The first sentence of the novel Pride and Prejudice opens with an ironic statement about marriage, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (1). A man with a fortune does not need a wife nearly so much as a woman is greatly in need of a wealthy husband. The entire novel is really an explanation of how women and men pursue each other prior to marriage. Jane Austen uses a variety of verbal, dramatic, situational and irony through the novel.
The novel is full of verbal irony, especially coming from Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet. Verbal irony is saying one thing, but meaning the complete opposite. Although Mr. Bennet is basically a sensible man, he behaves strangely because of his sarcasm with his wife. Trapped in a bad marriage, he makes life endurable for himself by assuming a pose of an ironic passive spectator of life, who has long ago abandoned his roles as a husband and a father. He amuses himself by pestering his foolish wife or making insensitive remarks about his daughters. Mr. Bennet cruelly mocks his wife silliness and is shown to be sarcastic, and cynical with comments as " you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party" (2). He laughs at her total obsession with finding suitable husbands for her five daughters. Elizabeth is to some extent similar to her father's cynicism. At the second ball, not only did Elizabeth declined Darcy request to dance with her, but mocked him with a comment like "Mr. Darcy is all politeness" (17). Another is "I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect" when Darcy and Elizabeth joust with one another in Chapter11 (39). Her speeches crackle with irony that is filled with pep and display vibrant humor. .
Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the character doesn't, which is seen through Elizabeth and Darcy.