Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Analysis Essay

Introduction In the novel Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen identifies the key components of successful marriage – love, tolerance, affection and financial stability. The whole novel is written to underline the importance of marriage which shouldn’t be based on social status, wealth or affection of the youth. For her time the author was very radical as she strongly defended marriage for love, whereas in those times it was prestigious to marry for financial stability and social status. Through her characters – Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Darcy – she shows the right and wrong attitudes towards the ideal marriage. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy represent true love and true relationships, whereas Mrs. Bennet is motivated only by wealth when she decides to get her beloved daughters married. Through characters Austen makes readers believe that love and happiness can’t be bought. Character Analysis Mrs. Bennet is characterized as a miraculously tiresome character. Moreover, she is frivolous and too foolish. Mrs. Bennet is an irritating woman who becomes obsessed with idea to get her daughters married simply to improve her financial stability and social status as after her husband’s death she has been refused certain social entertainments. She cares for nothing in the world except money. Austen is willing to show that Mrs. Bennet does lack sense of virtue and property, and, what is more awful, she is not interested in intellectual and emotional education of her five daughters. Mrs. Bennet affects the attitudes of her younger daughters – Lydia and Charlotte Lucas – towards marriage. Mrs. Bennet is very pleased when Lydia gets married to an officer and she never reproaches her for shameful behavior. However, she can’t be blame as she was married only for beautiful appearance and she didn’t see another life. I think the author introduces Mrs. Bennet to highlight the necessity of marriage for young ladies. In contrast to Mrs. Bennet the author introduces the character of Elizabeth to show true virtues and necessity of love and happiness. Elizabeth is the most quick-witted and intelligent. Moreover, Elizabeth is clever, lovely and brilliant. Her positive character traits enable her to rise above shameful conduct of her mother and sisters. Elizabeth is strong enough to overcome all difficulties and to get married for love, not for financial stability or higher social status. Elizabeth is entailed with sharp tongue and ability for hasty judgments. She is the only character who manages to make Darcy love her for personality and who overcomes the power of prejudice: â€Å"My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you†. (p.35) We see that Elizabeth has pride in her abilities to express herself and to perceive the truth. Mr. Darcy is one more positive character in the novel who overcomes prejudice and finds his true love – Elizabeth. Mr. Darcy is a wealthy aristocrat being extremely conscious of class differences.   Nevertheless, he has sense of virtue and honor. Firstly, he is not interested in Elizabeth saying that â€Å"she is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men†. (p.13) However, with novel progression his character transforms and he recognized his faults of prejudice and pride. His character affects the novel as, despite high social status and wealth, he manages to overcome prejudice and to show that marriage should be based on love. He proves that a man should love women for her intelligence and personality, not only for beautiful appearance. Conclusion Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy affect the novel in different ways. Mrs. Bennet symbolizes misconception of true marriage as she is obsessed with financial stability and social status. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy represent true virtues in the novel as they teach others that marriage should be grounded on love, happiness, and attraction. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. UK, London: Penquin Books, 2005.