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possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
(p.1) Now for this sentence, Mrs. Bennet begins by giving one definition of
'universally', while Mr. Bennet gives another.

"Is he married or single?"
"Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune of four
or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!"
"How so? how can it affect them?"
"My dear Mr. Be本论文由英语论文网 www.51lunwen.org整理提供nnet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You
must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."
"Is that his design in settling here?"
"Design! nonsense, how can you talk so!" (p.2)

Mr.Bennet's conversation is quite ironic and very satirical, because of
his extreme politeness and playful innocence, which in result, upset Mrs. Bennet.
That provides humor for the reader as a result of her dramatic character. Mrs.
Bennet's character is not ironic in the least, but it is the blending of both
characters that bring about the irony. Such foils points out to the readers the
ridiculousness of human nature.

Pride in Prejudice is also very rich in satire. Satire, in it's
simplest form, is a "wit, irony, or sarcasm, used for the purpose of exposing or
discrediting vice or folly". Satire is commonly used for many reasons,
including ridiculing public opinion. Austen disapproves of the way that public
opinion always considers itself to be above all other opinions. She
demonstrates the arrogance of public opinion in the matter with Darcy and the
ball. Darcy "本论文由英语论文网 www.51lunwen.org整理提供drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome
features, noble mien; and the report which was in general circulation within
five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The
gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared that
he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley."(p.7) The reasons which cause the
ladies to consider him much handsomer than Mr. Bingley is because his income is
much more handsome as well. Public opinion considers Darcy to be a great man,
simply on account of his large income. However, once public opinion hears of
Darcy's pride and supposed arrogance, it immediately states that it knew Mr.
Darcy was a horrible man, and that it always assumed so. Elizabeth, throughout
the majority of the novel, follows public opinion on the view of Darcy. She's
simply a sheep, following the rest of the herd. Austen demonstrates that public
opinion is so quick to change minds that it often develops an opinion without
informing itself of all the details or facts. This becomes, to the readers,
something to laugh at, although most readers do follow public opinion, one way
or another.

The great display caricatures, character foils, irony, and satire of
provides humor for Austen's readers. Many of the characters that Austen writes
about are of本论文由英语论文网 www.51lunwen.org整理提供ten subjects of ridicule. The characters and situations that Austen
enjoys satirizing were real for her in her time as well. However, the ultimate
irony falls on us, Austen's readers, who laugh at Austen's characters. We are
the characters in the novel to Jane Austen. We recognize ourselves in the
characters that Austen enjoys criticizing. It's that recognization of ourselves
that we laugh at and what we find amusing is the