Pride And Vanity In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

To be proud is to be a flower planted in poisonous soil. Treading dangerous territory, those who wish to delve into complacencyself-satisfaction must make sure that they use their pride to bloom, not wither. If pride grows uncontrollable like ivy up a brick house, the home becomes tainted and inhabitable; exterminating the source is almost impossible. In moderation, pride and confidence can be positive influences; however, when these traits turn into arrogance and narcissism, a person’s morale begins to falter. The decline of virtue is often the result of untamed egotism, an act often utilized by seen in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice to highlight these faults. In both the novel and the film, pride and vanity are demonstrations of

The climactic use of pride and vanity is best represented through the tensions and fighting between Austen’s strongest female characters, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth Bennet. Lady Catherine is a shining example of the stereotypical “snobby, upper-class,” whereas Elizabeth symbolizes the “stubborn, oppressed middle-class.” Although Lady Catherine’s vanity is what is focused on, her pride (as well as the pride of other upper-class characters in the novel and film) is extremely prominent. The worst of Lady Catherine’s negative character traits is seen when she travels from her estate to the Bennets’ home simplyjust to ask Elizabeth “Heaven and earth! —of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?" (Austen 268). Not only does this obscene and intrusive behavior make Lady Catherine look like an uncivilizsed fool, but it shows the extreme lengths people are willing to go in order to keep their wealth and their families “unpolluted.” If a rumored engagement between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth is enough to have this domineering woman in raptures, it only emphasizes the vanity of the upper-class and their obsession with material things, appearances, and status. Consequently, through such disrespectful actions, Lady Catherine shows not only her greed andy vanity, but also her low dignity in an attempt

The roots of one’s ethics are derivative of his or her upbringing. With hubris playing such a large roll as it does in Pride & Prejudice, it takes on its own character as the true antagonist of the story. Dissecting the characters of the story shows a traditional core with an unorthodox backwards way of thinking. Where admitting to mistakes means admitting to defeat, it is not difficult to understand the individual stubbornness that comes from each character. This stubbornness provides complications in, what should be, simple romances. However, the ultimate understanding Austen wished to expose is that pride and vanity do more harm than good, emphasizing serves as an example of the havoc that prejudgment can subconsciously