It is obvious that Miss Bingley disapproves of Miss Bennet being opinionated because although she wants Darcy to be attracted to her instead of Elizabeth, she does not make an attempt to adapt Elizabeth’s self-possessed character to attract Darcy towards herself.
Miss Bingley and Charlotte is representative of typical regency women. Charlotte has a conversation with Elizabeth involving Jane and Mr.Bingley’s relationship, in which she states “I should think she had as good a chance of happiness, as if she were to be studying his character for a twelvemonth. Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” Charlotte is stating that there is no need to meet a man several times, knowing that he is wealthy and on your first meeting; he has no obvious problems then he shall be a good husband. This also prevents you from finding any faults; therefore it changes your opinion of the person. Charlotte’s views are of women in the late 18th century as they were in a vast hurry to get married meaning they would not spend time studying a man’s personality. Charlotte does not view love as the most vital component of a marriage. She is more interested in having a comfortable home. Women like Charlotte thought it was not necessary to love a man before getting married to him; you could start loving him after marriage and your husband being perfect or not was just a matter of luck. Charlotte thought that daughters are like a burden for their parents so getting married quickly was the only way to have freedom and be independent.
When Charlotte is explaining herself to Elizabeth, she says “I am not romantic you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr Collins character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair, as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.” This quote shows that Charlotte, like a typical regency woman is not romantic and does not want to spend any time knowing Mr Collins’ personality. She thinks that money and freedom from parents is the key to a perfect married lifestyle.
On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet has shown to be the opposite of typical regency women. She does everything that a typical woman would not have the courage to do. Elizabeth is strong and independent, wants to marry a man that loves and cares; she is in search of a man that is romantic and one who believes in love. She, unlike other women is fussy about whom she gets married to and does not get impressed at all by one’s good looks or wealth. This is shown in chapter 19, when Elizabeth is offered a well-off proposal by Mr. Collins which she should consider as an advantage but she immediately rejects him although she knows that this was against her own principles. She replies to his proposal with “I do not accept the honor of proposal” This states that Elizabeth is aware that Mr. Collins was just trying to help her and her family by giving them a higher status and one of their daughters a happy life. Elizabeth could not fool herself spending the rest of her life doing what she never believed in so she thought she will still wait for a man that she actually loved and not just marry him with having the knowledge of his wealth and status.
Although Elizabeth knows that she comes from a family that has a lower status than Darcy, she still has pride and believes that upper-class people who are wealthier and reputable do not have the right to judge or look down upon her and her family in any way. At the Meryton ball, he says ‘Which do you mean? And turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.’ These words are ’s answer at the Meryton ball in Chapter 3 to Bingley’s suggestion that he dance with . Darcy, who sees the people of Meryton as his inferiors, refuses to dance with someone “not handsome enough” for him. Moreover, he says it while Elizabeth is listening, to make her believe that he has pride and bad manners. The rudeness with which Darcy comes across as to Elizabeth creates a negative impression of him in her mind.
Women in those days did not have as many rights as we have now in the 21st century. They were not allowed to vote or own their own property and were more or less owned by their fathers or husbands. Most ladies were also forced into learning to have the qualities of a typical regency woman such as being quiet, obeying their husbands, learning good manners and maintaining a gentle behaviour. Females should spend their time sewing, painting, and playing the piano. However, Elizabeth is shown to have a completely diverse character as she cannot consider being owned by someone, especially one who believes they are more superior to her such as Mr Darcy.
Jane Austen shows that Fitzwilliam Darcy is actually finer than Elizabeth according to his status, wealth and superiority by the way she describes him and the words that she uses for his status such as ‘Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report, which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year.’ Jane Austen suggests that Darcy was one of the main people in the room unlike Elizabeth; he was the one people got attracted to and was the centre of attention. This tells us that Darcy’s status was higher than Elizabeth’s because of his wealthy and noble mien. In the beginning, Darcy’s personality was described to us as proud, arrogant and conceited; we were told that he was the most disagreeable man ever, although this changed from Elizabeth’s point of view further on in the novel. Nevertheless, Elizabeth’s outlook on marriage is similar to Darcy’s; they both believe in love and don’t trail in their tradition for instance; marrying a man of fine wealth and a good status or marrying a woman with equal or a higher status than you.
When Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, he is almost certain that there will be no rejection from her to his proposal. The quotation “His sense of her inferiority was dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.” proves my point perfectly because Jane Austen is stating that Mr Darcy is saying he sensed Elizabeth’s weakness meaning that her weakness would make her accept the proposal. There is another quote from Elizabeth’s point of view which is “…he had no doubt of a favourable answer.” This quote suggests that Elizabeth could tell that Darcy thought she would say ‘Yes’ by his haughty and protesting manner. This was another reason why Elizabeth despises Darcy – because he thinks he’s superior and doesn’t consider being rejected from a lower status family.
This action of Elizabeth’s confirms that she is very different compared to typical regency women such as Miss Bingley who would not think twice about Darcy’s proposal according to her admiration for Mr Darcy. But Elizabeth rejected a very wealthy proposal from an upper-class man that would have increased her family status in society. By accepting this proposal; Elizabeth would have been well-known by wealthy and high-class people, she would have had a very luxury lifestyle as well as a fine chance of pleasure; however Elizabeth believes in love and shows that she can’t marry a man considering his wealth and status. Another reason why Elizabeth rejects Darcy is because she believes that he should not think he is superior because of his high status in society. She also feels that he looks down upon people who are lower than him and while rejecting, all she thinks of is Darcy’s arrogance, his attempts to interfere in Bingley’s relationship with , and his false assumptions of .
Darcy’s proposal was an unexpected one for Elizabeth and she was in quite a shock as in chapter 3; at the Netherfield ball, he showed no interest in Elizabeth. In fact he insulted her by saying “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.”
Evidently, it was not so simple for Mr Darcy to show his passionate love for Elizabeth while proposing to her; he shows this in his opening lines by saying “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” Meaning he has struggled to come this far, however his feelings will not be withdrawn. He finds it a struggle to express his love for Elizabeth because he knows that her initial judgment of him was prejudice against his snobbishness, and pride about his high social status, this hampers his attempt to express his affection.
Despite the fact that proposing was hard enough for Mr Darcy, Elizabeth shows no warmth and callously discards the proposal. Moreover Elizabeth replies “From the very beginning of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others…I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.” Elizabeth informs Darcy that she thinks he is bold and insolent; she disliked him from the start and she would never marry him. She also notifies Darcy declaring “...do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?” that she despises him more than anything for destroying the intimacy of his friend Bingley and her dearest sister Jane. Conversely, Darcy still loves Elizabeth even after being rejected and does not sacrifice his love for her. He undoubtedly understands that his affection will be disdained upon by others of the upper-class such as Lady Catherine De Burgh and Miss Bingley. Even though, Darcy does not care what other individuals assume of him and so he takes off to explain to Elizabeth of his doings and clear her misunderstandings through a well elucidated letter.
Furthermore, Elizabeth’s rejection of Darcy implies that she is unusual in contrast to women in the early 19th century as the way she thinks is independent. Her outlook on marriage is similar to modern day women in the 21st century; for instance, we don’t have to be owned the same way she doesn’t like to be owned, we don’t decide who we want to marry considering their wealthy ness or position likewise she does not want to spend the rest of her life with someone she doesn’t essentially love. Currently women don’t do things they don’t prefer to do just as Elizabeth does not choose to do some things that regency women would have been forced to do such as learn to sing or be quiet; and so she doesn’t.
Another reason why I think Elizabeth’s philosophy is very modern is because when she replies to Mr Darcy saying “…you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?” In this quote; Elizabeth felt that she had been insulted by Darcy liking her against his improved decision. This is what a modern day women would have said and exactly what a regency women not have dared to say to a man that is arrogant and egotistical that had come with an unexpected proposal which he himself was against.
