The Theme of Society in Pride and Prejudice Essay

In the novel Pride and Prejudice, Austen conveys her opinion about marriage. Through Lydia Bennet and George Wickham, Austen clearly shows how a relationship on the basis of infatuation contributes to an unsuccessful marriage. Lydia is an immature, foolish young woman who presents a relationship based on physical gratification. Wickham too, is similar - he is self-indulgent, manipulative and would never deny any pleasure. Just like Wickham, Lydia has an aspiration to “attach herself to anybody,” as she experiences a passion for men in uniform. As a result of Lydia 's immaturity, she demonstrates that her love towards Wickham is only for enjoyment and imprudent motives; he being part of the regiment is the only reason her affections fluctuate for him. Despite the absence of admiration in their marriage, Lydia and Wickham suffer the consequences of their marriage with indifference for one another. They live a short period of happiness as their marriage is based on convenience, attraction and passion rather than love and

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

From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. ---Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do’” (97). Mrs. Bennet makes a fuss over trivial things and is partial to exaggeration. These attributes prompt her children and husband to see her as unimportant and harmless. Although her word is ineffective in her household, Mrs. Bennet’s persistence to marry her daughters is ceaseless: “Not yet, however, in spite of her disappointment in her husband, did Mrs. Bennet give up the point. She talked to Elizabeth again and again; coaxed and threatened her by turns” (97). Mrs. Bennet can’t see past her marital ideals for her daughters and can’t understand why they don’t concern themselves as ardently as she does with them. In a fit of anger, Mrs. Bennet claims to disown Elizabeth for refusing Mr. Collin’s proposal by stating, “’But I tell you what, Miss Lizzy, if you take it into your head to go on refusing every offer of marriage in this way, you will never get a husband at all --and I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father is dead’” (98). Elizabeth’s mother thinks that her threats have weight but all the Bennet children know her warnings are hollow. Even when Lydia runs away with Wickham and brings shame to the Bennet family, Mrs. Bennet is only concerned with the fact that Lydia is getting married: “She was now in an irritation as violent from

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.

“Pride and Prejudice”, a novel written by Jane Austen represents eighteenth century English women as illogical, domestic individuals who economically depend on male members in their household. Major decisions in their life are decided by their fathers and brothers. They perform subordinate roles, and are considered inferior to men. This novel reinforces the sexist stereotypes of women.The female characters in the novel possess these virtues in varying degrees depending on their role. Marriage is considered essential to secure a woman’s future ,they are expected to behave in a certain manner to earn the respect of the society, and are treated unfairly by the social and justice

“Lady Catherine will not think the worst of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved” (Austen 127). Distinction of social classes has been slowly fading away in today’s modern society, but contributed to create a society dominated by a ironclad hierarchy prior to the twentieth century. Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice in 1813, which revolves around the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have to overcome various issues of the Regency era, and learn to accept each other towards the end of novel. Jane Austen showcases the nineteenth century turmoil between the upper class and the working class through the strict social hierarchy and conflicts between the characters in Pride and Prejudice and ultimately proposes a solution towards the end of the novel.

  While Pride And Prejudice is demonstrably concerned with the subject of love, from Lydia's physical passion for Wickham, through Jane's slightly too patient and undemanding feelings for Bingley, to Elizabeth's final "perfect" match with Darcy, it would be doing the novel and its author a great injustice to assume that it is merely a love story, and has no other purpose or design. The scope of the novel is indeed much wider than a serious interest in who will marry who and who will have the manor that is worth the most money, or even the less shallow subject of women trying, failing, and succeeding at finding their perfect mates on a romantic level. While the investigation of love in its

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is set in the 18th century, when the future of society relied on social class. According to social class, the relationship between Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth should have been impossible, but they are able to break through these restrictions.The progression of Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship through the obstacles of breaking through social class dominates the novel. Jane Austen illustrates the restrictions of the social construct of class based on wealth along with her own views on social class in the fiction novel, Pride and Prejudice, through the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy.

This action of paying Wickham allows the reader to acknowledge that a family would be willing to put itself in debt than to allow their reputation to be destroyed. By paying Wickham to marry Lydia, the Bennets ensured that she would not be living with a man out of wedlock.

In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet, the mother of the protagonist, Elizabeth, is generally portrayed as a buffoon who is an adversary for he daughter that is trying to force her into a marriage she does not want. One may wonder how she can be justified in any way, considering that she is known to embarrass her family members and behave idiotically. However, in the time period they live in, a marriage is necessary for all of the family to avoid a terrible fate. Mrs. Bennet, while often behaving improperly, does try to do the best for her daughters based on the world she lives in.

Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century is often thought of as simply a love story and although on the surface this is true, it is in fact much more than that. Austen focuses greatly on the class system and lack of social mobility allowed in England during this period (the Napoleonic Wars, 1797-1815) and the pride and prejudice that these social divides reveal, as well as the personal pride and prejudice shown by individual characters and how these interlink. The novel is in many ways a comedy of manners (that is, a comedy that ridicules a particular social group because of their attitudes and behaviour, in this case the Upper class and to some extent the Middle class).

Over the centuries, women’s duties or roles in the home and in the work force have arguably changed for the better. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen teaches the reader about reputation and loves in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries by showing how Elizabeth shows up in a muddy dress, declines a marriage proposal and how women have changed over time. Anything a woman does is reflected on her future and how other people look at her. When Elizabeth shows up to the Bingley’s in a muddy dress they categorize her as being low class and unfashionable. Charles Bingley, a rich attractive man, and his sister had a reputation to protect by not letting their brother marry a ‘low class girl’. Reputation even today and back in the nineteenth

Through this conversation, Miss Bingley is implying Elizabeth and her family have nothing to offer. They are not wealthy, or judges like Darcy’s great uncle or even on the same social level. She also suggests that if Elizabeth is noticed by a wealthy man, her sisters may get the impression that they have a chance with well to do men. The intertwinement of wealthy and unwealthy people will create relationships that are unimaginable. Needless to say, there are immense amounts of tension between classes indirectly and directly.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is set in the 18th century, when the future of society relied on social class. According to social class, the relationship between Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth should have been impossible, but they are able to break through these restrictions.The progression of Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship through the obstacles of breaking through social class dominates the novel. Jane Austen illustrates the restrictions of the social construct of class based on wealth along with her own views on social class in the fiction novel, Pride and Prejudice, through the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy.

How does Jane Austen explore the theme of Pride and Prejudice in the novel? The original title of Jane Austen's novel, "Pride and Prejudice" was "First impressions". From this title it is clear that Jane Austen wanted to convey to the reader the importance of first impressions and how we form them so quickly. Other themes of the novel include pride, prejudice, conceit and vanity.