Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice Additional Pages Casal, Elvira. "Laughing at Mr. Darcy: Wit and Sexuality in Pride and Prejudice." Persuasions On-Line 22.1 (2001): n. pag. Web. Casal discusses comedy, laughter and wit as Austen's basic thematic concerns within Pride and Prejudice. She begins her analysis with a discussion of the conversation between Miss Bingley and Elizabeth Bennett, which concludes with Elizabeth's expostulation "Mr.

Darcy is not to be laughed at!" Casal notes that this passage indicates laughter as the sign that Elizabeth is not intimidated by Darcy's superior social status, as Miss Bingley is. In the same passage, Casal notes, Austen is careful to also have Elizabeth admit that "I dearly love a laugh," and thus asserts the importance of comedy.

Yet Casal notes that laughter itself plays an ambiguous role within the actual novel: on the one hand she thinks that the novel itself is a "celebration of laughter" simply because "the reader is invited to laugh," but at the same time she notes that "the plot of the novel seems to show the limitations of laughter as a response to human experience." Casal thinks that this is particularly evident within the Bennet family: although Elizabeth may "dearly love a laugh," Casal argues that "Mr.

Bennet's laughter is closely linked to his abdication from responsibility, and the character in the novel who laughs the most is Lydia." This means that there is an ethical element to the incorporation of comedy into Pride and Prejudice; Casal suggests that the novel attains a balance by insisting at the same time that Darcy needs to learn how to accept laughter at the same time that Elizabeth needs to learn how to laugh wisely.

The final pages, Casal notes, include Georgiana Darcy's expression of surprise at the "lively and sportive" way in which Elizabeth converses with Darcy. Casal surveys the way in which women's laughter was regarded negatively in Austen's own society, either as a sign of "folly" or "aggressiveness," and also as something which could break social norms when "too much laughter" was considered socially "indelicate." The implication was that women who laughed too much were inable to govern their passions.

Intriguingly, Casal points out that Lydia's letter announcing her elopment to Gretna Green is full of references to laughter: "You will laugh when you know where I am gona…I cannot help laughing myself…when I write to them and sign my name Lydia Wickham, what a good joke it will be! I can hardly write for laughing…" Austen gives credence to the implication that too much laughter suggested a lack of self-control and prudence. Casal notes that this matches up with Mr.

Bennet's warning to Elizabeth that "your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage," where "lively" refers to her sense of humor. The suggestion is that Elizabeth's humor could easily turn waspish and make her seem bitter and carping. Casal thinks that the scene around the piano late in the novel, where Darcy is "smiling" as he confesses to Elizabeth "I am not.