This is an
oft-repeated, very famous example ofin English literature:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a wife.
Irony is saying the
opposite of what is meant. What is actually being "universally acknowledged" in this
sentence is that everyone in the village wants either themselves to marry or have their
daughters or female relatives wedded to well-off men. Everyone, in other words, wants a
well-to-do husband (having a fortune didn't necessarily mean wealth at that time, but having a
comfortable income) or a...
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