Pride and Prejudice Essay

Pride and Prejudice Essay Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a story which primarily revolves around the themes of marriage and love. It describes how many people in the 19th Century believed that matrimony was the defining moment of a woman’s life, and that it was vital for sustaining financial stability and social standing. Despite the pressing ‘need’ for women to marry, characters throughout the story possess various views of marriage. Jane Austen shows how material needs can dictate the hearts true desires through a range of characters which battle between the romance and reason for marriage. For example Elizabeth Bennett, the protagonist, views marriage as the result of a pursuit of love, yet her friend Charlotte Lucas contrastingly believes that marriage is a pursuit of comfort and security. These two characters represent the debate over reputation, expectation and individual desire in the pressing struggle of love. Their two polar views are established through the authors use of narrative perspective, dialogue and irony. In Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennett and Charlotte Lucas both face the looming prospect of marriage. Yet despite Elizabeth and Charlotte’s common gender, age and exterior pressures to marry, they have opposite personalities and alternative views of marriage. Elizabeth defies the stereotypical restrains and niceties of 19th century life, and is a free willed and opinionated character. She is the second most fair daughter in her family and is a confident woman, who is admired by many people throughout her home town of Derbyshire. Her self assurance and appearance allow her to feel comfortable in viewing marriage romantically, because she does not seek security. She is adamant about finding romantic happiness before marriage and finds the idea of superficial marriage absurd. Elizabeth is intelligent, highly perceptive, and she is suspicious and critical of people she does not know. This skepticism reflects in her quick judgement of Mr