Social class conflict has been an issue throughout time and will likely proceed to be one for decades to come. Even “…the criterion in Islam is not [based on] color or social status” (Olajuwon Year); the faith is more focused on being a respectable individual. Unfortunately, class conflict is commonly the barrier of human interaction between high and middle classes with that of the lower classes. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice portrays how social dispute is a pivotal theme throughout the novel. Social classes demonstrate how one’s treatment of others is occasionally based on another’s family name or status in society. Throughout the novel, characters develop distorted opinions about others contributing to plot conflict. However, love often …show more content…
For instance, Jane and Bingley are both of different social ranks but it was not an obstacle they had to overcome. However, Darcy and Bingley’s sister thought otherwise and decided to end things between them before it got serious (make it sound like Bingley is a child; talk about how Darcy talked him into leaving Jane). Jane was genuinely in love with Bingley, however, her financial status made her seem like she was aiming for the money and financial security. Darcy and Ms. Bingley decided to take a stand and ‘save’ him from heartbreak (change this I don’t like it), so, they moved to the city and left Jane clueless on what she has done to push him away. Darcy, being one of the people who decided to split Jane and Bingley, has his own problems with class orders and interactions, believing that everybody that is financially inferior to him is less educated and is not worth his time. Darcy has proven that he is vain and pretentious at the ball, where he saw Elizabeth for the first time. However, his first impression of her and her family made his theory somehow right. Due to the Bennets behavior at the Netherfield ball, his impression of Elizabeth was based off of her family’s vulgarity, and assumed that she was foolish, uneducated, and uncivilized. ADD QUOTE *** (Page 12, first …show more content…
Darcy’s conception of Elizabeth was established on the fact that her family is embarrassing and discourteous, making her promptly inferior to him. However, Elizabeth’s strong-willed and independent character attracted Darcy’s difficult attention, proving to him her true and unique reeling personality. Particular plot twists throughout the novel have occurred that helped Darcy and Elizabeth reveal their true identities. Darcy’s boastful attitude backfires when he first proposed to Elizabeth, who immediately refuses his offer due to his unintentional insults concerning her class and familial relations. However, Elizabeth’s reason for rejecting Darcy was not only for his abusive remarks, but also because of his interference with Jane’s happiness owing to the fact of his belief that her social class and emotional status were not good enough for his dear companion. After the incident, Darcy and Elizabeth did coincidentally meet when Elizabeth and the Gardiners were visiting Darcy’s estate thinking he would be out of town. Darcy got to see the other half of Elizabeth’s family, who were well mannered and delightful. While Darcy and Elizabeth explored other sides of each other, Wickham was taking advantage of Lydia’s ignorance and ran away with her. When Darcy receives the news about what Lydia and Wickham have done, instead of just mocking how reckless the Bennet’s are he decides to help them. Having a
He tells her that Darcy convinced Bingley not to marry Jane because he did not approve. Lizzy blames Darcy for her sister's unhappiness. In contrast to Mr. Collins proposal Darcy declares his love for Elizabeth and she at first has no clue how to react. She proceeds to tell him he is the last person she would want to marry. When Elizabeth and Darcy meet again he gives her a letter. It is from him explaining how he feels terrible and explains who Wickham truly is. Lizzie realizes how she had overreacted and how prejudice she was toward
Elizabeth becomes acquainted with and attracted to a young officer named Wickham who tells her of how he and Darcy used to live under the same house because the late Darcy was his guardian. Wickham explains that Darcy cruelly cheated him out an inheritance. This information makes Elizabeth despise Darcy’s character even more than before. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bennet eagerly waits for Mr. Bingley to visit them like he said he would, however, Jane suddenly receives a letter in the mail from Miss Bingley informing her that the Bingleys and Darcy have returned to London for the winter. Jane is sad but does her best to hide it. Meanwhile another shock arrives for Elizabeth when Charlotte Lucas tells her that she is engaged to Mr. Collins. Charlotte explains that she is getting old and needs security and a comfortable home and that she is not looking for love in a marriage. Elizabeth does not believe that Charlotte will be happy but agrees to visit her and Mr. Collins after they are married. Jane travels to London with her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, to get away from the family and the countryside and also in hopes that she will see Mr. Bingley. However, Miss Bingley visits her and behaves very rudely, reassuring Jane that Miss Bingley never intended to be her friend in the first place, and that her friendship with Mr. Bingley is beginning to look very unfortunate. Later in the spring, Elizabeth visits her best friend Charlotte Lucas, who is now known as Mrs.
