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Character analysis of Jane Austen's pride and prejudice
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Jane and Elizabeth Bennet are two sisters who are at the age of marriage. Their parents want them to be married to wealthy handsome men who are kind and gentle and warmhearted. Even though they are sisters they have different mindsets to how they should live their life. Elizabeth believes that she shouldn’t have to be the property of a man and believes that men and women are equal. She wont have a man who thinks that she is just a women who cant have her own mindset and wont let her be who she wants to be. Jane is not completely opposite of her sister Elizabeth but she has a more traditional mindset towards marriage. She believes that women should have the role that they do in that time period. Which is to be a stay at home mom who listens to her husbands every word and does what she is told for the sake of the marriage. Jane is happy with this sort of lifestyle
She also doesn’t have a problem with saying so either. ”There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it” (24 Austen). This is very uncommon for women to act this way especially if they eventually want to end up married. Jane is more about appealing herself to a man so she can be married. So Jane doesn’t usually speak up when there is something that she disagrees with. This is the way most women acted, they were seen as lesser then men and for this they weren’t aloud to speak their opinion freely all the time. This did not stop Elizabeth from doing so even though it wasn’t the norm. Jane and Elizabeth are different in this way because Elizabeth is a little more ill say what I think because marriage isn’t insanely important to me. Jane is ill keep my mouth shut to have the possibility of you liking me more and finding me a candidate to be your
situation is best summed up in the book by Jane Austen as we are given
...show us that the choices for women in marriage were both limited and limiting in their scope and consequences. As can be seen, it came down to a choice between honoring the private will of the self, versus, honoring the traditions and requirements of society as a whole. Women were subject to the conditions set down by the man of the house and because of the social inequality of women as a gender class; few fought the rope that tied them down to house, hearth, and husband, despite these dysfunctions. They simply resigned themselves to not having a choice.
This is evident at the end of the novel when the two most intellectually advanced characters unite in what Austen portrays as the most prosperous marriage, again reinforcing the importance of a superior mind. Not only does Caroline serve as a foil in the way of education, Austen also uses her character to scrutinise the behaviour considered necessary to secure a husband. For instance, just after Caroline had been described as having little interest in her book, she attempts to impress Mr Darcy by declaring, “after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”(Austen 54) Here, Austen ridicules Caroline and condemns her for warping her opinions in order to gain the affections of Darcy degrading her to “his faithful assistant” (Austen, 39) In comparison, Elizabeth challenges societal confines by placing value in maintaining her own opinion and not capitulating to people of a higher rank. She refused to dance with Darcy, a male of a higher class, demonstrating the lengths she will go to in terms of crossing social boundaries in order to articulate her opinion. Ultimately Caroline fails in her incessant attempts to charm Darcy whereas Elizabeth’s rejection of the traditional social behaviour and innate wit captivates his attention and eventually his heart, leading the reader to deem Caroline’s attitude and accomplishments as inferior to
First, the 1900’s is a time where women are trying to put away the homemaker image and obtain work. This causes many hardships between husbands and wives. Jane is on the verge of beginning to leave her homemaker image and begin a career in writing. “I am sitting by the window now, up in the atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing much as I please, save lack of strength” (Gilman, 1599). Jane is starting to recognize that she is loosing her feminism. John recognizes this and tries to do everything he can to stop Jane. John knows that Jane is putting aside her role as being a wife, homemaker and mother. In these times, husbands’ do not believe that women could balance both home and work responsibilities. Jane decides to oppose the homemaker life and branch out into writing. The feminist role is “The concept of "The New Woman," for example, began to circulate in the 1890s-1910s as women are pushing for broader roles outside the home-roles that could draw on women's intelligence and non-domestic skills and talents” (http:/...
