An Analysis of Characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

2002 - Morally ambiguous characters -- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

Mr. Collins uses rhetorical devices when he proposes to Elizabeth. Mr. Collins reasons for marrying her are that he “thinks it a right thing for every clergyman (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in his path” (91). He is “convinced it will add very greatly to [his] happiness” (91). He believes it is the right thing to marry her because it would essentially benefit him and make him happy. He does not once ask her how she feels or if she wants to marry, he simply thinks she will say yes. He is using ethos to explain this. He also gives the reason of Lady Catherine de Bourgh telling him to marry her; “Mr. Collins, you must marry. A clergyman like you must marry.--Chuse properly, chuse

Thesis: Throughout the text of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen challenges gender and social norms in the Georgian Era through the development of Elizabeth Bennet as she interacts with characters in the novel.

       In any literary work the title and introduction make at least some allusion to the important events of the novel. With Pride and Prejudice, Austen takes this convention to the extreme, designing all of the first and some of the second half of the novel after the title and the first sentence. The concepts of pride, prejudice, and "universally acknowledged truth" (51), as well as the interpretation of those concepts, are the central focus of the novel. They dictate the actions of almost all the major characters (not just Darcy and Elizabeth), and foreshadow all of the major events in the novel, especially in the first few chapters, involving the first ball at Netherfield. While Darcy

This stands in stark contrast to what Miss Elizabeth Bennett wants. Mrs Bennett wants her daughters to marry because it’s thea only way for them to solidfy that they will have food on their plates and a roof over their head. Mr. Collins is Mr. Bennetts brother and is set to inherit his estate when he dies. He comes to visit in the middle of the book and his main intentions are to ask on of the daughters to marry him and to observe what he will in time own. Mrs. Bennett says in response to all this “Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousnd a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” (57, Austen) The single man she speaks of his Mr. Collins, the Bennett kids uncle. Austen describes Mr. Collins as a self retious kind of man who thinks he is above the Benntt’s just because he is set to inherrit their estate. This gives him a villeness quality. Austen is commenting on the blindness of Mrs. Bennett to the qualitys of Marraige. She only shes Mr. Collins as money but Elizabeth sees him as a bad person to spend the rest of her life with and theirfore turns down his marraige purposal. Which causes trouble between her and her mother. This is the best example of the contrast in what the two women see as the meaning of Marriage.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice examines and critiques a society built upon gender roles. Austen does this by examining the obstacles women experienced in the Regency Period. Austen expresses how women were controlled, and objectified by men through their need to get married to a man. Additionally, the novel ridicules how women who could not afford to live without men were shadowed by their partner. This commentary is seen through the portrayal of the Bennet sisters. The females of the family are forced to marry because they do not inherit any wealth. The family is forced to comply with the same boundaries Austen was governed by. Therefore, Austen focuses on how the Bennet sisters overcome a society that suppresses them. This allows the reader to comprehend the strength, perseverance, determination, and assertiveness of the women in this time. Overall, Jane Austen addresses gender issues throughout the story. This is seen in the progressive image of Elizabeth, as she combats the inequality women experience. Although it was not common for women to criticize the patriarchy, the overall depiction of females is progressive. Elizabeth represents Austen’s feminist views, and the depiction of women in the novel is seen through her feminist image as she deals with Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy.

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen creates a unique environment which allows her characters to evolve and to transform. One of the characters, Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, faces challenges that impact her decisive demeanor. Likewise, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Elizabeth’s love interest, confronts many obstacles which come against his character as well. Through several key experiences, both Elizabeth and Darcy undergo internal transformations – Elizabeth’s quick judgments become humbleness while Darcy’s arrogance is replaced with humility.

Darcy, the antagonist-turned-protagonist in the novel. His pride blinds his judgment of people. Darcy judges people through their manners hence, because of his dislike in Elizabeth's family manners; he separated Charles and Jane away from each other, leaving Elizabeth's sister heartbroken. Austen's books are written with satirical humor best represented by Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr. Collins is a comical and pompous, snobbish clergyman living at Hunsford parsonage near Rosings, the home of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. According to the English law, since Mr. Bennet had no male children to inherit the state, Mr. Collins is the rightful heir of the estate since he is a distant relative of Mr. Bennet. Mr. Collins is a funny character in the novel due to his extremely long speeches and silly formalities of no clear meaning. He is very proud of Lady Catherine and her generosity in giving him the Hunsford parsonage.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is set in the 18th century, when the future of society relied on social class. According to social class, the relationship between Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth should have been impossible, but they are able to break through these restrictions.The progression of Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship through the obstacles of breaking through social class dominates the novel. Jane Austen illustrates the restrictions of the social construct of class based on wealth along with her own views on social class in the fiction novel, Pride and Prejudice, through the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy.

Austen, Jane, Claudia L. Johnson, Susan J. Wolfson. Pride and Prejudice, A Longman Cultural Edition. New York: Longman, 2003.

Wickham and Darcy have first impressions that do not show who they truly are. At first, Darcy was the talk of ball for he was handsome and made 10,000 a year. Some said that he was even better looking than Mr. Bingley. This initially good impression, turned sour because “his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity for he was discovered to be proud, and above being pleased”(Austen 6). Darcy furthers this impression by being away from the party and refusing to dance with Elizabeth. His reason for denying her dance was that “she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me”(Austen 7). Wickham first impression is, at first, quite similar to Darcy’s. Girls in Hertfordshire are talking about a new soldier that they have seen in town and how handsome he is. Wickham is then invited to dinner in Meryton and when he enters he immediately stands out, much like Darcy. Elizabeth, by just looking at him, believes that Wickham is superior in “person, countenance,

Jane Austen develops a strong illustration of how challenging emotional circumstances can initiate a change in character, using Elizabeth Bennet as an effective demonstration in Pride and Prejudice. Cases such as Mr. Darcy's proposal, Charlotte's marriage, and the discovery of Mr. Wickham's past are compelling support for Austen's idea that alterations to one's behaviour and actions can occur as a result of being placed in a strenuous emotional position. Each influences Elizabeth in a different way, some causing rapid change, while others cause a slower, more gradual one. Self-reflection and the reconsideration of a character's worldview allow Austen to highlight the importance of change in trying situations.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a remarkable story showing the complications between men and women before and during their time of falling in love. The plot is based on how the main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, escape their pride, prejudice and vanity to find each other; however, both must recognize their faults and change them. Jane Austen follows the development of Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship in how they both change in order to overcome their own vanities and be able to love each other.

Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century is often thought of as simply a love story and although on the surface this is true, it is in fact much more than that. Austen focuses greatly on the class system and lack of social mobility allowed in England during this period (the Napoleonic Wars, 1797-1815) and the pride and prejudice that these social divides reveal, as well as the personal pride and prejudice shown by individual characters and how these interlink. The novel is in many ways a comedy of manners (that is, a comedy that ridicules a particular social group because of their attitudes and behaviour, in this case the Upper class and to some extent the Middle class).

Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, was originally to be titled First impressions. Austen suggests she chose the original title late in the novel, after Elizabeth has seen the change in Darcy's manners at Pemberley and feels it can only be due to her influence. However, in 1801 another novel was published using that title so Austen renamed and published her novel, Pride and Prejudice, in 1813. (Stovel “A Contrariety”). The former title accurately depicts the attitudes of several characters toward main themes of the novel. The most illustrated themes are family, love, pride and social class. Through Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen illustrates the differences between social classes, pride and vanity, families and men and women during