The rhetorical device that is used in the opening lines of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is B. irony. In literature, irony is a figure of speech that inverts the meaning of the words said by an author. It is obvious, that not every single man would like to spend his fortune in search of perfect life because all people are different as well as their needs and ideals. These words by Bronte are meant to challenge the social issues regarding relationship, and they actually mean that, possessing such traits, only a fool must be in want of a wife.
