FREE ESSAY ON PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

In her novels, Jane Austen employs the timelessly effective characterization agents of
dialogue, action, and point of view to cleverly manipulate the reader's emotions towards
the characters. Austen successfully creates heroins in a time that it was not social
acceptable to think of women in a heroic role. She is so successful in applying these
characterization techniques in her story lines that she molds a positive feeling towards
strong females without the reader even realizing the influence the author's agents have
had, at the same time creating a very entertaining story. In Pride and Prejudice as well
as Mansfield Park for example, Jane Austen creates characters who are some of the finest
products of strong and intelligent women, yet do not loose their femininity, of our
civilization. She accomplishes this feat by using the dialogue and action of the
characters to manipulate the reader's feelings towards these women. Austen also uses
irony, satire and humor in all of her novels to show how ridiculous conventional
Victorian country life was. She had a plethera of social commentary to make, and although
women in her time period were conventionally outspoken, she used her novels as a means to
show women could be intelligent, humorous, and strong without loosing their femininity.
Jane Austen was a child of the Enlightenment, an age when reason was valued while many
romantic traditions were slowly coming to light in society. As one of the educated and
intelligent women emerging from this era, Austen used the character of Elizabeth Bennet,
in Pride and Prejudice, to epitomize the harmonious balance between reason and emotion in
a woman, making her a very likeable character to the reader. 
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth's strength of character is emphasized by its contrast
with the weak, naive acceptance of Jane's character, the instability and excess of Mrs.
Bennet's and the blind, sheep like following of Kitty's. Her strength is also shown in
her rejections of the proposals of Mr. Collins and Darcy. Unlike her mother, she does not
base her choice of love on the financial security that they could give to her, and has
the strength and willingness to reject them. This is a prime example of Austen's social
commentary. She skillfully manipulates the reader into likeing this character, but she
gives her features that in everyday life people would think negativly of. This is
especially evident in her rejection of Darcy's initial proposal, when she displays a
great deal of strength in her anger due to her belief that he has willfully prevented
Jane and Bingley's marriage and wronged Wickham by refusing to grant him the property
that the old Mr. Darcy bestowed upon him. In both cases, the man is self-assured that his
proposal will be accepted, and as a result Elizabeth's rejections are in proportion to
the size of the blows that their egos receive. In Rosings, she does not let Lady
Catherine tyrannize her as the mere satellites of money and rank, she thought she could
witness without trepidation. The Lucases and Collinses are submissive to Lady Catherine,
with Maria being frightened almost out of her senses, and it is probable that society as
a whole behaves likewise, as Elizabeth suspects she is the first creature who had ever
dared to trifle with such dignified impertinence. Austen again portrays her as a rebel
against ideas of class, popular in the day, when Lady Catherine pays a visit to her to
ensure that she does not marry Darcy and Elizabeth refuses to accept the idea that
Pemberley will be polluted by her presence. Here Elizabeth stands up for what she
believes to be right. Elizabeth also expresses her rebellion against society by not
becoming accomplished in the arts, as women were expected to then. 
Elizabeth's intelligence reveals her to be one of the few characters of the novel that
really strike the reader, Austen portrays her as a sensible individual in a society
largely composed of fools. Which incidently is another example of the social observations
Austen makes in her novels. As the daughter of Mr. Bennet, her view of society is cynical
and ironical, heightened by the presence of brainless family members and neighbors. It is
her sense of irony that enables her to survive in such a society, as she enjoys the humor
of the ridiculousness of Mr. Collins as her father does. However, she does not use as
insulting a tone as her father does, but chooses to define it as impertinence. After
Darcy's proposal is accepted, Darcy tells her that one of the reasons why he fell in love
with her was the liveliness of your mind, showing that her intelligence adds to her
charms as she uses it in the form of with rather than cold cynicism. She enjoys studying
characters, and is able to tell Bingley, I understand you perfectly. The relative
objectiveness of her views of characters is emphasized when compared with people like
Jane, who assumes that all people are good-hearted, and Mr. Collins, who is automatically
swayed to the favor of people of noble birth. Elizabeth's subjective first impressions of
Darcy and Wickham show that she is human and can make mistakes in this field; but the
fact that she can apply reason after her initial outrage on reading Darcy's letter
demonstrates her ability to face truths and change her mind rationally. She is
self-aware, unlike characters such as Mr. Collins who do not realize their own absurdity.
She can criticize herself, such as when she is enraged with herself for being so silly
for hoping that Darcy still loves her, or even mocking herself, as when she remarks on
the potential misfortune that she may find a man agreeable whom one is determined to
hate!
The existence of contrasting characters in Pride and Prejudice displays the fact that
Elizabeth has a balance between the cold knowledge of Mary and the wild emotion of Lydia.
Mr. Bennet brands both Lydia and Mary as silly, but he respects Elizabeth as she can use
reason to apply her knowledge and to curb her emotion. The severe practicality of
Charlotte Lucas, seen in her acceptance of Mr. Collins' proposal which Elizabeth had
refused, highlights the fact that although Elizabeth is not romantic to the point of
ignoring reality, she is not overly pragmatic either, and understands the importance of
love and emotion in life. 
However, Elizabeth also possesses qualities which make her attractive in a traditional
feminine way. She is undoubtedly pretty, being said to be equally next to Jane in birth
and beauty. After Darcy's initial rejection to dance with her, it is her fine eyes that
begin to interest him. Despite her cynicism towards humanity, she is not as passive
towards the silliness of her family members' actions as Mr. Bennet, being embarrassed at
the Netherfield ball and trying to prevent Lydia from going to Brighton. After marriage,
she is able to reform Kitty by bringing her to live with her so that she becomes, by
proper attention andmanagement, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. Her
intimate relationship with Jane is touching, as they confide in each other and give each
other advice. It reveals Elizabeth's capacity for sympathy, as seen in the vehemence of
her accusation of Darcy for deliberately keeping Jane and Bingley apart. Darcy cites her
affectionate behavior to Jane. Their sisterly relationship is seen as all the more
valuable when contrasted with that of Kitty and Lydia, where Lydia simply encourages
Kitty in foolishness and is insensitive to her when she is upset. Her high spirits,which
can be construed as flirtatious, also attract Darcy to her, as illustrated by her demand
that he help to sustain a conversation between them when they dance together at the
Netherfield ball. Her character is in no way unfeminine, and it is no wonder that Darcy
is attracted to her after he comes to know and understand her. From this, we can see that
Austen has managed to create her ideal woman in Elizabeth. Her strength and intelligence
are qualities that make her respectable and admirable to any man or woman, but the fact
that she possesses a softer, feminine side makes her genuinely attractive in the eyes of
the reader, and helps us to better appreciate her other qualities.