Beginning with Darcy's opinion, expressed early in the novel, that Miss Bennet "smiled too much," attitudes towards laughter divide the characters. Most obviously Darcy, all "grave propriety," is opposed to Elizabeth, who has a "lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous." We tend to consider Elizabeth's position the normative-more closely aligned with modern theories of humor. She laughs at hypocrisy, vanity, pretension, the gap between statement and action, and between theory and practice. On the other hand, Darcy takes a conservative attitude toward laughter. His taciturn disposition and unwillingness to be the butt of mirth are clearly desc

ribed. He tells those assembled in the Netherfield drawing room that "it has been the study of his life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule." But the deficiencies of this view, evident enough in Darcy's own demeanor, are revealed in the parodies of it which appear in the novel. Everywhere in Pride and Prejudice, pompous gravity is laughed out of existence. In the absurdly formal utterances of a Mary Bennet or a Mr. Collins (neither of whom is ever known to laugh), Austen demonstrates that a total lack of humor has effects the reverse of what a situation demands. One example of this is in Mr. Collins' parody of the prodigal son in his letter of "consolation" to Mr. Bennet on news of Lydia's elopement: "Let me advise you...to console yourself as much as possible, to throw off your unworthy child from your affection forever, and leave her to reap the fruits of her own heinous offence." Yet another example is Mary's formulaic response to the same event: "we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other, the balm of sisterly consolation." The humor of these characters lies in their unawareness of the claims of spontaneity in certain situations. They can produce, instead, rote and "institutional" responses. In fact, Mr. Collins admits to Mr. Bennet that he arranges beforehand "such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions."

The moral chaos of Lydia's character is revealed in her choice of correspondent (not her family but her friend), in her motive for writing (not to dispel alarm, but to inspire admiration), and in the transparent inconsistency of her avowals (within a breath of her declared intention to love "but one man in the world," she expresses an interest in another). Serious as her action is, however, Lydia has no sense of guilt. When she returns to Longbourn with Wickham, she is "Lydia still; untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless," and from the moment her "voice is heard in the vestibule...and she runs into the room." Lydia can only observe "with a laugh, that it was a great while since she had been there," and "Wickham was not at all more distressed than herself"

She has come round practically to repeating Darcy's own view on the subject of wit. And when she is married to Darcy, she comes to regulate her laughter

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jane Austen, Miss Bingley's, Miss Bennet, Bennet Lydia's, Aye Lord, Darcy Elizabeth, Lydia Wickham, Mary Bennet, Pride Prejudice, Harriet Forster, darcy elizabeth, attitudes towards laughter, lydia's laughter, pride prejudice, attitudes towards, piece fun, darcy's own, view humor, towards laughter, jane austen, mary bennet,
Approximate Word count = 1594
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)