Summary:
The themes of love and human relationships, told in a humorous vein, are key to understanding Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice."
Jane Austen was born into a family that consisted of boys apart from her elder sister who was two years older than her. The social status of the family was not unlike the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice, it was wealthy but it did not have the nobility or pride of the upper classes. There were many families like this in their hometown of Steventon but the Austens and their neighbours, the Digweeds, were the two principal family units. Jane learnt to play the piano, embroider and sing; these were the kind of abilities admired by Bingley. This suggests that Jane put a part of herself into the book, at times it would seem as though she was Elizabeth Bennet herself. Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813 and like her other works she remained anonymous to the world. She had no intention of declaring herself as a female author, and avoided literary circles like the plague. This could be because she was female and since feminism was alive and well in the time she was alive, her books might not have done nearly as well. It was after her death that her brother, Henry, put a note in her remaining novels, as they were published, letting the public know who she was and a bit about her.
Pride and Prejudice is a romantic comedy, where Jane Austen acknowledges that in her time, romantic feelings can overwhelm us and love is one of the most powerful human emotions. However, throughout the book, Austen asks some very serious and important questions. She is questioning her society at that time, but she has to do it very quietly as women had not got a lot of authority. She asks:
How should a gentleman behave?
Should a woman make it clear she has fallen in love with a man?
Is pride always wrong or sometimes justified?
Who discovers and faces up to their own mistakes?
Who is capable of changing themselves for the better, and who cannot change?
Throughout this essay, I will attempt to answer these questions. Many people have debated over these points and they are examined in the discussion of characterisation.
The word "character" can be interpreted in two ways. The first way is a collection of individuals used to populate a novel and the other is to describe someone's qualities or personality. There are points in the novel where there is an interest in psychological individuality. 'I did not know before,' Bingley says to Elizabeth, 'that you were a studier of character. It must be an amusing study' (Ch 9 p 38) When Elizabeth is dancing with Darcy he asks her why she is asking so many questions; 'merely to the illustration of your character,' she says truthfully, 'I am trying to make it out' (Ch 18 p 79). The self-satisfied and laid-back Bingley is easily appreciated in his comments, Darcy however is 'intricate'. It is this intricacy that she seems to be attracted to, illustrating that Elizabeth herself looks at the inner-self and not the superficial.
During Elizabeth's outrage after Darcy's tactless proposal, she comments on 'character'. She suggests a basic psychology that helps us understand some of the characters in the novel. Elizabeth's anger is set ablaze by Darcy's insensitive account of his labours to steer clear of falling in love with her, 'you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character' (Ch 34 p 158). This is opposing desire against reason. Our desires and wants pull us in one direction but we cannot but help moderate them with reasons, it is human nature. The character Elizabeth evokes is a separate issue. She is suggesting that Darcy has more control over his desires than over his reasons and with the self-conscious and observable manner that he has, it shows how he copes with the world.
Austen's range of definitions of characterisation could be extended to include the struggle between will, desire, reason and the understanding of truths. For example, Lydia follows her will blindly. She is untempered by reason; her ethics and protocol are appalling. Lydia's mother is the prey of her immediate feelings, which pass through her unhindered.
When couples are in love, their joy and feelings for each other can never be imagined or put into words; they are complete. Each character has their different views on love, Lydia will never be happy without her 'angel' (Ch 47, p 236), Wickham, Jane feels she is 'the happiest creature in the world' (Ch 55 p 279) whilst Elizabeth declares she is 'happier even than Jane' (Ch 59 p 300). However, whilst romantic passion has to be commemorated, it is an incomplete picture of what should be a long-lasting human relationship. Throughout the book, Jane Austen makes it clear that the passion of the moment is a very poor foundation on which to build an acquaintance. The Bennet's marriage represents this, Mr Bennet had been 'captivated by youth and beauty' (Ch 42 p 194) but Mrs Bennet's 'weak understanding and liberal mind' (Ch 42 p 194) prevented long-lasting affection.
By the end of the novel Lydia's and Wickham's reckless relationship has already, in a short space of time descended into an existence which is 'unsettled in the extreme' (Ch 61 p 311). Their marriage will not even be supported by the financial and social status that Mr and Mrs Bennet are able to enjoy. Charlotte by comparison is entirely unsentimental She is not 'a romantic...I ask only a comfortable home' (Ch 22, p 105). Her eagerness to settle for financial safety over every other reason for marriage, which so concerns Elizabeth, is also presented as not a basis for a true marriage. Incongruously, not unlike Mr Bennet, who retreats to his study as a means of escape from his 'woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper' (Ch 1, p 7), Charlotte soon learns to cope by using a back room to keep out of her husband's way.
Some people have much in common, they like the same music, they have the same personalities and they are in such perfect harmony with each other that it has to result in matrimony. This is the very reason why Elizabeth approves of Jane and Bingley. Their happiness is not simply based on physical attraction but is 'rationally founded' (Ch 55, p 280) and the couple have a 'general similarity of feeling and taste' (Ch 55, p 280). However, it may be the recipe for a happy and long-lasting relationship but Jane and Bingley are so similar that in their married life, there is no passion or animation just a prosaic and monotonous existence.
However, this is the complete opposite to Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage. Their marriage is a much more complex state of affairs, unlike Jane and Bingley's who's marriage is based on similar tastes and character. Despite their initial feelings for each other, they both achieve shared admiration and respect but this is only accomplished through the painful process of stripping away the misinterpretation and self-deception of the other. Their marriage is rational because they have learned why they love each other and it is secure because they had to perceive to get where they are now.
