Italicized Style

The italicization of certain words characterizes the book's style. It not only remains consistent through out the book but also gives it an aggregate depth. Clearly, this element does not only stay in italics. Doing this to certain words emphasizes them. Hence, the meaning of the sentence changes. Examples of this appear in every page of the book. This change in meaning makes the book harder to understand. This, far from being a disadvantage, gives the process of reading the complexity that the plot develops. In this particular love story, characters’ feelings change and what seems to be vanishes quickly, like Jane’s possibility of marrying Mr. Bingley or Elizabeth’s feelings for Wickham. It also changes the usually punctual English into something different.

In French, a word's pronunciation can mean many things because of its similarity to others. We also see a general ambiguity to the language that comes from the many usages a single word can have. This ambiguity (as much of a generalization as it is) probably gave it the title of the language of diplomacy. The usage of these emphases achieves a similar effect of ambiguity through the work. Although using these should punctually say the meaning of the sentence, as reader, I find them easy to ignore. An example of this can be found at the end of chapter 26 where Elizabeth doubts the existence of her love for Wickham: “But my feelings are not only cordial towards him; they are even impartial towards Miss King”. (113) The italicization adds to the meaning of the sentence. First, what she feels towards him guides her more powerfully than what she thinks of Miss King. Also, it shows that although her feelings do not overflow, they do exist. Still, we could also interpret the sentence, disregarding the emphasis, and absorb only its literal meaning. These sort of subtleties make up an essential part of the book's style that any analysis must take into account.