Carly Ermer - UIW English Major

            About five years ago I watched Pride and Prejudice (2005). It was my only experience with Jane Austen at the time, until I read the book in my Literary Movement: Romantics class. Surprisingly, I remembered nearly nothing about the movie, except that Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy would inevitably end up together.

            At first, the book was confusing, and I struggled to decipher the language Austen was using to relay the story onto readers, but when we had introduced how important Jane Austen’s first line is, it was as if I was given a key to unlock the door. “It is universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." This line and the irony of which Austen uses to take her first steps into her narrative style immediately sets the tone for the rest of the novel and showcases the ironic humor that is subtlety instated within the characters and plot.

            Reading the book was like experiencing Pride and Prejudice for the first time due to the ironic narrative technique being left out of the movie. I felt this way particularly surrounding the characters of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins individually. However, the ironic technique Austen uses also serves as quiet commentary on each character and their relationships. For example, Mr. Darcy states what qualities a woman must possess in order to be the “perfect” woman. “I never saw such a woman, I never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe, united." This is ironic because, eventually, Mr. Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth, who is the complete opposite of all the things he said he wanted in a woman, and Elizabeth is disrupting the expectation for her have a certain manner in “the tone of her voice,” as Miss. Bingley said.