After reading a short piece of D.W. Harding's "Regulated Hatred", a work of analysis on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I agree with one point he makes and disagree with another. According to Harding, Austen's work does not lean towards a strongly didactic satirical novel, but rather "a mode of existence for her critical attitudes." I agree with him because Austen develops each character with values or characteristics that she highlights as comical features. Yet, these features she demonstrates are the reflections of values from her own society during her time. She uses these characters(caricatures) as her means to criticize the complacency in her society. Yet, she refrains from exaggerating these features, though Mrs. Bennet would be the only character who seems to approach an extremely comical caricature.
I'd have to disagree with his point that Austen detests the characters she humorously exaggerates. Although she often remains very but subtly critical of her characters throughout Pride and Prejudice, we the readers do not have a clear indication of whether or not the author detests the people her characters are caricatures of. Austen does demonstrate a clear dislike for Mrs. Bennet and her simplicity, yet she uses light humor to criticize her characters rather than to assault the types of people they represent in her society.
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