Pride and Prejudice is famous for its use of irony. In irony, the intended or literal meaning of words is different from their actual meaning. Pride and Prejudice's first line is often cited as the textbook example of an ironic utterance:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
What the statement really means is that single women (and their families) are desperately in want of a husband of good fortune.
The irony that begins with the novel's first sentence extends through the entire work as Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy leads her to misread the world around her, seeing him as a blackguard and the wicked Wickham as wronged by Darcy.
The novel also uses aphorism, or concise statements that contain universal truths, such as when Charlotte says,
There are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement. In nine cases out of ten a woman should show more affection than she feels.
These two devices, irony and aphorism, are characteristic of eighteenth-century prose, often used by writers Austen admired, such as Samuel Johnson. However, Austen's development of complex characterization in her main characters anticipates the development of the novel in the nineteenth century away from satire and towards realism. For example, Darcy, while the hero of the novel, has flaws that he himself admits, such as pride, and Elizabeth, though one of the most charming heroines in all of English literature, jumps to conclusions and has a temper.
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