... matter. By becoming Wickham's lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia places herself outside the social norms' and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family. The fact that Lydia's terrible judgment would have condemned the other Bennet sisters to marriage-less lives seems unfair by today's standards, but ... journey sends various people in search of Wickham and Lydia, and the journey ends with Darcy tracking them down and saving the Bennet family honour, in the process demonstrating his devotion to Elizabeth. Characters Elizabeth Bennet Elizabeth Bennet is the second daughter and...

• Word Count: 3094
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... -possessed; one recognizes, with Caroline Bingley, that "in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency." Nevertheless the basic situation of the novel explores Elizabeth's recurrent feelings of shame about her family, and the book tends to move from one shame-laden situation to another. Darcy's first proposal of marriage to Elizabeth and his letter of explanation after Elizabeth has rejected his ... lives "within view of his own warehouses." "Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?" Darcy pointedly asks. Still worse than the "situation of your mother's...

• Word Count: 3336
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and Elizabeth as their love story is communicated. The story begins in the English countryside in a small town at the Longborn estate, home to the Bennett family of five daughters, a mother, and a father. The home does not contain much extravagance; it is classified as a middle class home. Throughout the ... scenery about him emphasizes his better traits. It is at the Longborn estate, however, that Darcy finds the only fault in Elizabeth; her family is obnoxious and impolite. Through the way they present their home and calculate their social decisions, Mr. Darcy is thwarted in his inwardl...

• Word Count: 706
• Approx Pages: 3

... published in 1813, Pride and prejudice is a very popular novel written by Jane Austen. It talks about trivial matters of love, marriage, and family life between country squires and fair ladies in Britain in the 18th century. A gentle but witty satire of courtship an marriage, tells the story ... people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade ...

• Word Count: 4276
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

... , risked falling into poverty. While belonging to the gentry, it is suggested that the Bennets have little or no savings, and furthermore, the family estate, Longbourn, does not make a significant amount of money. This makes it necessary for the Bennet sisters to marry, in order to ensure ... as the truth is revealed. Elizabeth discovers his loyalty and generosity by realising that he was wronged by Wickham, and moreover, has saved her family from humiliation by paying him to marry Lydia. Darcy's assertion that Elizabeth's own fault is "to wilfully misunderstand" people is accurate ... w...

• Word Count: 5516
• Approx Pages: 22
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the difference between Mr. & Mrs. Bennet- the product of a common Augustan marriage. "Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of ... their initial attraction fades. Mrs. Bennet cannot be blamed for this unhappy state of marriage. She comes from a conventional 18th century middle class family, where girls don't receive proper education and the standard of culture was low. Mr. Bennet's attitude is filled with too muc...

• Word Count: 2459
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... behaviour, was sharpened into particular resentment, by his having slighted one of her daughters.? (Page 12) Mr Darcy judges Elizabeth and the Bennett family on social status, and takes an immediate dislike to them, because of their financial situation and rank on the socio economic status. Although the ... deceptive and the entire society is proved to have misjudged Wickham, based on their misconceptions and first impressions. He is exposed to the Bennett family shortly after his elopement with Lydia Bennett, a 16 year old girl who he did not intend to marry, but only to take advantag...

• Word Count: 1365
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... not his pride, in perceiving that Elizabeth's personal qualities can in fact outweigh his many objections - some of them well-founded - to her family. Elizabeth, on the othe! r hand, correctly faults not just her prejudice against Darcy, but the wounded pride which allowed that prejudice to ... .ix-xii Commentary After Elizabeth's watershed moment of realization about the truth of Darcy's character and the justice of his accusations concerning his family, Austen's satirical thrusts at characters like Lydia and Mrs. Bennet have become blunter. The episodes described in this section are pa...

• Word Count: 3260
• Approx Pages: 13

... upon so much as a financial security but more as a love interest. Women today can work in almost any job and gain enough money to support their own family and being seen as acceptable. In Jane Austen's time it wasn't so. A young woman of her class depended for her happiness, her health, in fact the ... my heart she were well settled. But with such a father and mother, and such low connections, I am afraid there is no chance of it." Only because her family is not "well settled" in society, there is no chance of ever marring her. Even though the society class "rule" still exists today, it i...

