MAHESHTALA COLLAGE

UNDER UNIVERSITY OF CALCULATE

Semister = 4th (IV)

Class = BA (H)
Subject = English (A)
Prepare = CC 10 (Tutorial)
CU Roll = 202562-21-0011
CU Reg = 562-1111-0047-20
Year = 2021-22
 • Discuss the theme of Irony based on the situations
in the novel Pride and Prejudice

Introductory
Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s valuable creation. The novel is remarkable
not only for its ample vocabulary treasury style, but the appropriate
manifestation of irony makes it more than a novel. In the cupboard of irony,
Pride and Prejudice can be placed next to the winner of the crown of irony,
Oedipus Rex. Because Pride and Prejudice holds situational, thematic, verbal as
well as narrational irony at its disposal. Irony is the difference between
expectation and reality.

Thematic Irony
If one looks closer into the title of Pride and Prejudice, one can easily trace out
Thematic Irony which is subtly enveloped in the paradoxical title, Pride and
Prejudice. Pride is, itself developed by someone’s open prejudice against
someone while prejudice is nourished when one is too proud of one’s external
as well as internal (in this case spiritual) possessions. The hot-selling dialogue of
Darcy in Meryton Ball Party spoils Elizabeth internal impression about Darcy and
resultantly, she is prejudiced of his proudsome personality. So, the opposite
themes are coined together, thus making a paradoxical thematic aura
(atmosphere).

Situational Irony
Dramatic or situational irony is the irony in which audience knows about the
characteristics of characters while characters themselves are unaware of it in a
drama or a novel. Pride and Prejudice holds many instances of situational irony.
For example, when Elizabeth mocks at her sister, Jane for being blind of realities
is herself blind of the truth that she is still “handsome enough to tempt”
Fitzwilliam Darcy. Another situational irony starts working in the background
when Mr. George Wickham is in “love” with Lydia Bennet. We, as readers, know
that Wickham is a scoundrel minded person who is about to take away their
reputation in their society. So, it happened and “His affection for her soon sunk
into indifference; hers lasted a little longer.”

Verbal Irony
Verbal Irony is the opposite outcome of tongued expressions. The very first
sentence in the particular novel is the manifestation of verbal irony. “It is truth
universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune
must be in want of a wife”. But the story goes practically against it. The
statement is itself ironical in today’s standards as well. In the novel, we see
Mrs. Bennet hunting for healthy and “wealthy” husbands for her daughters. So
they are (technically) the women of bad fortune and they must be in the want
of richly jeweled husbands for their survival on the earth.

Irony in Characters
Pride and Prejudice is teaming up with characters, having implied smokescreens
of their actualness. The first character is Mrs. Bennet who is, at first, sketched as
liberal in both beauty and mind. But her liberality only lasts after the marriage
and consequently, Mr. Bennet has to find refuge in his books. Another irony
prevails when Mr. Darcy expresses his “love” for Elizabeth in a stinging way:
“She is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me” and he ends up
marrying her wholeheartedly. So is the case for George Wickham. He looks
innocent outwardly but his character is ironically morally loose.

Conclusion
Irony in Pride and Prejudice plays the part of the soul in terms of
characterization, thematic construction, dramatic stagery and verbal
confessions. So, it is the subtle and decent work of irony which forms most of
the novel.
• Discuss the role of minor characters in Pride and
Prejudice

The Function of Minor Characters in Austen’s Pride and Bias Perhaps the
most striking part of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is her
mastery of characters and the results that each has on the plot, styles,
and the other characters’ actions. Though her small characters are much
less noticeable than the major ones, she still uses them as an integral part
of the unique by weaving them into circumstances to improve the plot
and styles.
Caroline Bingley is very first introduced with the crowd of her sibling,
Mr.Bingley, his buddy, Mr. Darcy, and her other sis, Mrs. Hurst. Her
remarkable place in the class system compared to those in the Bennet
household appears both in the narrative and dialogue of Austen’s book.
Her opposition to Elizabeth stems mainly from her disdain for her
unladylike manner, (such as in Chapter 17 when Elizabeth meets Jane
after she falls ill, appearing with petticoats six inches deep in mud) as well
as her jealousy in terms of Darcy’s favoritism to her.
Nevertheless, her opposition to Jane is just due to her desire to have Mr.
Bingley marry Georgia Darcy, a woman possessing a much higher birth
and wealth than the equally enjoyable Jane Bennet. Like lots of other
characters in this novel, her belief that love is less important in marriage
than the opportunity to increase one’s location in society is a crucial style
felt by every character.
Charlotte Lucas is another character that embodies the previously pointed
out theme of functionality over love in marriage. When Charlotte weds
Mr. Collins after Elizabeth declines him, her determination to sacrifice the
security of a comfy marital relationship with Collins over the happiness of
a marital relationship of love is revealed. While the more class-conscious
Mrs. Bennet credits Charlotte for this decision, Elizabeth can just feel pity
for her buddy as she feels that Charlotte will be doomed to a lifetime of
insipid business.
A minor character with many ties to different plot lines is Lady Catherine
de Bourgh. Both as an aunt to Mr. Darcy and as Mr. Collins’s employer,
she interacts with many characters to forward both the plot and themes
of the novel. She is perhaps the greatest example of Austen’s belief that
an obsession with class is silly. By her words and actions, she shows that
she believes many are below her stature. Later in the novel, when she and
Elizabeth take a walk and converse on the subject of Mr. Darcy’s partiality
to Elizabeth, she continues the well-established theme of practicality over
love in marriage by stating that Mr. Darcy is to marry her daughter Anne,
not one of a lowly stature such as Elizabeth.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, aunt and uncle of the Bennet daughters, are
perhaps the most admirable minor characters. These two characters serve
not only to forward the plot, but also to act as a comparison to Mr.
Gardiner’s sister, Mrs. Bennet. Acting as parents to both Elizabeth and to
Lydia in two very different situations, they exhibit much of the sense that
Mrs. Bennet lacks in both controlling Lydia and nurturing Elizabeth. This
pair also acts as a vital stepping stone between Darcy and Elizabeth in
terms of class stature. By both giving Elizabeth an opportunity to break
her former prejudices of Darcy when they visit Pemberley by finding out
his better qualities via the maid, as well as even giving Elizabeth better
company than her immediate family in terms of respectability, these two
characters allow the gap between Darcy and Elizabeth to be bridged
somewhat.
Minor characters can help reveal what the major characters cannot tell
about themselves, both by being confidantes and by offering a standard
to compare and contrast the other characters with. Though minor
characters seem to play little importance in the novel when inspected
upon the larger scale, one cannot ignore their importance in terms of
both plot and theme enhancement.