What comedy is there in Pride and Prejudice?

The comedy in Pride and Prejudice
comes from observing the behavior of particular characters, characters whose behavior
rings so true to life that their actions have a comic tone.  Two such characters, for
me, are Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins.

Both Mrs, Bennet and
Mr. Collins are very earnest.  It isn't their intention to be "funny."  Nevertheless,
Mrs. Bennet's constant worry over to whom she and Mr. Bennet will marry their daughters,
and the way she exclaims over every "high-born" person she meets, is funny.  For Mr.
Collins (whose constant reference to "The Lady Catherine de Bourgh" belies a social
climbing heart close to Mrs. Bennet's beneath his clergyman's frock) the humor of his
character is found in the incongruity between his role in life (clergyman) and his
actions (social climbing).

Both of these characters are
also perfect foils, which increases their comic value.  Mrs. Bennet wouldn't be nearly
so funny without Mr. Bennet's dry responses to her words of worry.  And Mr. Collins'
"suck-up" nature blooms more humorously in the presence of Lady de
Bourgh.

Comedy is definitely present in Pride and
Prejudice, but it must be found in the details of character behaviour,
especially the behaviour of Mrs. Bennet and Mr.
Collins.

For more on the irony and wit found in
Pride and Prejudice, please follow the link on "humor"
below.