At first glance this phrase seems to call attention to the
title of the story, which exposes the mentality of the times: Pride and prejudice
permeated society with its effrontery, snobbery, and hypocritical value system which
indeed were masks that covered a very empty, narrow-minded, undereducated over estimated
upper classes.
For the middle classes, pride and prejudice
were embodied by arranged marriages, the want for social status, the need to acquire
goods through marriage, and other forms of old fashioned and non-sensical
practices.
Therefore, the stories portrayed in the novella
are indicators of the lack of common sense that Austen witnessed in a time of which she
was much more ahead. As a modern thinker and independent scholar, Austen was able to
look into her present as if she were looking at a scene of the past. Hence, her plea is
precisely to take a good look at the characters, and do the exact opposite to what they
all do, think, and say.
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