By studying these marriages and the characters' relationships we can ask certain questions about these interactions. For example, should a woman make it clear she has fallen in love with a man? In the society that Pride and Prejudice is located, women are expected to keep their feelings secret let alone show any emotion to others around her. She is an object for show only.
In the predictable civilization of Jane Austen, a women's role was clear and simple. Her husband or father defined her position in life; she was to be modest, submissive and almost totally incapable of independent thought or feeling. Austen, of course, was part of this society and in many of her novels, it was the basis of the story, the novels seem to accept the women's role but she is not entirely ignorant to the problems feminism causes. It is easy to discard Mrs Bennet's 'fidgets' (Ch 53 p 267) and wild changes of mood for consequences of her vulgar personality but she remains a 'woman of mean understanding' (Ch 1 p 7) who is incapable of having any ethical inequity. Lydia's 'animal spirits' (Ch 9 p 40) are likewise linked to the fact that she is 'vain, ignorant, idle' (Ch 41 p 190). Caroline Bingley and the arrogant Lady Catherine also reveal their intellectual poverty when they display their lack of interest in reading and music. The well-off Charlotte does not lack intelligence but she forfeits her uniqueness by marrying Mr Collins.
Much of this talk we see through Elizabeth's eyes. She cannot bear small talk - 'their table was superlatively stupid. Scarcely a syllable was uttered that did not relate to the game' (Ch 29 p 139) - she prefers the more entertaining "tennis-match" discussions with the gentlemen. The characterisation of Elizabeth Bennet seems to represent something of an exception from the usual image of women at that time. Above all, she possesses wit, intelligence and the freedom of thought that separates her from all of the sisters, even Jane. It has been thought that the type of woman that Elizabeth is reflects Mary Wollstonecraft. She argued for women's rights and for equality between male and female, she thought that women should devote their energies to reason and independent thought. However, it could be wrong to suggest that Lizzie entirely represents 'new women'. Despite her misgivings she is a dutiful daughter and whilst she was prepared to reject one of the richest men in England, she is anxious to assume her role as mistress of Pemberley: 'she looked forward with delight to the time when they should be removed from society so little pleasing to either, to all the comfort and elegance of their family party at Pemberley' (Ch 60 p 109). This attitude however, could have been influenced by her family upbringing.
Charlotte Collins uses her marriage to suit her best friend at the end of the story as a final twist so that it might serve her own purposes through the progression and enhancement of Mr Collins. The reader is tempted to laugh at the way Charlotte's speculations are involved in self-interest.
Charlotte once remarks of herself 'I am not romantic you know' (Ch 22 p 105), neither seems the narrator of Pride and Prejudice. It is a love story but one where there is a constant battle of desire against reason. Lydia and Wickham's marriage is one of desire in Wickham's eyes, as well as revenge against Darcy. As for Lydia, she is not unpassionate towards Wickham but thinks only of the jealousy that Kitty will have against her and how handsome her husband is. Elizabeth told Jane that her love for Darcy began 'from my first seeing his beautiful grounds in Pemberley' (Ch 59 p 301), how much does this suggest that as well as her understanding love for him, is their a hint of reason because of Darcy's wealth? Lizzie feels 'some perturbation' on approaching Pemberley: 'her spirits were in a high flutter' (Ch 43 p 201) and when she first perceives the estate 'she felt, that to be the mistress of Pemberley would be something!' (Ch 49 p 201). Darcy's wealth is of great importance to Elizabeth but only when she is faced by the reality of what money could do.
The female descendants of the Bennet family are in financial difficulty when the father dies because they lose their home as well as the income. This is the main reason for all the girls desperately wanting to marry. If you are an unmarried woman, you have no place in society. It is a hard, toughened reality to almost every characteristic of courtship and marriage in Pride and Prejudice.
In the time when Jane Austen was alive, there were very high feelings about women, their roles in the home and their position in society. It was believed that women should be for "show" purposes only. They were seen to be people with no independent thought or feeling. Men treated women how they saw fit and mostly abused them because they had no say in the matter it all went unnoticed. Austen wanted to change all that. Some women saw her as the source of female agreement to the superiority of men. Others think of her like the force of good against the single-minded men that stand between them and the equal worlds that Austen describes. Austen, being female herself, could not do anything major at the time she lived in to the views of feminism but she could use her talent as an author to promote hidden awareness about the society's problems with equality. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane uses Elizabeth Bennet as the main influence to try to communicate the author's point across to the reader.
In my opinion, I would like to think that a successful marriage does not all depend on how many financial difficulties the family has had in the past, or whether they are related to Prince Charles, but on how much the couple love each other. Providing they find true happiness, they can overcome all of life's troubles. True love takes time to show itself, and many people go looking for love, like in Pride and Prejudice. Mrs Bennet was judging every young man that showed his nose for her daughters, though it worked for Jane and Lydia, their matrimonies were not of the most inspiring. In Elizabeth's case however, Darcy was the one person perhaps that her mother loathed and did not want any of her daughters near, but he and Elizabeth were the only people to find and cherish true love.
In today's society, one can find similar aspects to that in Pride and Prejudice. Although we have moved on to accept women and men as equals, we still value individuals based on their advantages, such as money and social aspects. This leads to many difficulties with human relationships, people are suffering more than they need. Problems still exist in marriages; equality has evolved into more complex situations. The harmony between love and long-lasting relationships is hidden. Perseverance is the key to unlock a very special emotion. This is as true today as it was when this book was written. Although times have changed human emotions are still very much the same. True love and happiness seems to be the driving force behind the search for a harmonic relationship, some are lucky to find it others are not.
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