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Irrationality Of Love Essay

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Irrationality of Love
An Analysis of Pride and Prejudice and Bright Star
The relentless rivalry between passion and reason is a captivating conflict that often becomes the crux of innumerable pieces of literature. Admirably, the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and the poem Bright Star by John Keats are renowned because the quarrelling emotions and judgements in characters evokes empathy in the reader as this conflict typifies a timeless theme. In light of the fact that the novel and poem share a common theme, it is evident that the story told in the poem mirrors how Darcy’s affections for Elizabeth compete with the standards of his immediate society. Undoubtedly, the lines, the diction, and the different literary devices of Bright …show more content…

Oddly, the narrator describes a yearn to be a motionless star as the poem starts with, “Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art” (Keats 1). There are qualities that can be deemed attractive and desirable such as the reliability of the star, but as steadfast is the only given description of this astral object, it lack originality and spontaneity which reinforces a conservative tone as the narrator praises only reserved qualities. This tone in the poem parallels the societal thoughts Darcy is expected to uphold about what makes an accomplished woman -thus a wife- as Ms. Bingley …show more content…

The narrator enforces a reproachful tone by using a simile to compare his possible life to that of a hermit’s as he deplores, “Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite” (Keats 4). A hermit symbolizes seclusion and boredom in one’s life as human hermits are in radical circumstances, people who live in absolute solitude with no need for communication and are no longer dependant on anyone. Although Anne de Bourgh -whom Darcy is expected to wed- is not a literal hermit living completely secluded from companions, her painfully reserved and quiet nature boasts similarities. Even Mr. Collins, who crows over his particular fond acquaintanceship to the de Bourgh women, describes Anne as a “‘unfortunately of a sickly constitution which has prevented her making that progress in many accomplishments’” (Austen 124). Interestingly, the weight of a hermit’s shell secludes the being inside, but it also protects the organism which ironically parallels how Anne is protected by her illness. These diseases strain her health making her isolated; however, they give an excuse for her timid nature and unaccomplished life which render her mundane. Thus, the poem’s criticizing tone towards the isolated life the narrator hopes to evade reflects the unattractive life of Anne

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