Pride Overcoming Love In Much Ado About Nothing And Pride And Prejudice

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Alexis Johnson April 24, 2013 Pride Overcoming Love William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice are both plays that follow the journey of four lovers: Beatrice & Benedict, and Elizabeth and Darcy. These couple all go through trials and tribulations within their relationships. All characters must overcome their prideful ways to be with one another. William Shakespeare and Jane Austin both show in Much Ado About Nothing and Pride and Prejudice that love, eventually, overcomes pride. Pride is defined as “a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people.” It is also defined as “a feeling that you are better than other people.” These definitions rings true for the obstacles the characters face in both Much Ado About Nothing and Pride and Prejudice. (“Pride” Merriam Dictionary). All characters are initially insulting and rude towards one another. The witty banter and back and forth arguing between Beatrice and Benedict is abundant in Much Ado About Nothing. An example of this is when Beatrice states “I wonder that you will still be talking”(1.1.114). Essentially Beatrice is saying she wonders when Benedit will stop talking because no one is listening. Immediately following, Benedict replays “What my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?” (I.i.116-117). Benedict is saying that Beatrice is a lady he can't stand, and asks her if she's still alive. Similarly, Darcy and Elizabeth exchange insults in the beginning throughout Pride and Prejudice. Darcy is concerned with social class and one's reputation, and Elizabeth detests that about him. Upon meeting each other, Mr. Darcy refers to Elizabeth as "tolerable, but not enough to tempt me" (Austen 12). This is a ... ... middle of paper ... ...s pride comes back to surface. Thinking that he truly has lost Elizabeth brings out a more sensitive and sympathetic side of Darcy, and he proposes a second time. This proposal however, marks the real release of his prideful ways, and as Austin put it “was as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do"(Austin 157). This proposal marks Darcy giving up his pride about social class, and Elizabeth being hurt by him and his judgments. She accepts, and they finally allow themselves to be happy. In Much Ado About Nothing, characters Beatrice and Benedict initially insult each other, but was a way to fend off their true feelings. Although they had to be tricked to do so, when confronted, their love eventually overcame their pride. In the same light, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth faced obstacles as noted above, but eventually love conquered over all.

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