Irony and Social Commentary in Pride and Prejudice Essay -- Jane Auste

Irony and social commentary in Pride and lossLike any other society, nineteenth-century England had its share of foppish fools andfawning leeches, hot-blooded lovers and garrulous, gossiping women. While few people exhibitthese failings with abandonment, few escape their maculate altogether. In the novel Pride andPrejudice, the author Jane Austen satirizes these instances of not social evils rather,unpleasant social peculiarities, via a most careful use of irony in the dialogues and thoughts of whatever of her most delightful characters. The main character indulging in this precious commodityis Mr. Bennet, whom Austen considers important enough that a razor-sharp wit forms a unavoidable part of his personality. The irony is chiefly exhibited in two ways a general ambiencethat results from a frequent use of satirical language (as for instance, the regular use ofantithesis in the conversations) and brief but concentrated attacks by Mr. Bennet against allforms of foolishness harmle ss or otherwise. All the formulaic mannerisms affected by thepeople in his society as well as the social obligations that create them become the target of Mr.Bennets criticism. However, it is clear that Mr. Bennet is precise much a part of the society that heso readily despises. That he persists in making fun of it is what makes his ripostes so rife withincongruity.The novel contains a large array of conversations between different characters theseconversations are, in keeping with the style that prevailed in that period, quite elaborate, indeedsometimes to the point of tedium. Austen portrays an attitude of unflagging tedium in Mr.Bennet when confronted with such speeches, through his incessant ironic asides. T... ...eaning in these seemingly innocuous words, for the former implies prostitution and the latter a dishonorable pregnancy with a bastard child. Given the venomous character of such fairlycommonplace gossip even among the presumably respectable rural middle-class tis nowonder that Austen rallies against such a harmful form of frivolity.Austen therefore uses the difficult tool of irony to great effect in portraying thefoolishness two harmful and harmless which afflicts most people. In doing so, sheeffectively delivers social commentary presumably for the purpose of correcting these defects incharacter of her fellow Englishmen. Along the way, the reader is delightfully entertained by thefools inhabiting Pride and Prejudice as well as the personalities that persist in denouncing it, ina manner that is at times more(prenominal) farcical than satirical.6