Discussing Pride & Prejudice

Jane Austen's writing certainly is autobiographical and I think she relates most to Elizabeth in Pride & Prejudice, because of Elizabeth's opinions on love, marriage, money, sex, and class are the same as her own. Love is very important to Elizabeth but not to the social circle around her. She doesn't believe in Mrs. Bennet's plan of "securing" a man and "falling in love as much as she chooses" at "leisure" afterward.
Elizabeth doesn't care about class or money and stands up to Lady Catherine when she objects to her marrying Darcy, saying, "He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter, so far we are equal" and "Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude have any possible claim on me." If Elizabeth didn't believe in marrying for love, she would have married Mr. Collins, but her "feelings in every respect forbid it."
Class is important to Darcy, but love is more important. He talks Bingley out of marrying Jane because of her wealth and tells Elizabeth, "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," meaning he loves Elizabeth is spite of her class. If Darcy didn't want to marry for love, he would have married Miss Bingley, because they were equal in class.
Through loving Elizabeth, Darcy changes his priorities of class and love, though he is resilient and struggles "in vain" against. He tells Elizabeth, "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."
When Lydia runs off with Mr. Wickham, we are led to believe that this society believes marriage should come before sex. Elizabeth says Lydia "has no money, no connections, nothing that can tempt to" and she will be "lost forever" if she loses her irretrievable virtue. Mr. Collins writes to Mr. Bennet, "the death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this."
The only marriage of Victorian convenience was Charlotte and Mr. Collins. Charlotte tells Elizabeth, "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of choice" and "it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life" before she accepts Collins' proposal.
Unlike Jane Austen's "journalistic" approach, stories with "flowery language" sometimes can make me turn off from reading and make me want to skim through it. I thoroughly enjoy Jane Austen's "biting social commentary" because it is both subtle, yet humorous.