The Pride and Prejudice of Men and Women

For many, love is a constant search for happiness that never ends. The desire for love is longed for and pursued by every human. Many constantly seek it in self satisfaction, but are never fully satisfied with the love which they attain. The biggest reason for this is the distortion of the love which is sought for. True love is pure and selfless, the perfection of a person. It is truly something which must be cultivated in order to recognize and attain it. Love is a gift so sacred that it is worth living and dying for. “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Fay Weldon’s novel Letters to Alice (1984) elicit a deeper understanding of human behaviour and social expectations. A comparison of these two texts highlights the changing expectations of women and the timeless necessity of education. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen criticises her society’s expectations of women as restrictive and detrimental for their happiness. In the Regency era, women depended on men for wealth or status by marriage, and women in general were expected to be submissive to men.

Pride and Prejudice tells a story of a young girl in the midst of a very materialistic society. Jane Austen uses the setting to dramatize the restraints women had to endure in society. As the novel develops, we see how women have to act in a way according to their gender, social class, and family lineage. Elizabeth Bennet’s sisters represent the proper societal lady while Lizzy is the rebel. Through her characters Austen shows how a women’s happiness came second to the comfort of wealth. As the plot develops, events are laid out to illustrate how true love is unattainable when women marry for intentions of wealth. Women have very specific and limited roles in a society where men are the superior. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Elizabeth and Charlotte’s differences can best be seen on their answers to Mr. Collins’ marriage proposal. Mr. Collins first proposes to Elizabeth and she rejects him. Elizabeth does not love him and does not think that she will be happy if she marries him. Collins does not let the rejection get to him and he soon proposes to Elizabeth’s friend, Charlotte. Not having the same will power

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.

Everyone wants to be powerful right? Everyone has different thoughts and ideas, but what is it that makes us so powerful? As sad as it is, what makes us powerful is our class, gender and race theses three little things determine what people think of you. So say your Mayella, she is a white, low class woman. Then there is Tom, he is an african american, low class man. Mayella accuses Tom of rape and abuse but tom is crippled and even Mayella said her father did those things, but since tom was African American and mayella was white, she won the case. It wasn’t fair and it wasn't justice but that’s just how they lived. In a society that judged by race, class and gender.

Most importantly, due to his religious duty. As she told her friend, Elizabeth, about accepting a proposal from Mr. Collins, Elizabeth full of of shock replied, “Engaged to Mr. Collins! My dear Charlotte, -- impossible” (Austen, 122). Elizabeth’s shock is because she believed he would not be the right person for her. However, Tony Tanner agrees that Charlotte views her marriage strictly as a “preservative from want” (Bloom, 66). This symbolizes Charlotte marries Collins because she did not want to be a load for her family especially her mother who went through difficulties to find her a mate Marrying Collins helps Charlotte than it did for him because she received advantages such as financial, security, and unburden to her family as well as getting a higher rank. She coldly admits to Elizabeth, “…I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins 's character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state" (Austen, 123). Charlotte’s train of thought is Mr. Collins is her last option of marriage to have her own life instead of living with her parents. Their marriage is based on societal norms and she agrees to marry him, even with the knowledge that they have different personalities. She marries Collin in disregards of her self-respect and his undurable personality.

What makes the Movie Pride and Prejudice so different from Bride and Prejudice? In the movie Pride and Bride the mothers are pushing and trying to get their daughters married to save the girls from being poor and homeless after the father passes away. The mothers are going to get one of the daughters married no matter what it takes, preferably the eldest daughters. This is a contrast essay that will only contrast the differences between the two movies. Pride and Bride are different based on the times and settings, characters, and the outcome of the scene where Wickham runs off with the younger daughter and what he seeks for in Pride unlike Bride.

serve her best work ethic toward being the wife of Collins. Referring to her own statement, "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance,”(Austen 30), she has chosen a life of misfortune. Unfortunately, Charlotte and Collins’ marriage was common in 1800s, and still is to our present days. We measure each other’s wealth, not love; we let future to depend on wealth, instead of creating our own pathway; we believe that wealth is the ultimate fame, not happiness. Pride is an empty pleasure that corrupts humans’ primary senses.

