The Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice is a spirited period piece that clearly illustrates the importance of women being able to find a suitable husband to settle down with; for the sake of both herself and her family. This is a particularly sensitive matter in the Bennet household, where five daughters need to find husbands before the passing of their own father to avoid being left homeless due to the rules of entail in 19th century England.
This set of circumstances makes a series of relationships experienced by the Bennet girls of critical importance, however none more so than that between Elizabeth and Darcy. Not only does their own future happiness depend on their ability to navigate through their own pride and prejudices regarding one another, but the fate of Elizabeth’s family is squarely placed on their shoulders as well.
Darcy is a wealthy aristocrat from Northern England who comes across as rather rude and arrogant due to his subdued nature when outside of his comfort zone. Elizabeth is the fiery second daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth is a very sharp and outspoken woman for the times. She is somewhat opinionated and illustrates early on a tendency to pass lengthy judgment on first impressio
Austen does an excellent job of placing the reader in a position to draw conclusions about these characters that will evolve as the plot does. When the story started, as a reader I found myself agreeing with Elizabeth that Darcy probably was a snob looking prejudicially down towards Elizabeth. By the end of the story, it becomes clear that Darcy is indeed a good man and that it is Elizabeth that remains prejudice due to class differences, and is in need of an attitude adjustment in order to make this marriage happen.
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