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For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?
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“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”

Jane Austen

Source
Pride and Prejudice
Date
1813
Local voice
Fictional character · Mr. Bennet
Meaning

Meaning of “For what do we live, but to make…”

Mr. Bennet’s joke treats social observation as reciprocal: everyone is somebody else’s entertainment, including the people doing the laughing.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57; Mr. Bennet comments on the absurd rumour concerning Elizabeth and Darcy.

Primary / edition source ↗

Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

Mr. Bennet says this in Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57, while treating the rumor about Elizabeth and Darcy with characteristic irony.

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