The characters in the novels Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, each face life altering choice which not only effect their own lives but also the individuals around them. These choices influence their futures and can completely alter the course of the novel. When critically assessing these novels, it is very important to consider the choices made by the young people throughout; these choices can ultimately shape the entire plot of the novel.
The first choice to consider is Lydia’s decision to flee with Wickham, and eventually marries him and Lydia seems to have no understanding of how her elopement with Wickham could be perceived as a sinful act. Zimmerman (Zimmerman 64-73)believes that “Lydia's interest in marriage has displaced any other perspective [she] might have, including a moral one”. Often marriages were arranged between parents to make sure their daughters or sons would find suitable husbands and wives in both regards to money and social standing. Marriages were also common to form political unions between houses, or to finalize a business contract. So the fact that Lydia and her family are not of a wealthy background Wickham cannot want her for financial reasons, consequently society would presume they had run away for sordid reasons. This, of course, would disgrace the family and bring disrepute on her family. They would be outcast from society and without society, the Bennet sisters could not hope to make successful marriages. Lydia married Wickham as she believed he was one with large fortune and high social status; however Wickham married Lydia for her looks and her naivety. For instance according to Austen (Pride and Prejudice: 263), “Wickham's affection for Lydia was just wh...
... middle of paper ...
...ics, 1992. Print.
• Gubar, Susan. "Looking Oppositely: Emily Bronte's Bible of Hell." (1963): Print.
• Hagan, John. "Control of Sympathy in Wuthering Heights." Nineteenth-Century Fiction, (1967): 305--323. Print.
• Harmon, William, C. Hugh Holman and William Flint Thrall. A handbook to literature. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1996. Print.
• Morgan, Susan. "Intelligence in" Pride and Prejudice"." Modern Philology, (1975): 54--68. Print.
• Unknown. "Power of Choice Determines Fate." Literature Network Forums, 2005. Web. 25 Mar 2014. .
• Walder, Dennis. The realist novel. London: Routledge, 1995. Print.
• Zimmerman, Everett. "Pride and Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice." Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 23. 1 (1968): 64-73. JSTOR. Web.http://www.jstor.org/stable/2932317 .
Harmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
...ouples in Pride and Prejudice, they have the worst financial situation. Wickham’s gambling problem will more than likely lead to more debts and a quickly emptied bank, even with Darcy’s initial money. Lydia and Wickham’s distorted idea of marriage can only lead to disaster.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice In 1796 Jane Austin wrote a classic novel named Pride and Prejudice. She wrote many novels but they were not published. In 1813 the novel was published.
Murphy, Bruce, ed. “Pride and Prejudice.” Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia. 4th ed. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1996. 828-29. Print.
Fowler, Karen J.Introduction. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen: The Complete Novels. By Jane Austen. New York: Penguin, 2006. 211-421. Print.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. Handbook to Literature. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1986.
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Norton Critical 3rd edition, ed. Donald Gray New York and London: Norton, 2001.
Marcus, Mordecai. “A Major Thematic Pattern in Pride and Prejudice.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 16.2 (Dec. 1961): 274-279. JSTOR. Web. 02 May 2015.
Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice Wuthering Heights presents the theme of love within and outside of marriage. This book has a major female character whose marriage conflicts in some way with her ideal of love. Catherine's first love is Heathcliff.
Zimmerman, Everett. "Pride and Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice." Nineteenth-Century Fiction. 1st ed. Vol. 23. University of California, 1968. 64-73. Jstor. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
On the surface, Jane Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of how three of the five daughters of a family living in 19th century England become engaged to be married. Underlying themes of the story, however, reveal a message about growing up and the judgments of people based on either outward appearances, behavior, or secondhand information from another person. The title of the novel proves to be extremely fitting, as Elizabeth, the main protagonist, learns that too much pride, along with many unjustified prejudices come to result in ignorance as to who a person really is inside and renders one incapable of finding true love.
Wright, Andrew H. "Feeling and Complexity in Pride and Prejudice." Ed. Donald Gray. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1966. 410-420.