Pride and Prejudice is a novel that has intrigued readers for decades. Despite where one may be from, what gender they are, or what age they are, this story enthralls every reader. One of the primary reasons that this book is so notorious is because the two main themes: pride and prejudice, are two characteristics that any person can say they have come to know. Whether it be in themselves, in a friend, or even in a stranger, pride and prejudice are two defining attributes a person may have. Almost every character in this novel possesses at least one of these characteristics and because of this, relationships are created, broken down, and built
His sense of her inferiority–of its being a degradation of–the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclinations were dwelt on...” (Austen 12). These words reflect Mr. Darcy’s excessive pride and heightened awareness of social status, while inducing him to recount all the ways in which he and Elizabeth are an illogical union, rather than relaying anything complimentary. In response to this insult-ridden proposal, Elizabeth proclaims that if he had acted in a more “gentlemanlike manner,” she would have been more inclined to express sympathy following her rejection of his advances. Despite Elizabeth’s clear message that she will not observe his insensitive words in submission, Mr. Darcy endures in the conviction that his prideful manners toward Elizabeth are well-justified and merely detail the truthful, adverse nature of her inferior social standing with the utmost sincerity.
Darcy as a proud, arrogant man based upon his actions at the assembly where she first sees him. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy first meet at a ball where she instantly believes him to be a rude individual as she watches him only dance with women he knows and hears him call her tolerable. Elizabeth is offended by Mr. Darcy’s actions at the ball, and uses this knowledge to instantly form a negative opinion of his character. Mr. Darcy’s good nature and kind heart is therefore overlooked by Elizabeth as they continue to see each other, and she does not let go of her original prejudice of him until the end of the novel when she eventually realizes her love for him and marries him. Elizabeth’s poor and unchanging opinion of Darcy led to her initially saying no to Darcy’s first marriage proposal. Had Elizabeth not held a grudge on Mr. Darcy for his original actions at the ball, she could have realized her love for him sooner. Her mistrust of Darcy also led to repercussions that negatively affected her and her family’s lives. She would not have been deceived by Mr. Wickham and she would have saved her family from shame and embarrassment if she would have waited longer to form an opinion of Mr.
In Mr. Darcy’s first proposal, Elizabeth has been told by Mr. Darcy’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam that he has recently “saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage,”(Austen 159) Elizabeth quickly makes the connection that it was the marriage of Jane and Mr. Bingley. As she returns to contemplate on this privately, she is disturbed by Mr. Darcy and she greets him coldly, and eventually refuses his advances. Comparatively, as they stroll together at Netherfield, Elizabeth gratefully thanks Mr. Darcy for his help in settling the precarious marriage matters between Lydia and Mr. Wickham. Her attitude towards him here is a positive one, and she is willing to open up, and also listen to Mr. Darcy explain
Beginning with Mr. Darcy's failed proposal and his later letter of explanation, Elizabeth's proud and judgemental nature is altered by the pressure placed on her to decide if she wishes to marry Mr. Darcy or not. Introspection and her eventual acceptance of her romantic feelings for Mr. Darcy demonstrate that strenuous emotional situations can lead to a change in character, by allowing her to open up her prejudiced mind and see that the opinions she has are not always correct. Prior to her relations with Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth is a young woman who sees little point in marrying if she does not find a man whom will bring her happiness in life. This provides a foundation from which she can change, placing her in an ideal position to change in response to the
One of her most recognized works is the novel Pride and prejudice, which was very much valued during the Romantic Movement. Austen through her novel illustrates the importance of marriage, either with or without love. She is one of the most important novelists who through their novel is trying to demonstrate the historical preferences and a class separation. She shows the social proposal for that time by how people desired to marry into a higher class, and how the marriage should arise from love despite social standing. Austen through her novel is trying to bring awareness to inequalities between people of the same community. Some of these inequalities are the results of individual differences in ability and effort, but much of it also refers to the social differences regarding power, wealth, and prestige.
