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What makes Pride and Prejudice comical?

Certain characters like Mr. Collins, Caroline Bingley, and Mrs. Bennet help to make the novel comical.  Mr. Collins is a prize idiot, something that everyone but Mrs. Bennet and Mary seem to realize.  He has stupid opinions about marriage and women's reading and propriety and how to treat women, and he fails to realize just how ridiculous he is.  Then, Miss Bingley tries again and again to lower Elizabeth in the eyes of Mr. Darcy, failing repeatedly.  Her machinations to tempt him into love with her are so transparent and obvious that they end up being funny.  Mrs. Bennet is another such character: her constant complaining about her "nerves," her desperation to marry her daughters off to whomever she can, and her husband's complete inability to be in the same room with her for more than five minutes together make her comical too.


Further, scenes like the one at the Netherfield ball, when Elizabeth is almost convinced that her family has conspired to make themselves ridiculous all at once are quite comical as well.  Her mother is talking loudly about a wedding between Jane and Mr. Bingley (when he's not proposed yet), Mary is hogging the attention of the party by singing, badly, Mr. Collins embarrasses himself first in front of Mr. Darcy and then, again, in front of the entire party when he waxes philosophic about music, and even her father publicly redresses Mary, interrupting her mid-song.  As the reader can most likely relate to poor Elizabeth's feelings, her mortification both makes her more appealing to us and more sympathetic as well, but we cannot help but chuckle at how perfectly timed everyone's bad behavior is. 

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