Pride, Prejudice, & The Power Of Passion
DescriptionAn essay exploring the Jane Austen classic Pride & Prejudice.
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ImageJane Austen
Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice follows the Bennet family in the early 1800s as the matriarch of the household attempts to marry off her many daughters in the hopes of securing both financial and social security for generations to come. This sits with the standards of the time, as it was expected of women to marry young and to stay within the confines of this security-seeking, marriage being seen as an act of convenience, not one of love and romance. This is where Elizabeth Bennet comes into play, who is the second eldest daughter, and yet to be married. She, unlike her sisters, finds herself falling for two men throughout the book, subsequently ending up with Mr. Darcy, a wealthy man who, at first, she resented for his perceived pride and prejudice against her; but, as their seeming feud continued, sparks of love slowly lit, launching two of completely different social and economic backgrounds into each other. This story at the heart of the novel is an exploration of hierarchy in society, with Elizabeth acting as the spearhead of Austen’s distaste for the bland and sexist and oppressive marriages, choosing instead to leave behind what family or class says to decide that love, real love, is worth the fight, the protagonist of Pride & Prejudice taking this head-on in the hopes of securing her romantic passion and of Austen’s goal of changing the world around her for the better. One of the earliest examples of Elizabeth fighting against the hierarchy and expectations of society, especially her family, is when she rejects the proposal of Mr. Collins, a distant cousin of the Bennets who will control their fortune after the death of Mr. Bennet. He initially visits them with the prospect of finding a wife, hopeful of at least keeping some of the wealth within the family. Unfortunately for him, his eyes fell on Elizabeth, who was already established to be a bit of a rebel by consistently choosing to pick little arguments with Collins or anyone else who dared to cross her. And that fateful day he fell on one knee in an “isolated” room with her, Elizabeth instantly rejected him, choosing to run off and cry, all to the dismay of her mother. Mr. Bennet, on the other hand, did seem to have a strange sense of pride, going after her as well after Mrs. Bennet already did. Out by the lake, a conversation ensued, it all ending with Mr. Bennet telling her that her mother will never see her again if she doesn’t marry Collins, but that he never will if she does. That fact alone almost entirely settles the matter, and reflects how even Mr. Bennet seemed to hold a more progressive or even romantic mindset than Mrs. Bennet, who always grew up with the constant pressure and the maternal instinct to marry her daughters off. But Elizabeth and her refusal to compromise and settle with Mr. Collins was the start of many far cries from the forms of society, it becoming ever clear that Elizabeth seeked something deeper than just the safety of a marriage. This really starts off the messaging of the novel with a bang, and develops her character further to what comes next with the man she does end up marrying, further proving the point that the fight against the status quo and for her truest passions could be rewarding and, finally, freeing. The central conflict of Elizabeth throughout Pride & Prejudice IS the very prideful and prejudiced nature of both her and Mr. Darcy, a seemingly arrogant upper-class man who at first calls Elizabeth “tolerable,” but not “handsome enough to tempt him.” Essentially, they are two figures with very opposite situations and fairly negative views of each other, but that does not last long in the grand scheme of things, because as Elizabeth falls for Mr. Wickham, a military officer, Darcy is the one to inform her on his scandalous and self-serving nature, changing her interest in both him and Darcy radically. But, as they eventually fall for each other, there is a slight snag: they are of totally different social classes, and Darcy is expected to marry his aunt’s daughter Anne. Every factor that dictated love in their world was against them, every factor that dedicated love contradicted, yet still, since their love was real, they knew they could fight it. And they did, Elizabeth fending off attacks from Darcy’s aunt and Darcy ignoring judgments from others. Together, with Elizabeth acting as a catalyst, they broke the structures and expectations set upon them, marrying by the end of the novel, near-proving the power of romance over security. It is even shown that their love may have acted as “inspiration” for Elizabeth Bennet’s younger sister to lunge after Mr. Wickham at her earliest convenience, claiming that true love brought her to the realization, not knowing and likely not caring about his proven nature. This overall shows the power of real love in their world, of what it really meant to break out of the oppressive expectation of women being shipped off to convenient husbands for the sake of guaranteed protections, reflecting Austen’s want to share her belief of romanticism with the world at large. In Pride & Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet (eventually Mrs. Darcy) spearheaded the belief of romantics and genuine love over marriage for social, economic, and familial sakes, breaking the usual hierarchical structures of the time and reflecting Austen’s message throughout the book of exactly that through her actions of rejection and falling for Darcy. Elizabeth is a direct response to the very real expectations of the times the books were written in, which by now is well over 200 years old. The novel acts as a stark reminder of humanity's past, of society's prior tendencies, and how hard many had to fight to change what was then a standard to now become what we enjoy and cherish today as inherent freedoms. Rarely does anything go well when oppression is in play—that is what makes this story so inherently interesting and long-lasting, and proves the importance of reading it, as ultimately, it delivers a fantastic and deeply human lesson: that love should never be shown limits.