Elizabeth was not originally drawn to Darcy for his money and she decided he was not worth it since his attitude and manners were poor towards her. During this time period, other women would have looked passed his manners just to acquire his money but Austen made Elizabeth different in an attempt to alter society. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were not the only acquaintance made in the novel that social hierarchy
When Elizabeth flatly turns down his marriage proposal, it startles Darcy into realizing just how arrogant and assuming he has been. Soon, there is reconciliation between Darcy and Elizabeth where each admits how much they have changed as a result of their earlier encounters. An example of this is when Lady Catherine visits to insure the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth. She came in order to prevent it, but when Darcy hears the manner in which Elizabeth answered Lady Catherine, he realizes that Elizabeth regards him differently. He saw that her attitude of him had changed which prompted him to make his marriage proposal. Thus, we can now see that Darcy and Elizabeth both have balance in their relationship because they are able to reflect against each other and each is capable of undergoing a change. In the end, Darcy is willing to marry into a family with three silly daughters, an embarrassing mother and is willing to make Wickham his brother-in-law .It may be that he is more easygoing about other people's faults because he is now aware of his own.
Just as the characters unknowingly follow Darcy's example of pride, they commit Elizabeth's crucial mistake, prejudging people (especially Darcy) according to horribly inadequate experience. Elizabeth's positive judgement of Wickham and negative one of Darcy prevent her from seeing Wickham's devious and whimsical nature and Darcy's honest efforts to improve despite the apparent lack of incentive. Like Elizabeth, the rest of the Bennets, and indeed the rest of those living in the vicinity of Meryton, believe Darcy to be a wholly disagreeable man. (In fact, he began as such, but even when he began to change, everyone refused to realize it, and maintained their dislike of him because of their previous judgements.) Mrs. Bennet is prejudiced against all other mothers with young daughters, believing them to be just as ambitious and scheming as she herself is. When told that Mrs. Long promised to introduce the Bennet sisters to Bingley, Mrs. Bennet hisses
Elizabeth thinks of Darcy as being “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (15). After Darcy discomfits Elizabeth, “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me” (13), she herself becomes prideful and prejudiced against him. Prejudice also is an issue for Darcy because he dislikes Elizabeth in the beginning for her low social status, for being impecunious and socially inept family: “Their struggle is as much as against each other as it is against the pressure of society or family. The novel presents a balance of power not only between two characters but between two conflicting modes of judgment” (Bloom 50), but Darcy is forced to deal with his pride and prejudice when he falls in love with Elizabeth. Elizabeth rejects Darcy’s first proposal based mostly on his pride and condescension.
As the book progresses, both characters manage to overcome these character flaws and various other obstacles and eventually realise their love for one another as their compatibility and understanding is increasingly revealed to the reader, ‘It was a union that must have been to the advantage of both.’ Darcy and Elizabeth’s similarities lie in their levels of intelligence, dedication to friends and their stance on expressing their opinions openly. Regardless of what anybody said about their relationship, including Mrs. Bennet and the superior Lady Catherine, they ignored these various warnings. Lady Catherine mainly commented on Elizabeth’s social inferiority to hers and her nephews.
Elizabeth’s relationship to Darcy also involved the pressure of living up to society’s expectations of social classes. Darcy is prideful of his wealth and wants to maintain his fame. His reputation is challenged when he meets Elizabeth.
Darcy realizes that his pride is keeping he and Elizabeth apart. Mr. Darcy earns Elizabeth’s love by fixing all the wrongs he has committed to her and her family. He brings Elizabeth’s sister and Mr. Bingley back together, saying, “ I told him, moreover, that I believed myself mistaken in supposing, as I had done, that your sister was indifferent to him; and as I could easily perceive that his attachment to her was unabated, I felt no doubt of their happiness together” (Chapter 58 ). Elizabeth is also grateful when Mr. Darcy persuades Wickham to marry Lydia as shown in this quote: “ The vague and unsettled suspicions which uncertainty had produced of what Mr. Darcy might have been doing to forward her sister’s match, which she had feared to encourage as an exertion of goodness too great to be probable, and at the same time dreaded to be just, from the pain of obligation, were proved beyond their greatest extent to be true!” Elizabeth sees that Mr. Darcy is good at heart (Chapter 52). With this new information, she accepts his second marriage