Satire and Realism in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: an Interpretative Analysis

Abstract

Jane Austen is acknowledged for the application of realism and satire in her novels.
This paper focuses on the analysis of realism and satire in Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice; however, her entire oeuvre spotlights the features (of satire and realism)
alongside robust feminism: typical of her literary taste and temperament, not
necessarily of the Romantic Age which she lived in. Rigorous analysis and realistic
observation reveals that the employment of realism and satire in Pride and
Prejudice, are quite obvious, in all sorts of aspects including narrative, settings,
themes and characters. Analysis of the novel under study leads to the observation
that satire and realism go hand in hand in the said novel—intermittently—and
thoughtfully. Conclusively, it is observed that Jane Austen’s literary life had a
tremendous influence on how to subsume realism (primarily through matrimonies)
of age and satire on a romantic society (whereby ideals collapse headlong), in Pride
and Prejudice.