Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen, is a story of overcoming pride and prejudices. The story takes place in Longbourn, where the Bennet family and their five girls live on their rented estate. Mrs.Bennet is obsessed to get her daughters to marry rich, as they are all still single. Their financial status is poor, placing them into a lower social class.

Shaped by its light-humored wit as well as heartfelt cast of characters, Pride and Prejudice explores the classic yet distinctive narrative of the two divergent characters Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Set towards the end of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century in England, Jane Austen offers a profound insight into the social manners and behaviors expected of individuals in this time. In Elizabeth’s endeavor for independence in the face of her expectation as a female to marry, she must also unravel a series of miscommunications that strive to prevent her from realizing Mr. Darcy’s innate goodness. With a focus on her characters’ responses to the various conflicts that arise throughout the novel, Austen analyzes the

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813(Gary vii) a time when women had “few legal and economic rights or even receiving little respect, women can be seen as oppressed victims of a patriarchal society, subordinate first to their fathers and, then, to their husbands who had, of course, been selected by their fathers” (Swords, 76-82). At first glance one might think that Pride and Prejudice reinforces sexist stereotypes, however upon further examination of Jane Austen and her heroine Elizabeth it is clear that Pride and Prejudice in fact erodes the sexist stereotypes of women.

Pride and prejudice is a novel that was written by Jane Austen concerning manners, pride and intolerance. Austen is a writer of distinction that manages to catch the attention of the audience in issues such as marriage, class, love and deceit. The novel is a love story; however, its author was also aimed at explaining the unfairness and discrimination that presides over the relationships that exists between people as well as how it impacts the choices of men and women. She was also concerned about how women make decisions concerning marriage. Austen depicts a society where different choices for people are rather limited, on the basis of almost entirely on a family 's connections and social ranking (Austen, 13). Austen 's novel “Pride and Prejudice” brings into spotlight various critical moral concerns in relation to the subject of the institution of marriage as well as other significant issues related to it.

Not only does Darcy resist the social expectations of Austen’s time and defy the norms of social class, he actually leaves his high connections behind. At first, even in the act of defying the social expectations of the townspeople at the ball, it can be argued that Darcy conforms to another social norm. When he starts getting to know Elizabeth and begins to fall in love with her, Darcy is held back from his own feelings by the knowledge of Elizabeth’s inferior connections. A wealthy upper class man should marry a woman of his own standing, his own class. However, later in the novel, when Darcy and Elizabeth discuss the letter, he states how wrong he was to judge Elizabeth based on her family. Darcy was in this way prejudiced towards the lower classes, nevertheless he started to overcome this prejudice because he fell in love with Elizabeth. Then after the repercussions of his first proposal and Elizabeth’s rejection he truly overcomes the teachings he got from his higher connections:

‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ are seen as being mainly concerned with social class and the wealth of those who are in the upper class but readers must consider other themes the novels are concerned with.

The importance of social class is introduced in volume one of Pride and Prejudice through the treatment and expectations of Elizabeth. Mrs.Bennet is the first character to express the importance of social class when she talks about the marriage of her daughters. While talking to Mr.Bennet she refers to Mr.Bingley as “a fine thing for our girls” because of his wealth (Austen 6). Mr.Bennet’s obsession with marrying her daughters to someone of wealth shows her obsession with social class and social climbing. At the assembly, Mr.Darcy’s prejudices towards the lower classes are exposed through what he says about Elizabeth. He does not view Elizabeth as good enough for him and calls her “tolerable, but not handsome enough” (13). Elizabeth’s annoyance with Mr.Darcy is caused by her overhearing his uncomplimentary remark. Elizabeth

Mr. Darcy is a proud, haughty, intelligent, and very conscious man. Mr. Darcy’s pride for his status and wealth ultimately leads to his prejudice for Elizabeth’s lower-class status. “One can not wonder that so very fine a young man with family, fortune, everything in his favor, should think so highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud.” (Chapter 4, Page 21).

