Pride and Prejudice Narrative Style Essay

Pride and Prejudice is a novel with a romantic yet ironic story. This completes Jane Austen’s masterpiece. The novel is about women in society and marriage. Austen uses sarcasm as the tone of the novel to make the story ironic. The tone is sarcastic because of the way Elizabeth Bennet is portrayed, the relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, and the situations her characters are in.

Bennet exclaims, “Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls” (2). Considering Mrs. Bennet’s lines, the reader acknowledges Austen’s first claims on marriage. Mrs. Bennet not only exemplifies the opening statement of the novel, but also justifies the effect it has on mother figures. As Mrs. Bennet’s character develops, the reader recognizes her obsession with the marriage of her daughters. Mrs. Bennet understands the importance of marrying ‘well’ in order to maintain a high standing in the social realm. However, understanding the consequences directly affects Mrs. Bennet’s desperate behavior. This interpretation becomes an inevitable experience for each of Mrs. Bennet’s daughters.

Caroline Bingley is a particularly interesting character, whose chief purpose is to aid in plot complications and undoubtedly irritate the reader. Economically, she is very much like her brother. As a product of the new gentry, she possesses a dowry of £20,000, a large sum, even for her social ranking, which gives her an advantage in marrying up on the social ladder. Her negative qualities of hypocrisy and selfishness do not aid her in her pursuit of Mr. Darcy as a potential husband; in fact they discourage Darcy as he often responds to her compliments with silence (Austen 42). Upon recognition of Darcy’s interest in Elizabeth, she proceeds to criticize everything about the Bennet sister, right down to the hem of her skirt (39). This two-facedness portrays the hypocrisy of and the effect of elevated rank on the attitudes of the new gentry of Nineteenth

1. “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in wants of a wife” Chapter 1 | During the time period that this book takes place, this quote could be proven true. At this time, there were arranged marriages based on a mans place in society and his fortune. Today, people get married because they are in love. Some people may marry others based on their financial standings but there are many wealthy people, my aunt for example, who have no desire to rush into marriage. |

    "Like all true literary classics, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is still capable of engaging us, both emotionally and intellectually" (Twayne back flap) through its characters and themes. This essay illustrates how Jane Austen uses the characterization of the major characters and irony to portray the theme of societal frailties and vices because of a flawed humanity. Austen writes about the appearance vs. the reality of the characters, the disinclination to believe other characters, the desire to judge others, and the tendency to take people on first impressions.

or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense

Austen explains that being born a woman in such a society suggests that even less alternatives on whom to get married to or not to get married to, or how to establish the nature of a person’s life. Furthermore, the way in which the society weakens and controls women is useful in explaining Mrs. Elizabeth Bennet 's panic concerning the marriage of her beloved daughters, as well as why such marriages should always entail both financial and practical considerations. Coming from noble

    Jane Austen uses the elements of both pride and prejudice to develop the satire in her novel. Austen presents pride as both a vice and a virtue. Austen first introduces pride as a vice of arrogance and prejudice, but as the characters in the novel develop so does the concept of pride. Towards the end of the novel pride becomes the vehicle for many of the noble actions taken by the main characters. Austen skillfully interweaves the two parts of pride, the plot, and the main characters so that they develop together in the book. When we get to the end of the novel, we are left with a fuller understanding of the complexities of pride.

Pride and Prejudice takes place during the Regency Era of Great Britain. The Regency started when the king was declared insane and his son, the Prince of Wales, became his proxy, ruling under the name Prince Regent. During this time, art and science were encouraged highly and fashion boomed. You see plenty of this throughout Pride and Prejudice, for example, how women were encouraged to be indulged in the arts, like drawing, singing, dancing, sewing, and playing the pianoforte. Women who could do all of the above were looked upon greatly. But you are also shown the slightly darker side of the Regency Era through Wickham, who used Libby Bennet, one of the younger sisters, to gain money. You glimpse the greed of man often during this time period.

Their limited education consisted of needlework, fine handwriting, singing, dancing, playing piano, and reading (3). Marriage at this time was the only thing that could give a woman any sense of security. If their fathers were to die, it was custom that only the eldest son could inherit the money and property. Unfortunately, if the family did not have a male son the land would be given to the closet male relative, which left the women in a very delicate position. Austen show’s readers this aspect of her society by having the Bennet sisters in the same situation. Without a male sibling their land and home will be entailed to a Mr. Collins. If Mr. Bennet were to die, his five daughters and his wife would be left homeless or at the charity of others because Mr. Collins would not have it in his heart to let them reside in the house with him. Their only way to escape this fate would be to get married. However, there was many obstacles that middle class young women had to deal with that kept young suitors uninterested. One was their social station. The society of this time was so stratified that even one class could be broken down into more distinctions of rank (2). The people did not often marry outside of their social rank, which left middle class women with middle class men. Unfortunately, money also played a big part in the determination of whether

I think that Mr. Bingley most relates to the fairy tale character prince Eric from the movie the little mermaid. Both of these characters lived a very relaxed life off of the wealth of their family. Both of these characters were interested in people who were well below their social class, Eric fell for Ariel (a mermaid with wealth yes, but not "human" wealth, thus putting her in a low "social class" in my opinion), and Bingley fell for Jane Bennet. As the men weren’t raised to pick up on hints very well, they do not get the message from the women. In the end they both end up returning to their respective women. The character that I chose next not surprisingly is Ariel. I think that she most relates to Lydia Bennet. Both of the characters are

Pride and Prejudice, a Jane Austen novel, is one of the most classical pieces of literature in history. It has been evaluated and critiqued a countless number of times, and has been adapted into several films. It can be argued that there is a lot to be retained by readers from this literary work, an important message that can be passed down from generation to generation. During Jane Austen’s time, in the early 1800’s, women were around to be married off, bear children, and cater to their man. Men were meant to work and instruct their women, and the more money you had, the more respected you were. A woman’s goal in life was to marry

In the novel of "Pride and Prejudice", the author Jane Austen uses a lot of literary devices to emphasize her story. One of the main themes is love, which connects towards marriage or separation of the characters. She uses characterization to give the reader a much more clear perception of the different characteristics and to strengthen her themes. Irony is shown a lot on how women want to marry wealthy men to save their repetition or family matters. Lastly, Imagery is used constantly throughout the novel to show characters emotions or reactions to the events.

In the exchange, Mrs Bennet’s overzealous attitude towards gossip and the marrying off of her daughters is first revealed. Her attitude however is not reflected in her husband, as Mr Bennet appears nonchalant throughout the entire exchange. Mr and Mrs Bennet are used by Austen to show the reader the result of marrying in accordance to something other than love. During this first conversation, and throughout the rest of the novel, Mr Bennet frequently appears to take pleasure from subtly teasing and mocking his apparently oblivious wife. The enjoyment Mr Bennet gets from this seems to be an attempt by Austen to show the results of marriage outside of love.

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels written by Jane Austen. This romantic novel, the story of which revolves around relationships and the difficulties of being in love, was not much of a success in Austen's own time. However, it has grown in its importance to literary critics and readerships over the last hundred years. There are many facets to the story that make reading it not only amusing but also highly interesting. The reader can learn much about the upper-class society of this age, and also gets an insight to the author's opinion about this society. Austen presents the high-society of her time from an observational point of view, ironically describing human behavior. She describes what she sees and adds her own