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Characters and traits in the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
How does jane austen present the character elizabeth bennet in pride and prejudice
Characters and traits in the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
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The Importance of a Sister Every great character has an important sidekick to go with them. The sidekick is always less described and focused on but is just as important. Another way to say sidekick is confidante. The confidante always helps the main character, but most importantly they help the plot. In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the most influential confidante is Jane Bennet. Jane is the main character Elizabeth’s sister and also her best friend; Jane changes the plot of the book by her characteristics, actions, and fate.
Jane Bennet is the oldest and most beautiful of the Bennet sisters. She has pale features like her hair, eyes, and skin. She is reserved and quiet, unlike most of her family. She is often criticized because
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Her beauty is what sticks out the most to the other women described in the book. Her pale features are thought to be ideal for the women in that time period. Jane provides the comparison to all the other debutantes. Her looks are not the only thing that is appealing to other characters. The way she does not share her emotions is the way a lady should act when looking for a husband unlike her younger sister, Lydia, who flirts with every eligible man. Jane does not share how she feels about Charles until he proposes leaving the only person to truly know her feelings her sister Elizabeth. Charlotte, Elizabeth’s friend, brings up how infatuated Bingley is with Jane and how Jane does not show it back. Charlotte feels Jane might lose him if she does not, but Elizabeth feels differently, “If I can perceive her regard for him, he must be a simpleton, indeed, not to discover it too” (Austen 14). Jane, being the epitome of how a lady should act, gives reader an idea of the type of woman men viewed attractive and wife …show more content…
Marrying for love is uncommon in the book, so Jane is iconoclast when she marries Charles Bingley. Jane and Bingley are in different social classes; Bingley is wealthy and privileged while Jane is just the opposite. Miss Bingley, Charles’s sister, is strongly against their relationship for that reason. Miss Bingley tries to convince Charles how low class Jane is, “But with such a father and mother, and such low connections, I am afraid there is no chance of it” (Austen 24). Jane and Mr. Bingley lead the way for Elizabeth and Darcy’s engagement by going against society’s
At this point in time, love was overcoming all situations. Not only that, but the book represents the pressures women had to rely on men. The ending is progressive as seen with the main characters marriage situations. Darcy and Bingley are both financially secure unlike the Bennet sisters or Charlotte Lucas whose families need to work for their money and the land would be inherited by someone else. Women were to be married off to have at least some fortune. However the two Bennet sisters (and also most of the male characters), Jane and Elizabeth, choose love over wealth status. Especially seen with Elizabeth in chapter 19, her consistent rejection towards Collins’s proposal gave the reader proof that she doesn't want to marry for money, she could've said yes and been set for the rest of their life and inherit her father’s estate, but ended up marrying Darcy who she fell in love with. Darcy threw away his possible marriage with Miss de Bourgh, Bingley threw away the possible marriage with Miss Darcy (even though his sisters kept trying to get them two together because Miss de Bourgh is upper class compared to Eliza), and both of them could've been set for life and benefited from their wives money instead of marrying the middle class Bennet
In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen used the character of Elizabeth Bennet to epitomize the harmonious balance between reason and emotion in a woman, making her a truly admirable and attractive character.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet’s journey to love and marriage is the focal point of the narrative. But, the lesser known source of richness in Austen’s writing comes from her complex themes the well-developed minor characters. A closer examination of Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s dear friend in Pride and Prejudice, shows that while she did not take up a large amount of space in the narrative, her impact was great. Charlotte’s unfortunate circumstances in the marriage market make her a foil to Elizabeth, who has the power of choice and refusal when it comes to deciding who will be her husband. By focusing on Charlotte’s age and lack of beauty, Austen emphasizes how ridiculous and cruel marriage can be in this time.
...stantly trying to be agreeable and passive and allowed her to speak her mind and act upon her values. Elizabeth was very active in her life and expressed her thoughts when she wasn’t happy with something. This is in stark contrast with agreeable, passive women that were idealized by society in the Regency Period. Because Elizabeth was so independent and freethinking, Austen gave her an ideal ending and initiated the rewriting of societal norms for women in the process. Austen was known for her subtle but powerful social commentary in her books, especially on women’s rights and equality. Her ideas of how women should live and be treated were very ahead of her time and she helped pave the way for other feminists. Her character, Elizabeth Bennet, will always be iconic in the history of feminism for being one of the first to promote female independence and individuality.
At the start of Jane Eyre, Jane is living with her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her family after being orphaned. Jane is bitterly unhappy there because she is constantly tormented by her cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana. After reading the entire book you realize that Jane was perfectly capable of dealing with that issue on her own, but what made it unbearable was that Mrs. Reed always sided with her children, and never admitted to herself that her offspring could ever do such things as they did to Jane. Therefore, Jane was always punished for what the other three children did, and was branded a liar by Mrs. Reed. This point in the book marks the beginning of Jane's primary conflict in the novel. She feels unloved and unaccepted by the world, as her own family betrays her.