For Charlotte she married Mr Collins. Mr. Collins was not Charlotte first choice but she wanted to have security. She no longer wanted to be aberdon on her mother and father, as well as she was right on the edge of the age in which women were considered old if they had not married yet. The reason for marriage is polar opposites when comparing Charlotte to Elizabeth. Elizabeth believes in marrying for love and affection. Charlotte on the other had marries for security she may not have turley loved Mr. Collins, but she now knows she has a home and a husband. It is believed that Elizabeth deals with relationships in a pragmatic way. Not taking things fast, You can see this in the novel when she denies the marriage proposal from Mr. Collins. She found Mr. Collins to be rude and over controlling. Her mother was in disbelief and her father agreed that if she didn't want to marry Mr. Collins was her

Charlotte herself reflects ‘marriage was the only honourable provision for a well-educated woman of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness must be their pleasant preservative from want.’ Contextually, we know that a young woman was only deemed suitable for marriage before the age of twenty-five. Charlotte says ‘I'm twenty-seven years old, I've no money and no prospects. I'm already a burden to my parents and I'm frightened. So don't you judge me, Lizzy.’ Through the character of Charlotte, Austen highlights the importance of marriage for a young woman. We see that ultimately, Charlotte Lucas marries Mr Collins solely for financial security.

The author created Charlotte and Mr. Collin's relationship to exemplify this observation. It also conveys the reader that some women and men made themselves fall in "love" just to be married. Impassively explaining to Elizabeth why she accepted Mr. Collins's proposal, Charlotte admits "[she] ask(s) only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins's character, connections, and situations in life, [she] [is] convinced that [her] chance of happiness with him is fair, as most people can boast on entering the marriage state" (Austen 123). Concentrating on her friend Charlotte's nonchalant attitude towards her serious engagement with unbearable Mr. Collins, Elizabeth felt sorry for her internally miserable friend. The reader is presented with the idea that, "in other societies, 'love', in terms of the strong bond of affection between man and woman, does not play a prominent role or even a significant role," (Baker) in this period at all. Intermingling of social hierarchies and true love were a rare combination; but Mr. Darcy, nevertheless, gradually learned he loved the flaws that Elizabeth possessed along with her family's, as she did for him, and they learned they did not have to settle for each other at

The marriage of Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins is one that Austen sees as an average one.  It is similar to some of those at the time.  It is most certainly a marriage of convenience.  Charlotte is very cynical about marriage and love.  She believes that "happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance" Jane Austen criticises Charlotte's lack of romance and idealism, through Elizabeth but underlying that we know she understands her motives for marriage. Charlotte also says that a woman must let a man know that she's interested to make sure she snags him.  She advises Elizabeth that Jane does this to ensure a marriage to Bingley.  Charlotte is obviously not speaking from experience, because at 27 year old, she is practically an old maid and on the shelf.  Nobody wants her, and soon she will be forced to become a governess if she can't find a husband soon.

This type of marriage is very uncommon in contemporary culture, but it was the societal norm during the regency period. The author, in the earlier chapters of the story, describes Charlotte as “sensible, intelligent young woman.” (Austen 16). Charlotte is a sensible woman so her actions were typically frivolous. “Remember, Eliza, that he does not know Jane’s disposition as you do. ‘But if a woman is partial to man, and does not endeavor to conceal it, he must find it out’.” (Austen 20). Elizabeth and Charlotte are having a typical conversation about Jane and Mr. Bingley. The author describes Charlotte as being a kind and normal person. She is a great friend to Elizabeth and seems to converse easily. The portrayal of Charlotte being normal shows that her actions and thoughts were common of the women of the time period.

Charlotte is a neighbour and friend of Elizabeth, who is older and unmarried at the beginning of the story. She is simple in her values and does not question a women's role in society. Charlotte's main achievement in the story occurred when she was able to secure a proposal of marriage from Mr. Collins after he had been rejected by Elizabeth, who asked why she accepted. Charlotte explained "I am not a romantic you know. I never was. I only ask for a comfortable home; considering Mr Collins's character, connections, situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is fair, as most people can boast on entering a marriage state" By this Charlotte is questioning Elizabeth's values, believing she is over her head in her ideas. She is simply happy with what she has been dealt