Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice

“From the first moment I met you, you made me realized that you’re the last man on Earth I could ever marry.” – Elizabeth Bennet

“Are you to proud Mr. Darcy? And would you consider pride a fault or a virtue?” -Elizabeth Bennet

“Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Do you think this union can be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth?” – Lady Catherine Bourg

“I... do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before.” – Mr. Darcy

“[On marriage] Is that really all you think about?” - Elizabeth
”When you have five daughters, Lizzie, tell me what else will occupy your thoughts, and then perhaps you will understand.” – Mrs. Bennet

Pride and Prejudice contains one of the most cherished love stories in English literature: the courtship between Darcy and Elizabeth. As in any good love story, the lovers must elude and overcome numerous stumbling blocks, beginning with the tensions caused by the lovers’ own personal qualities. Elizabeth’s pride makes her misjudge Darcy on the basis of a poor first impression, while Darcy’s prejudice against Elizabeth’s poor social standing blinds him, for a time, to her many virtues.
Pride and Prejudice depicts a society in which a woman’s reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism. This theme appears in the novel, when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield and arrives with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation-conscious Miss Bingley and her friends. At other points, the ill-mannered, ridiculous behavior of Mrs. Bennet gives her a bad reputation with the more refined (and snobbish) Darcys and Bingleys.
Through the Darcy-Elizabeth and Bingley-Jane marriages, Austen shows the power of love and happiness to overcome class boundaries and prejudices, thereby implying that such prejudices are hollow, unfeeling, and unproductive.
Marriage is the ultimate goal; courtship constitutes the real working-out of love. Courtship becomes a sort of forge of a person’s personality, and each courtship becomes a microcosm for different sorts of love
Nearly every scene in Pride and Prejudice takes place indoors and the action centers around the Bennet home in the small village of Longbourn. Nevertheless, journeys—even short ones—function repeatedly as catalysts for change in the novel. Elizabeth’s first journey, by which she intends simply to visit Charlotte and Mr. Collins, brings her into contact with Mr. Darcy, and leads to his first proposal. Her second journey takes her to Derby and Pemberley, where she fans the growing flame of her affection for Darcy. The third journey, meanwhile, sends various people in pursuit of Wickham and Lydia, and the journey ends with Darcy tracking them down and saving the Bennet family honor, in the process demonstrating his continued devotion to Elizabeth.