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Get every literary device explanation for Pride and PrejudicePlus so much more...
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Verbal Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Delicate Flattery:
As one of the most heavily satirized characters in Pride and Prejudice, Collins—who has very little self-awareness—is easy for other characters to mock. While having dinner with Collins and the rest of the family, Mr. Bennet uses verbal irony to tease Collins about his obsession with complimenting his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh:
“You judge very properly,” said Mr. Bennet, “and it is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?”
Through his subtle use of sarcasm, Mr. Bennet makes it clear (at least to his more self-aware family members) that he does not think Collins is gifted at “flattering with delicacy,” and he is not interested in Collins’s answer to the question. He is, instead, hoping to highlight the absurd way in which Collins has recounted for them the various compliments he has shared with Lady Catherine.
This is confirmed in the following paragraphs when the narrator states:
[Mr. Bennet’s] cousin was as absurd as he had hoped, and he listened to him with the keenest enjoyment, maintaining at the same time the most resolute composure of countenance.
In other words, Mr. Bennet is trying not to laugh at Mr. Collins’s lack of manners and inexplicable pride while gently teasing him.
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