“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. “But it is,” returned she, “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
“Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife, impatiently.
“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”
This was invitation enough.
From this example, we can already read much into Austen's skillful employment of dialogue. For example, we can see that much of Austen's dialogue is formal and ornate, as characters often refer to one another by their last names (Mrs. Bennet calls her husband "Mr. Bennet," despite the fact that they've apparently been married for over two decades). Additionally, Austen's dialogue often exhibits a lightly satirical tone that invites us to laugh at her characters' mannerisms. For instance, just by looking at the dialogue here, we can already see that Mrs. Bennet is an incessant gossip. Moreover, by lending her dialogue a humorous sense of urgency, we're invited to laugh at someone so excited to engage in a bit of neighborhood news. As such, through this example, we can see that Austen's dialogue in Pride and Prejudice is formal but funny, and often satirizes those speaking it by poking fun at some of the most prominent characteristics.
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