In the text itself, it is very effective. On the surface the novel seems like a complicated love-story, but underneath it shows the true traits of society in the time of Jane Austen. Austen uses characters from the novel to depict the different types of people that there were in those times.
In the novel there are several characters that are continually made fun of satirically. The novel starts with a strong statement, “It is truth universally known that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in need of a wife.” This is as if it is set in stone, and believed by a lot of the characters, such as Mrs. Bennet, Lydia and Charlotte Lucas. By saying this, it is showing the woman to be shallow, and only really caring about the material things in life, such as how much money a man has. The more money he has, the more appealing he is to marry.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh is another example of a character that has been satirised. She is a lady who comes from the Upper Crust of society, and has a very high opinion of her. She thinks herself to be highly intelligent and superior to everyone else. She overprotects her daughter, and has an immense amount of control over those who are of her acquaintance. Austen shows Lady Catherine’s true character using dialogue. For example, when Lady Catherine goes to visit Lizzie Bennet, and they have an argument, Lady Catherine defends her self by saying; “Do you know who I am?” You are shown whom she really is when she talks. Her opinion is strong, and she dislikes people talking back at her. In the novel, when Lizzie Bennet was dining with her, she would frequently ask a question, then answer it herself. Austen uses Lady Catherine as an example of a person who has a lot of money, and I high up in the social hierarchy, but lacks manners and tact, and is a general snob.
A close acquaintance of Lady Catherine is Mr. Collin’s; who is a cousin of the Bennets. He is the chaplain at Rosings Park, for Lady Catherine. Mr. Collins almost worships Lady Catherine, as she has a lot of money, and he name is well known in society. He is incredibly materialistic, and puts money over personality. He tries to impress people by name dropping, often using Lady Catherine, in hope to gain popularity. He feels that it is important to do this, so that people will be impressed by him, as not only does he know Lady Catherine, he dines with her at least once a week. He is an example of someone who thinks that he has to be accepted in society and does this by varied means. He is a snob, and dislikes people that he feels are below him, although he himself is not highly popular. He has a fine image of himself in his head, and holds a good opinion of himself. You are shown that he is shallow when he asks Lizzie Bennet to marry him, as he claims that he is in love with her, and then when she refuses, he quickly got engaged to Charlotte Lucas, which just proves that he did not love Lizzie, and only asked her, as Lady Catherine said that he should have a wife. He is satirically made fun of most when he proposes to Lizzie Bennet. Austen makes the reader almost pity him, as he embarrasses himself to no end, without really knowing it, and making the reader laugh at him.
You can compare Mr. Collins to Mr. Darcy. Mr Darcy is high up in the social hierarchy, as he takes after his father’s name who set such an example, and he sees no reason for him to name drop at all, especially as he is already at the height of society anyway. Mr. Darcy comes across as the type of person who is actually fine with those who are below him, and although he may be “off” with them, and have formed opinions of them, his mind is not closed, and so there is a chance for it to change. This is shown when he is kind and civil to the Bennets who were not of the same class as him. Mr. Darcy does not seem to enjoy the company of Mr. Collin’s as he is a sycophant, and tries to “get to know Mr. Darcy” by talking about Lady Catherine, Mr. Darcy’s aunt. He is an example of someone who is a gentleman, and does not abuse his social rank, although it may seems like that to many people who do not know him very well. Mr. Darcy was born into money, and so always knew what it was like, and so does not need to abuse it, when there are other people who were not born into money, and do. For example, they might have got their money from labouring, and then made it big, and disowned their former history, and then mocked the people who were labouring. The Bingley sisters are a perfect example of this.
The Bingley sister’s are examples of “new money”, people who were not born into money, but made their money themselves. Even though this is the case, they like to think that they were born into money, and pretend that they were always in polite society. They abuse their rank in society, and they mock the people who they feel are below them, they think that those who work for their money are of the lower class; this is ironic as they themselves made their money in such a way. The Bingley sister’s are examples of people who have money, and really abuse it by thinking that they are very high up in life, and are rude to those who they think are below them.
Mr. Bingley is a true gentlemen, who does not distinguish a person by how much money they have. He is an example to all those who thought that they were better than anyone else were. He treated everyone with respect. This is shown when he falls in love with Jane Bennet, who everyone else thought was far below him, and that Mr. Bingley was far superior to her. He showed everyone else that it did not matter where a person was on the rich list, but what sort of person they were, and that their personality mattered.
William Lucas was a vain and boastful man, and boasts a lot about his knighthood, but he isn’t really all that experienced, and it is all just a large façade that he is hiding behind. He is an example of someone who is really proud, but does not really have a reason to be proud.
All of the characters mentioned, and several others in the novel are metaphorically wearing a mask, and pretend to be something that they are not, just so that they can be “excepted into polite society”. They are all one person, as they are like sheep, and copy each other, so that they can also be excepted easier. For example, when no-one knew of the deeds Wickham had done, everyone liked him, as most people did, but when some people found out what he had done, even if they did not tell anyone, you could tell that everyone else was trying to copy them by not being civil to him. They just used to follow the crowd, and they would get so caught up in what they were trying to be, that they would forget who they really were, and what their real identity was. Austen depicts this using satire in her novel, and makes it known to the reader what it was like in those times. In some ways it also can be reflected on what it still is nowadays, except nowadays there is a sheet over it all, and so you cannot see it that much.
All in all I think that the satire is very affective, and I think that Austen uses it to her advantages, and it reflects true fully what the real situation was in those times, and how it was hard to tell whom the real people were. I think that the satire that she uses is really clever, and it makes you think a lot. On the surface it is quite light hearted, but underneath the surface it is much deeper than humour, and it makes you understand that there was a lot of people who were so obsessed with being sociable, that in the end you had to laugh at them. It is hard to understand it fully nowadays, as times have changed, and people have different understandings. The satire could become diluted in such situations, but I think that in this case it does not, and it stays strong. I think this because it just makes the modern world which we live in seem so much more trivial, and it gives you an understanding of what it must have been like to live then. I feel that the satire used in Pride and Prejudice is altogether witty, and clever, never once failing to mean something.
