Irony in Pride and Prejudice Essay -- Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels create verbally by Jane Austen. This romantic novel, the story of which revolves around relationships and the difficulties of being in love, was not practically of a success in Austens own time. However, it has grown in its importance to literary critics and readerships over the last hundred years. There ar many facets to the story that view as reading it not save suspect but also highly interesting. The reader can learn overmuch approximately the upper-class club of this age, and also gets an insight to the authors opinion about this society. Austen presents the high-society of her time from an observational point of view, ironically describing human behavior. She describes what she sees and adds her own comments to it in a very light and easy way. She never seems to be prankish or snubbing in her criticism but applies it in a playful manner. This playfulness, and her witty, ironic comments on society are probably the m ain reasons that make this novel still so enjoyable for readers today. Some rules and characteristics depicted in the story seem very peculiar and are hard to take by people of our generation. Nevertheless, the descriptions of the goings-on in that society are so jaunty and sparkling with irony that most people cannot help but care the novel. Jane Austen applies irony on different levels in her novel Pride and Prejudice. She uses divers(a) means of making her opinion on 18th century society known to the reader through her vivid and ironic descriptions used in the book. To bring this paper into focus, I provide discuss two sort means of applying irony, as pertaining to a select few of the books characters. The novel is introduced by an omniscient narrator, unknown to the reader... ...ual way of life. He even finds his humor again, so much as to write a letter to Mr. Collins, when it is resolved that Elizabeth will marry Mr. Darcy. He writes I must trouble you once more for co ngratulations. (p. 277). This is clearly ironic, because congratulations for the marriage of Wickham and Lydia must have been perceived as sheer mockery, or as congratulations for having reduced the embarrassment as much as possible by legitimating their relationship. His comparison of this marriage with Elizabeths beautiful marriage is his cynical way of looking at the world. These are only a few examples of how Austen uses irony in Pride and Prejudice. There is much more to say about this topic this serves only as a brief discussion. My references are made to this edition Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York sophisticated Library Edition, Random House Inc., 2005.