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....
When a bachelor from London comes to Longbourn, the Bennet sisters get excited to get to meet him at the ball. At the ball he is taken by Jane Bennet, the eldest of the five sisters. Mr.Darcy is Mr.Bingley’s friend and he isn’t taken by anyone, which makes everyone think of him as arrogant. But in a course of time he finds himself attracted to Elizabeth Bennet, the second eldest of the sister, because of her charm and intelligence. Jane’s and Mr.Bingley’s relationship continued and on her way to visit him she gets sick and Elizabeth walks all the way to the Bingley’s house to take care of her sister.
Bingley and Jane Bennet show immediate chemistry from the beginning of the novel to the end. They encounter a rough patch in their relationship towards the middle of the novel when Mr. Bingley does not visit Netherfield for an extended period of time. However, the reader can almost assume an impending marriage between the two from the beginning of the novel, even with their rough patch in the middle. Bingley and Jane serve as the two of the most kind characters in Pride and Prejudice and establish themselves as the perfect couple. Their intentions in the marriage exhibit themselves as pure and kind-hearted. They married each other for all of the right reasons. Love distinguished itself as the most important quality in their caring and passionate marriage which proves as rare marriage equality in this novel. Many tried to separate this couple, including Darcy, but in the end all attempts to ruin their love failed because they ended up happily married. Their views and attitude toward their marriage portray a unique and rare marriage in this novel due to the fact that they married for love instead of money or
In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays Elizabeth Bennet as "strong and intelligent, yet bewitching in a completely feminine way". Elizabeth's possession of these attributes: strength of character and moral integrity, great intelligence, and an attractive personality, make her an admirable person. Yet Elizabeth has faults, which makes her more human. Austen's portrayal of Elizabeth is realistic and masterful, often juxtaposing her with characters lacking her attributes to heighten our appreciation of her.
During the era were Jane lived it was thought to be a selfish for women to show desire, it was a bad emotion that women were expected to control and keep quite. To perform one's duty to society was thought to be respectful and should be put before anything else. Desire is a term to want something or someone very strongly no matter what the outcome is. Duty in contrast, is a moral obligation to something that somebody is obliged to do for moral, legal, or religious reasons , which is thought to be selfless. The decisions made regarding these emotions are significant throughout Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte shows us Jane’s integrity helps her find the balance between duty to herself, and desire to stay.
Unlike Elizabeth, Charlotte is not so fortunate in her physical appearance. She is referred to as plain by Mrs. Bennet and even her own mother views her as such, which can be seen when Mrs. Bennet states, ‘she is very plain. Lady Lucas herself has often said so, and envied me Jane’s beauty. ’ Charlotte is aware that she is not the most beautiful woman, and she states this when she describes herself as having never been handsome . These physical attributes of ...
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
Jane Bennet is the eldest daughter in the Bennet family at 23 years old and is deemed the most beautiful of all the daughters and of all the ladies of Hertfordshire. She is amiable, and her “sweetness and disinterestedness are really angelic” (132). She never wishes to think shamefully of anyone as long as she can help it. Her modesty is strong enough that those who do not know her may believe her to be reserved. Elizabeth and Jane have opposing dispositions yet their relationship is vital as they balance each other out. Jane brings out the benevolent qualities of others for Elizabeth while Elizabeth keeps Jane weary of ill-intent.
Both are caring, loving and considerate towards other people, but Jane is extremely loving and she does not want to judge any of the other characters in the novel before she has heard the entire story. This is because she does not want to think badly of anyone. We know this from Jane?s letter to Elizabeth regarding the actions of Miss Bingley and Miss Hurst ... ... middle of paper ... ... the novel would make no sense.
The novel mostly focuses on Jane’s thoughts, emotions , and growth (Mayer). It is almost impossible not to be dragged into her thoughts. One of the first moments where Jane’s attitude can be seen was when she confronts Mrs. Reed. Women were not seen to have such complex thoughts and emotions, better yet say them out loud. Bronte again challenges women 's role when Jane decides who she is going to marry. Women in the victorian era did not usually have a choice in who they should marry. Many believed that women should consider themselves “lucky and privileged” when a man asked to marry them (Mayer). However, Jane acts completely different. She does not fall into a trap of simply being “lucky” that one should propose to her. This act can be seen in her refusal to marry St. John: “I have a woman 's heart, but not where you are concerned ; for you I have only comrade’s constancy ; a fellow-soldier’s frankness, fidelity, fraternity, if you like; a neophyte’s respect and submission to his hierophant, nothing more-don 't fear” (Bronte 472). Jane simply knows what she feels and does not want to make decisions because she should feel lucky. When she finally decides to marry Rochester it is not because someone decided for her. “Reader, I married him” shows how she, herself made the choice to finally marry him (Bronte 520). No one forces her or decides for her, she makes the choice