are what makes them both very ironic . Another Important irony we see in the novel involving these two characters is the fact that even though it’s usually the fathers role to make sure his daughters are married , Mrs. Bennet is the one who works for her daughters to get married , Mr . Bennet seems to be merely a spectator “Mr. Bennet has become an ironic spectator almost totally self enclosed, his irony rigidly defensive , carapace against the plain recognition of his own irrevocable folly.” He only tries to do his fatherly duty when Lydia elopes with Wickham and he goes to London in a failed search for his daughter . He then returns to his routine of only being an on looker to the family