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Marriage In Pride And Prejudice And Margaret Atwood's Habitation

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In Margaret Atwood’s poem “Habitation”, she talks about the building of a marriage from the ground up. In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Elizabeth and Darcy have a complicated relationship. Throughout the story, they exemplify Atwood’s view of marriage as they steadily and unknowingly compose their relationship. The courtship of Elizabeth and Darcy in Pride and Prejudice resembles Atwood’s description of marriage in “Habitation” in that both works illustrate the struggle it takes to build a relationship. Margaret Atwood’s poem portrays marriage not as a fully built house or even an already assembled tent. In the first stanza of her poem, Atwood states that marriage is “before that, and colder;” ing one has to work towards. When Elizabeth and Darcy first meet, they are put off by each other. Darcy is full of pride and snubs Elizabeth saying, “she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.” (Austen, 30) Elizabeth seemingly brushes this off, but her prejudice against Darcy is already forming. Elizabeth and Darcy’s triumph over their two biggest faults was the beginning of their relationship. As they get to know each other better throughout the novel, the parallel between their courtship and Atwood’s poem is clear. The second stanza of Atwood’s poem describes how a relationship begins and strengthens before …show more content…

Elizabeth and Darcy are uncertain of what lies ahead of them in terms of their relationship because of their different social echelons. Atwood goes on to describe the building of the relationship, from looming on the edge to “the unpainted stairs at the back where we squat, outside, eating popcorn.” This shows the two people are beginning to build their house now that they are beginning to build trust in each other. It also states that there is more work to be done because the stairs still need to be

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