Living with a man who was not one’s husband was one matte; but marrying out of one’s social class is another action that society would denounce. Mr. Bingley was fascinated with Jane Bennet since their first meeting. His friends and family had gone out of their way to warn him not to marry her as it would ruin his relationships with his upper class acquaintances. One friend in particular, Fitzwilliam Darcy, had taken extra precautions to make sure that his friend would not tarnish his own reputation. “The first mentioned was that regardless of the sentiments of either, I had detached Mr. Bingley from your sister...” (Austen 168) These words, written in a letter from Darcy, are proof that he had derailed Bingley and Jane’s relationship for the good of Bingley’s character. Although society defamed people marrying out of their social class, Bingley and Jane had eventually found themselves together, despite the disapproval of his friends and family.

“Mr. Bingley was unaffectedly civil in his answer, and forced his younger sister to be civil also, and say what the occasion required” (Austen 41). Mr. Bingley was able to be noble and polite and realize his place even when he was in a difficult situation which shows that he views himself with respect even if other people do not. Mr. Darcy says that women that can do simple tasks that they all can do are not considered accomplished, and continues to say that he has not met more than six women who he would believe are accomplished (Austen 35). This proves that women view themselves as accomplished and view other women like themselves as accomplished despite other people’s harsh opinions which shows their nobleness. Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth Bennet for the second time but immediately thinks he does not deserve her and her feelings are the same as the first time he asked her (Austen 346). Mr Darcy shows that he does not view himself as worthy enough of Elizabeth because he was rude to her family and not a noble

Austen uses Pride and Prejudice as a means to express her views on marriage, without being didactic. She frequently satirises views which oppose her own. Austen was a believer that men and women should be more equal. This view was also shared by feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft, who had once said, “virtue can only flourish among equal”. However, Wollstonecraft disliked the social hierarchy, whereas Austen respected it and thought whoever was at the “top”, deserved to be there. Austen believed that marriage should not be a means of climbing this hierarchy she idealised. Although this opposes the social conventions, Austen agrees that elopement should be condemned and accepts that wealth and social standing must be taken into

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice illuminates a social courtship between the proud Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy and the shrewd, unconventional Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth is proud of her own identity. She astutely justifies herself as “a gentleman’s daughter” (Austen 337) in her confrontation with the prejudiced and class-conscious Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy, who shares Elizabeth’s sharp tongue, comes from a family of high social status; his privileged upbringing instilled in him “pride and conceit” (Austen 349) that blinds him from acknowledging the similarity and equality between him and Elizabeth. Upon first proposing to Elizabeth, he does not realize that he is not raising her social status by marrying her.

The comical novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen depicts the love life of women in the early 1800’s. Austen shows the hardships young women in that time period had to go threw to find their place in this world. Women were thought of as objects to the men, they were supposed to be stay at home mothers, or simple just a accessory to their partner. Women were the subordinates in life, as they still are today. Austen tells the story of how Mrs. Bennet (a mother of 5) works tirelessly to get her daughters married off to an upper class of people. Despite her hard efforts the only way she can achieve her goal is if her husband is willing to help. In Pride and Prejudice Austen uses impactful events to show how the women in this time period

The importance of social class is introduced in Volume the First of Pride and Prejudice through the treatment and expectations of Elizabeth. Mrs.Bennet is the first character to express the importance of social class when she talks about the marriage of her daughters. While talking to Mr.Bennet she refers to Mr.Bingley as “a fine thing for our girls” because of his wealth (Austen 6). Mrs.Bennet’s obsession with marrying her daughters to someone of wealth shows her obsession with social class and social climbing. It also shows the importance of finding good husbands for her daughters..At the assembly, Mr.Darcy’s prejudices towards the lower classes are exposed through what he says about Elizabeth. He does not view Elizabeth as good enough for him and calls her “tolerable, but not handsome enough” (13). Elizabeth’s annoyance with Mr.Darcy is caused by her

In Jane Austen 's dialogue heavy novel Pride and Prejudice, much of each page is consumed by in depth conversations between her characters; only infrequently does she break to a narrative to make asides about the story. With a style of writing such as this, it is quite difficult as a writer to portray the private inner thoughts of characters. In order to provide this necessary element of inner character thought, Jane Austen makes use of written letters to reveal such inner thoughts of her characters that would otherwise be absent. Letters are used as a dramatic device in the novel to expand upon the plot, reveal critical information about the characters and is a minor theme in Jane 's book.