Literary Realism In Pride And Prejudice, By Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a popular 18th century novel that illustrates the complex relationship between characters and the society in which they live in. In order to clearly show the audience the value of literary realism, Austen presents two characters that are so extreme, and “distorted”, in terms attitude, arrogance and opinion, that they help her justify Elizabeth's rational. Elizabeth's mother, Mrs. Bennet, and cousin, Mr. Collins, are perhaps the most overdramatic characters in the entire novel.

Mrs. Bennet, though some claim to be simply a concerned mother, is in fact a foolish, and boisterous woman whose one and only intention is to marry off her daughters. Austen created her to be obnoxious so that it would seem as though Elizabeth’s decisions would be rationale. Throughout the entire novel Mrs. Bennet lets her shallow side shine. A prime example of this is when the great Mr. Collins arrives. At first, the entire Bennet family, including Mrs. Bennet agreed that Mr. Collins was a “disagreeable” man. However, as soon as Mrs. Bennet picks up the hint from Collins that he has the intention of marrying one of her daughters, Austen explains “Mrs. Bennet treasured up the hint, and trusted that she might soon have two daughters married; and the man whom she could not bear to speak of the day before was now in her good grace” (49). Even though Mr. Collins was bothersome less than a day before, as soon as Mrs. Bennet realized one of her daughters would be married and wealth would be instilled into their lives, she immediately put away her previous regards. As Mrs. Bennet stated in the beginning of the novel, “The business of her life was to get her daughters married” (6). Even though, this is typical of mothers at...

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... show how Elizabeth is against the status quo of marriage. Back then, women were automatically supposed to accept the proposal, because it benefitted her family. By having Elizabeth reject this proposal, Austen is able to convey her feelings of disapproval for the conventional marriage through her.

In order to convey her true feelings towards marriage, Jane Austen shows them through Elizabeth, the main character. Yet in order to truly make her feelings clear, Jane Austen also creates distorted and extreme minor characters, such as Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins. These two characters influence the novel greatly, in that they are so extreme, that they help rationalize Elizabeth’s decisions. If it were not for them, Elizabeth would have been seen as a selfish character and Jane Austen scorn for the conventional marriage of the time would not have been clear.