The Subtle Humor Of Pride And Prejudice
...critics consider Pride
and Prejudice to be the most comical. Humor can be found everywhere in the book;
in it's character descriptions, imagery, but mostly in it's conversations
between characters. Her novels were not only her way of entertaining people but
it was also a way to express her opinions and views on what surrounded her and
affected her. Her novels were like editorials. Austen uses a variety of comic
techniques to express her own view on characters, both in her book and in her
society that she lived in. We, the readers are often the object of her ridicule,
and Austen makes the readers view themselves in a way which makes it easy for
the reader to laugh at themselves. She introduces caricatures and character
foils to further show how ridiculous a character may be. Pride and Prejudice
has many character foils to exaggerate a characters faults or traits. Austen
also uses irony quite often to inform the readers on her own personal opinions.
The comic techniques caricatures, irony, and satire, not only helped to provide
humor for Austen's readers, but they also helped Austen to give her own personal
opinion on public matters.
When an action is exaggerated on stage by an actor, it becomes all the
more noticeable to the audience. An author can exaggerate a character in order
to make fun of them. Austen exaggerates many of her characters and therefore
makes caricatures of them in order to emphasize their ridiculousness. Mrs.
Bennet is such a character. Her extremely unpleasant manner and reactions
causes readers to delight in the situations which Mrs. Bennet places herself
into. Mrs. Bennet's harsh tongue and simple mind causes the reader to laugh,
because it is so exaggerated that the reader thinks...
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