Miss Ann Thropy
The English writer Jane Austen, famed for her use of irony, parody and satire, frequently showed a cynical attitude towards society and many of the people within it. Elizabeth Bennet, in Pride and Prejudice, says to her sister Jane: "You wish to think all the world respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of any body ... There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense." (Pride and Prejudice, Volume 2, Chapter 1.)