Major Themes In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

Jane Austen may be regarded as a very blunt writer by many readers simply for her titles. With titles such as Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Pride and Prejudice, it is very easy to assume things about the contents of her novels. One may even claim that she gives away her primary themes and contents of the novel in her titles. Though this is a broad claim, for there are a great variety of themes and messages found in Austen’s novels that are not discussed in her briefly worded titles. Throughout the novel of Pride and Prejudice, certain evident and recurring themes beyond those initially described in its title arise. Though most of the important themes and topics of the novel are shown from the very start of the novel. In the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses the interactions and conversations of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet as a means to introduce some of the most prominent themes of the novel to be later expanded upon including those of marriage, love, and wealth. The theme of marriage is one of the

Collins; ‘but if she is really headstrong and foolish, I know not whether she would altogether be a very desirable wife to a man in my situation, who naturally looks for happiness in the marriage state ...’”

The course of the novel maintains a variety of different themes, primarily those described in its title along with those that are introduced in the first chapter that are expanded upon as the plot progresses. It can even be said that the first sentence in the entire book describes the themes that remain after reading the title. In the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, the interactions and conversations of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet suggest some of the most prominent themes of the novel that are later expanded upon including those of marriage, love, and