Reader’s Reflections: Several months ago, I forced my kids to sit down and watch the 1993 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Midway through the first scene between Beatrice and Benedick, I paused the movie to ask if the girls understood what was going on. My 12-year-old said with surprised delight, “They’re roasting each other!” I was amazed not only that she understood the dialogue so well, but that she recognized what was going on as something she’s observed many times in her own lifetime. The language didn’t alienate her, it entertainedher! And after all, what current-day “roast” is quite so scalding as, “A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours,” and the reply, “I would my horse had the speed of your tongue.” This memory came to mind when I read the thought in Chapter 18, “To Elizabeth it appeared that, had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit or finer success.” It’s easy to empathize with a young lady who is completely mortified by her entire family’s behavior when they’re out in public together. Austen’s sublime language just twists the knife of pity inside the reader’s heart all the more deeply!