In "Pride and Prejudice," does Austen purposely use comedy to highlight the folly of her characters?

One character who is humorous at times is Lydia, Lizzy's youngest sister. She is portrayed as a what we used to call an "airhead"; all she thinks about is clothes and parties and flirting with boys, preferably soldiers. Her nonsense leads her to fall for Wickham and his stories, so much so that she runs away with him. She is a younger version of her mother, who overreacts and is given to histrionics.

Mr. Collins is a comical character as well. He is so prim and proper and always chooses his words carefully. For a minister, who should not care for worldly things, he is overly concerned with status and appearing more important than he is. He constantly quotes Lady Catherine de Burgh to impress people and make them feel as if he is on her level.

I think Austen very definitely meant to make her characters "funny." She uses Lydia and Mr. Collins to satirize marriage. It was so important for a woman to marry in Austen's time, but Austen wanted us to see how that was not necessarily a good thing for everyone.