She is the most beautiful of all her sisters and is a very sweet girl. If not for her kind personality, her character would be rather boring, seen as more of a dramatic individual who is irritating and hard to root for. She sees the best in people, too the point of naivety; this is precisely her problem. While it is a flattering trait of hers, Jane is actually quite oblivious to the real qualities of many of the people she encounters. As Elizabeth says, “she never sees a fault in anyone”. For example, up through the first thirty chapters of the book, Jane is the only one who refuses to believe that Mr. Darcy is a self-entitled, high standard wanting, elitist fiend. She insists that he is a good man who has deeper qualities than anyone cares to admit. Meanwhile, Darcy says that she “smiles to much”. Another example of her naivety is when she finally accepts that Miss Bingley is trying to separate her from Mr. Bingley, as insisted by Elizabeth. Upon reflection of the matter, she states, "I do not at all comprehend her reason for wishing to be intimate with me; but if the same circumstances were to happen again, I am sure I should be deceived again". She even admits it! She is sweet, but she is a little blind. Her sister Elizabeth, on the other hand, is much more witty. She is beautiful, kind, smart, and not so oblivious. Of the sisters, she is the most sensible and
Within this extended essay, the subject chosen to study and formulate a question from was English Literature, in particular the portrayal of women during the 19th and 20th centuries, where the following novels 'The Great Gatsby' written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' were set in and originated the basis from. The question is as follows 'How does Jane Austen and F Scott Fitzgerald portray gender inequalities in both lower and upper class relationships particularly through love and marriage within the novels 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'The Great Gatsby' from the different era's it was written in?' This particular topic was chosen reflecting the morality and social class during the two different era's and determining whether there was change in the characteristics of women as well as men and how their behaviour was depicted through the two completely different stories, as they both reflect the same ethical principles in terms of love and marriage. The two novels were chosen in particular to view their differences as well as their similarities in terms of gender inequality through love and marriage, as the different era's it was set in gives a broader view in context about how society behaved and what each author was trying to portray through their different circumstances, bringing forward a similar message in both novels.
Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet are two characters from Pride and Prejudice, which was written by Jane Austin. This story takes place at some point during the Napoleonic Wars. They are the parents of five girls, Elizabeth Bennet, Mary Bennet, Jane Bennet, Lydia Bennet, and Kitty Bennet. The relationship between the two is very poor. Mrs. Bennet is more outgoing than Mr. Bennet. She thinks Mr. Bennet is going to die soon and the only thing that occupies her thoughts is her daughters getting married. Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet have opposite personalities, different relationships with their daughters, and different daughters they admire.
Charlotte speaks more to the general attitude of the period, the plain desire to be married. In the same conversation Elizabeth commented, “Your plan is a good one where nothing is in the question but the desire to be well married to get a rich husband or any husband, I daresay I should adopt it” (Austen 23). Elizabeth, unlike Charlotte, does not desire to marry for the sole purpose of convenience; she refuses to settle for just any man because society tells her to do so. She later states, “This is not quite enough to understand [Bingley’s’] character.” Elizabeth’s own opinions are shown through Jane’s situation, she wishes to understand her partner’s character before committing to marriage....
In pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth’s younger sister Lydia runs away with her love interest Mr Wickham. The couple were frowned upon, as the idea of pre-marital sex brought sh...
In the book Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen decided to make Elizabeth Bennet the central character. Elizabeth is the second eldest of the Bennet sisters and from the very beginning of the book; we can sense that the whole plot in the story is based around her. Therefore, we can suggest that there are many reasons to think that Elizabeth is the heroine in Pride and Prejudice. However, I believe that before arguing on this idea, we must define the concept of heroine. When we talk about the heroine of a story, we usually expect a woman who is brave, courageous, trustworthy and has many other positive qualities, depending on what she does. This makes the reader like the heroine more than any other character in the story. However, the question is if Elizabeth fits into this general frame for heroines.
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
One reason why Elizabeth proves to be a very interesting character is her close friendship with her older sister Jane. The pair know each other very well, and they both feel a need to confide in one another due to the less that charming personality traits of the rest of their family. They are the only sensible ones if the household. Due to their constant contact, that are able to tell each other's moods with great ease, Eliza especially. When Jane returns from seeing Bingley "Elizabeth instantly read her feelings", so we know that they spend a lot of time in each other's company.
The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love for his daughters while, on the contrary, Mrs. Bennet’s love is over-acted and conditional. Both parents help to shape their daughters’ characteristics and beliefs: Lydia reflecting Mrs. Bennet’s flighty and excessive behavior while Elizabeth inherits Mr. Bennet’s pensive and reflective temperament. Looking past their dissimilar personality traits and contradicting convictions, both parents hold the family together and play an integral role in the household structure.
One of the most obvious attitudes that is shown throughout the book is Mrs Bennet's expectations. Her main aim is to get her daughters married to men with fortune. I think her reason for this is because as Mr and Mrs Bennet do not have any sons, their estate will not be entailed onto the daughters, and so Mrs Bennet wants to secure them a good future. She is arranging their marriages to pick someone suitable for them and also she may want them married to rich men for the society aspect. It would make them look higher class and would gain respect, as at that time people with more money were treated better.
Elizabeth wants to marry for love and not social gain. Charlotte is the example of what a woman was expected to be in society and does not agree with Elizabeth and she is content to secure a future. While Lydia runs the risk of disgracing her family by running a riot around town. This is a clear example of social class and the different perspective characters express on the topic. Mrs. Bennet attempts to marry off her daughters to the best possible men.