Working out further the denouement of her plot, Miss Austen makes good satire of Mr. Woodhouse, the man of gentle selfishness whose only real strength seems to lie in the regard that others have for him. The number of forces needed to persuade him is truly comic and represents the degree of regard for a harmless, whimsical old man who has long outgrown any usefulness. Community satire is registered in the town's reaction to the engagement and is pinpointed in Mr. Weston's inability to keep a secret.
