Assessment of Pride and Prejudice.

Jane Austen’s original title for the novel was First Impressions. What role do first impressions play in Pride and Prejudice?

Elizabeth and Darcy's first impressions of each other lead the entire main plot of the story, so either title would have been good. This novel clearly shows how first impressions can either hurt or help a future friendship or relationship. At first, Elizabeth holds a grudge against Darcy after overhearing him talk about her at the ball, saying, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me," believing he is just another arrogant man she has come across. Elizabeth bases her entire outlook on Darcy based on his one comment, as "Darcy was only the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with." She lets her pride get in the way of truly getting to know Darcy for the man he really is. It doesn't help Darcy's case, when Mr. Wickham makes him look like the horrible man who denied the inheritance of his father's loyal ward. When she gets to know Darcy better and sees he has some good qualities, Elizabeth says, "I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine." They are both really stubborn with their judgments. Elizabeth believes Darcy's "defect is a propensity to hate everybody." Darcy believes Elizabeth's defect "is willfully to misunderstand them." While Elizabeth ridicules Darcy for being arrogant, Darcy ridicules her humility saying, "nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast." Maybe if Elizabeth had confronted Darcy on his bad manners earlier in the book, they wouldn't have had so many misunderstandings. Darcy spends time getting to know Elizabeth, he considers her "as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance," retracting his first statement. If Darcy had known how much Elizabeth hated him based on falsehoods, he could have cleared up a lot of her misjudgments earlier on. It's a good thing they spent more time together, because they would have continued to think badly of each other and never found their intellectual equals.

Analyze how Austen depicts Mr. Bennet. Is he a positive or negative figure?

I think Mr. Bennet is a positive figure and a good role model as a father. He comes across as tough, loving, wise, and patient with a sense of humor. Mr. Bennet doesn't get carried with girls' love lives like Mrs. Bennet. He allows his daughter to be "silly," lets them make their own decisions, and treats them with respect, just as long as they leave him out of the melodrama, but he is there when they need them and tends to give the girls great advice if they ask for it. Mr. Bennet also tends to keep his wife, Mrs. Bennet from destroying their lives, like refusing to let Elizabeth marry Mr. Collins, knowing Mrs. Bennet is pushing Lizzy to marry him, by saying, "An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do." He let Elizabeth know he is on her side no matter what. Mrs. Bennet and the girls clearly view Mr. Bennet as an authoritarian figure. Mrs. Bennet tells him, "I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given [Darcy] one of your set-downs," knowing he comes over as tough but loving. He shows he has a sense of humor about their living situation, his wife's meddlesome ways, and society in general, when he says, "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"

Discuss the importance of social class in the novel, especially as it impacts the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy.

In this novel, social class is very important to the setting and plot. It dictates who you can marry and who you should be seen with in public in order to have a good reputation. Money is also a leading factor in determining your future. There are people in this novel, such as Mr. Wickham, who live only for money and will do anything to get it, hoping for large inheritance. The Bennet family is viewed as lower in class than the rest of their social circle and Mrs. Bennet is determined to get her daughters married off the wealthy men in order for them to be taken care of. At first Mr. Darcy believes he is better than Elizabeth, but falls in love with her in spite of her place in society and his presumptions. When she rejects him, he makes amends by saying, " By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased." Elizabeth clearly does not believe that you don't have to have money, in order to be happy and chooses to live above her own means. When Elizabeth is looked down by Lady Catherine as not being good enough for Darcy, Elizabeth says, "He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal." She also tells Lady Catherine, "Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude ... have any possible claim on me." If everybody in this novel, lived like Elizabeth, they would all be better off.

Compare and contrast the Bingley-Darcy relationship with the Jane-Elizabeth relationship.

Both pairs of friends are loyal to each other, even though they may be total opposites and disagree at times. They all give each other advice and rely on each other's opinions. They are the people that matter most. Bingley regards Darcy's judgment as "the highest opinion," which makes him reject Jane due to her societal reputation. Darcy also values his friendship with Bingley, but acts like a saboteur, believing he knows what is best for his friend. When Elizabeth confronts Darcy on ruining her sister's life after he proposes, he writes, "I have no wish of denying that I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards him I have been kinder than towards myself," Darcy believes Bingley will be better off in society without marrying Jane, when Darcy is smitten with Jane's sister. Elizabeth constantly turns to her sister Jane for advice, as acts as confidant, more than any of other sisters. She even rejects Darcy's proposal, out of loyalty to Jane. Elizabeth believes Jane never sees "fault in anybody" and Jane tells her, "I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think."

Pride and Prejudice is a novel about women who feel they have to marry to be happy. Taking Charlotte Lucas as an example, do you think the author is making a social criticism of her era’s view of marriage?

Darcy summarizes the thoughts of the women in this time period as, "A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment." Not all the women or the men believe in marrying for love in this novel. The women of this society want to meet wealthy men and believe they have to do everything in their power to make them their husbands, in order to have a stable future. Mrs. Bennet believes it her business and highest priority "to get her daughters married," advising her daughters to get the wealthy men to marry them first, and then "there will be leisure for falling in love as much as she chooses." Charlotte believes marriage is "the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want." Charlotte marries Mr. Collins, even though she doesn't love him, which shocks Elizabeth. Charlotte tells Elizabeth, " Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life," which Elizabeth whole heartedly disagrees with. Elizabeth wants to marry for love, not for convenience or for money. If she did not believe in marrying for love, she would have married Mr. Collins.