• Word Count: 1077
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... travels to Brighton for the summer. Kitty is away from Lydia's influence and matures quickly by spending time with Jane and Elizabeth. 10. Mary Bennet: The plain one in the family, works hard for knowledge and accomplishments, conceited manner, bookish. 11. Mr. Darcy: Bingley's friend, tall, handsome features, of noble blood. Pemberley's owner. Started out with bad manners. Easiness, openness, ductility ... she's touring Pemberley. Georgiana likes Elizabeth and they become great friends after Darcy and Elizabeth wed and move into Pemberley. 20. Mrs. Phillips: Mrs. Bennet's sister. Invit...

• Word Count: 3577
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

... younger sisters are still chasing young officers. Suddenly when everything looks its brightest for Jane, Bingley picks up and leaves Netherfield. This event leaves the family in total despair. Elizabeth decides to go off to live with her aunt in London, Jane goes with another aunt, and Lydia leaves for Brighton ... comes that Lydia has run off with Wickham. Lydia's improper actions will surely ruin any of her sisters chances of becoming decently married. The entire family will be sure to be outcasts. Running off with a man you are not properly married to is not tolerated during an Age ...

• Word Count: 1537
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... and analyze, and eventually I felt that marriage was the central keyword in the book. I will concentrate on the situation of the daughters in the family, since these are the best described in the novel. My dealing with different ideals and problems within a marriage will be illustrated with examples from the ... independence on the woman's hand almost never occurred. The only "profession" available was that of being a governess, which meant educating the daughters of a family, but this was a job with low working conditions and lowly paid. Therefore women had to marry their life into mone...

• Word Count: 1070
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... theme becomes blatantly apparent. Mr. Darcy displays the positive side of pride by taking responsibility for his sister, himself, his estate, and family name. Darcy does whatever he needs to do to assure their safety and happiness. Mr. Darcy, the leading male character in the novel. He ... possesses an ancient family name, glorious estate, and sizable fortune, which contribute to his pride but not making him snobbish. Later on in the book, we learn ... sister Georgiana who he deeply cares for. Although seen as proud in a negative way, Charlotte Lucas defends Darcy by saying that a man of...

• Word Count: 613
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... by their position, wealth, education and occupation. Families' financial situations and position in society imposes constraints on women during that period of time. Elizabeth who is from the middle class family is constrained by the society's unwritten 'rules'. She is expected to socialize and marry within her own level. Because honour, decorum, prudence if you wilfully act against the inclinations ... to Mr Darcy, who possesses a higher status than her own. She pronounced Elizabeth's unsuitable background, if Elizabeth broke the unwritten 'rules', she will be prejudiced and disdained b...

• Word Count: 1127
• Approx Pages: 5

... . They believe that if they had informed her properly, Lydia would not have run away with Wickham. Lydia is the weak link in the Bennet family. Her shameful marriage to Wickham illuminates some interesting points. First, Mrs. Bennet is overjoyed that one of her daughters is finally married. She does ... time she would accept. Now she believes that he will never ask her again. She ultimately recognizes the low status her family occupies and her pride begins to diminish. The scandal between Lydia and Wickham and the fact that a character like Wickham is now a part of ... Nevertheless, thi...

• Word Count: 1686
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... as Darcy at the beginning of story Lady Catherine is full of pride and prejudice. Her pride makes her immediately looks down on the family of Bennet because she thinks that Bennets family has failed in "traditional way" of educating and breeding the growing child without any governess "No governess! How was that possible I ... Later in the story, he agrees to marry Lydia only because he is paid by Darcy to retain the reputation of Bennet's family "Wickham never intended to go there, or to marry Lydia." (P. 223). He has no self-abasement for degrade the fame of Lydia and her ... When the ...

