Discussion Topic
Language techniques used in Pride and Prejudice
Summary:
Pride and Prejudice employs various language techniques, including irony, satire, and free indirect speech. Irony is used to critique social norms and character flaws, while satire exposes the absurdities of class and marriage. Free indirect speech allows readers to access characters' thoughts and feelings, blending third-person narration with first-person perspective to enhance character development and narrative depth.
What language techniques are used in chapter 19 of Pride and Prejudice?
The chapter centers on Mr. Collins' marriage proposal to Elizabeth. Austen characterizes him as a buffoon through his use of stilted language and hyperbole.
Stilted language is artificial, overdone, and awkward—not the kind of natural language people typically use in conversation. Mr. Collins, for example, asks Mrs. Bennet for the chance to propose to Elizabeth in the following way, which is stilted even for the Regency period:
May I hope, madam, for your interest with your fair daughter Elizabeth, when I solicit for the honour of a private audience with her in the course of this morning?
In his actual proposal, which Elizabeth does not want to hear, Mr. Collins uses hyperbole, speaking, for example, of her "perfections" and the "violence" of his emotions towards her. He then undercuts his hyperbole by talking in logical and hard-headed terms about why he wants to marry, none of which...
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have anything to do with love: he thinks it is a good idea for a clergyman to marry, he feels it will benefit him—"it will add very greatly to my happiness"—and his patron wants it. Austen employs these speech patterns to show how little real interest Mr. Collins has in Elizabeth: he simply wants to marry somebody.
Finally, Austen juxtaposes Mr. Collins' flowery and overblown language with the simple and direct language that both Elizabeth and Mrs. Bennet use.
You might want to consider the use of irony in this hilarious chapter, which features the infamous proposal of Mr. Collins to Elizabeth. Austen is an authoress known for her biting use of irony, and this excerpt is no exception, especially when Austen has Mr. Collins protesting his love to Lizzie in a way that is in such contrast to his character, and indeed the complete absence of real love that he feels towards Lizzie. Note the following example:
And now nothing remains for me but to assure you in the most animated language of the violence of my affection.
The words "animated" and "violence" are adjectives that we would never normally assoicate with the sober and ridiculous Mr. Collins, and please note the way that this phrase is sandwiched by his cold, calculating and analytical reasons for marrying her because of the way that Longbourne is entailed away from the female line and Elizabeth's poor economical situation. To express the "violence" of his feelings in between such cruel and thoughtless reminders of the harsh economic situation that Lizzie finds herself in both is ironic because it is no way in which to propose marriage and also paints Mr. Collins to be even more absurd than he was before, as "affection" has nothing to do with his choice. You might like to examine the rest of this chapter to analyse the role of irony as a technique.
What language techniques are used in chapter 34 of Pride and Prejudice?
In chapter 34 of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen employs numerous language techniques. These include the overall approach, which combines omniscient third-person point of view narration with dialogue. When Mr. Darcy sometimes speaks at length while Elizabeth Bennet silently listens, such speeches are monologues. Specific literary and rhetorical devices that the author employs include irony, hyperbole, and anaphora.
The chapter, like the rest of the novel, is narrated by an unnamed person. This third-person narrator is omniscient, meaning that they know the actions and thoughts of all the characters. In this chapter, the only two characters present are Darcy and Elizabeth. When Darcy enters the room, he begins speaking to Elizabeth without waiting for her reply. One monologue that he pronounces begins with “In such cases as this….”
After listening, astonished, to his declaration of love, Elizabeth engages in a heated dialogue with him. Darcy, hurt by her numerous criticisms, uses verbal irony when he says the opposite of what he means:
I thank you for explaining it so fully. My faults, according to this calculation, are heavy indeed!
Following considerable discussion, during which Elizabeth understands that he is proposing marriage, she dismisses his suit. She uses hyperbole, which is extreme exaggeration for effect. She proclaims,
I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.
After Darcy leaves, Elizabeth is incredulous about their conversation. She silently reviews her criticism of Darcy, using anaphora, or initial repetition, in a long list of his many faults:
But his pride, his abominable pride, his shameless avowal of what he had done with respect to Jane, his unpardonable assurance..., his cruelty toward [Wickham]…, soon overcame the pity….