• Word Count: 1942
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... marriages, the main contrast being those who marry for money and those who marry for love. Other motives for marriage included physical beauty, the family name and connections, and also societal constraints, which provided very little choice. In the society of the time, marriage was almost necessary, ... of marrying made love to be considered irrelevant. The importance of marriage extended beyond the couple and had a great impact on the entire family. Mrs Bennet was obsessive with marrying off her daughters. The business of her life was to get her daughters married. Her daughters finding...

• Word Count: 1702
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

... these values and in doing so, satirized them, as she did not believe in or condone matrimony for financial security. Even though her family was highly dependant on the hope of advantageous marriages for both Jane and Elizabeth, in order to secure financial security, Elizabeth remained adamant that ... affection, thus again reinforcing her individualistic position in society. However, even though she has such a conviction, Elizabeth still grasps the fact that her family does need to conform to society's expectations, and in return so must she. When she states to Jane: " As you are five t...

• Word Count: 2566
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 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 ... 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 r...

• Word Count: 1723
• Approx Pages: 7

... , George Austen, an Anglican Clergyman, and her mother, Cassandra, a minister's daughter. But the three only contribute to less than half of the entire family. Austen was number 7 of the 8 children born to Reverend George and Cassandra Austen (Lauber 1). Her writings were not limited to novels; she wrote plays ... and a basic cornucopia or literary expressions. Some her earliest writing spread from 1787 to 1793 (Mural 1). Her life style was attributed to her modest family. Apart from hard times, the George Austen always had enough money for books, which were considered a luxury of the ti...

• Word Count: 4144
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... get married by insulting her in every possible manner. She tells Elizabeth that she is from inferior birth, that it will ruin Darcy's reputation, and that her family is contemptible. Even though these accusations are true, Lady Catherine has hurt Elizabeth badly but it helps Elizabeth to lessen her pride. It is true that Elizabeth belongs ... might leave him because he is going against the social norm of marrying in your own social class. Lastly it is true that her family is contemptible because of the way they hid the fact that Lydia ran away with Mr. Wickham. These accusations show Eli...

• Word Count: 807
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... factor of her society at the time in that "happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance." and this quote does much to outline the changing conceptions of family and partnership that are central to Austen's text. The reader can see two very distinct partnership ideologies, voiced by Charlotte Lucas and Elizabeth Bennet. The two women's partnership strategies ... interpretation; Linda Colley. Colley see's "Pride and Prejudice" as a "deliberate essay in fantasy." It talks of a young woman in difficult circumstances; limited suitors; shortage of family money; difficult social position...

• Word Count: 1738
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Darcy also opposes the relationship and believes that Jane is indifferent to Bingley. Meanwhile, Darcy finds himself attracted to Elizabeth despite his objections to her family. As Darcy grows more interested in Elizabeth, Elizabeth continues to despise him and is instead attracted to George Wickham, a handsome and personable militia ... accepts Wickham's account without question, disliking Darcy even more because of it. In the midst of Jane and Elizabeth's developing relationships, the Bennet family is visited by Mr. Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins. He plans to propose to Elizabeth, but is...

• Word Count: 1580
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... of literature exhibits the time period's life style and significance by giving the readers a feel of what would be of importance to a typical family in relation to the time period. Austen's novel contains many personalities of that era, as well as emphasizes the importance of marriage, education, ... any situation. The object of Elizabeth's affection, Mr. Darcy, comments towards the middle of the book, "The situation of your mother's family, though objectionable, was nothing in comparison of the total want of propriety so frequently, so almost uniformly betrayed by herself, by your thr...

• Word Count: 1366
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... of his most meaningful contributions to the plot is the influence he exerts on Elizabeth. She is obviously his favorite, and probably the only one in his family that he feels real fatherly love for. This is seen from the fact that even though he is often very reserved and distant, the one time he ... he display the guilt he feels for being an irresponsible and distant father but also assumes a part of the blame for the way his family has become. This is the most evident display of this character's importance to the plot by far. All through the novel the Bennet ... family is in an unfa...

• Word Count: 1647
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School