In relation to Elizabeth, typical regency women that would have been in her shoes at the time of the proposal would have said nothing while Darcy spoke and then said something similar to “you have astonished me with this grateful news and I would be most delighted to accept a proposal from a man with such superiority.” Referring back to Elizabeth, we can see that it is impossible for her to reply to the offer in such a way. This suggests that Elizabeth is entirely distinct to typical regency women and would rather be identified as a modern woman with modern views.
In chapter 43; when Elizabeth goes to Pemberley with Mr and Mrs Gardiner, they come across Mr Darcy’s knowledgeable servant Mrs Reynolds, who gives them information about him and his personality which shocks Elizabeth; as these facts conflict with her knowledge of Mr Darcy. This is proven when Mrs Reynolds compliments Darcy by saying “…he was always the sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the world.” Elizabeth thinks to herself “Can this be Mr Darcy!” Jane Austen refers Elizabeth to her judgment of Mr Darcy telling us that ‘Elizabeth listened, wondered, doubted, and was impatient for more.’ meaning Elizabeth was wondering about her decision of Darcy and Austen is suggesting that she was doubting her the decision that she made of Darcy as Elizabeth thinks “What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant?” She thinks that Darcy’s servant has known him ever since he was four years old so she can’t mistake his personality and Mrs Reynolds has known him for much longer than herself so her opinion cannot be incorrect. She rethinks and comes up with the thought that maybe his dreadful manner of proposal was just a drama to show pride but not his true identity as Mrs Reynolds says “…Some people call him proud; but I am sure I never saw anything of it. To my fancy, it is only because he does not rattle away like other young men.”
“At last it arrested her and she beheld a striking resemblance of Mr Darcy, with such a smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he looked at her. She stood several minutes before the picture in earnest contemplation, and returned to it again before they quitted the gallery.” This is an example of Elizabeth’s change of heart towards Darcy as it shows how much she liked him now that she could tolerate his statue and she stared at it for several minutes too, she still did not have enough admiration so she went back to have a last glance at it. Elizabeth’s change of heart is very sluggish and continues for several chapters. This quotation “…explaining the gradual change which her estimation of him had undergone.” suggests that her attitude towards Darcy changed gradually.
We can spot out Elizabeth’s change of heart in her emotions for Darcy at Pemberly. ‘They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House. It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in her admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!’
These lines are in Chapter 43 when Elizabeth first sees Pemberly. While Elizabeth was having a conversation with the housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, she saw how wonderful and generous Darcy is as a master. When she observes Darcy, while walking through Pemberley’s grounds, he seemed altogether changed and his arrogance had lessened extremely. This is the first moment where Elizabeth starts to look at Darcy in a different manner.
“I told him…I believed myself mistaken in supposing that your sister was indifferent to him…I felt no doubt of their happiness together…I was convinced of their affection.” This sentence suggests that Elizabeth was impressed by how Darcy told Bingley straight away that he was wrong about Jane. This quote also shows how much Darcy loves Elizabeth as this was the only reason he was so fast to act upon his mistake; bearing in mind that it was Elizabeth’s sister that he was mistaken upon.
Elizabeth’s change of heart is related to the novel’s title because in the beginning, the strength of her personal honour is highly evident in her refusal of Mr Darcy's first marriage proposal. At the time, she believed Darcy to be arrogant and selfish, based on Wickham's accusations of Darcy's disgraceful behaviour towards him. She was also furious with him for ruining Jane's chance of happiness (through marrying Bingley).
Elizabeth is, initially, quick to make judgments although they might be prejudiced and in effect, Elizabeth represents both parts of the novel's title, being both proud and prejudicial.
Elizabeth is shown to be a woman full of pride and she is also prejudiced towards Darcy. During the first half of the novel, we acknowledge that Elizabeth is an independent woman that detests Darcy for being proud, arrogant and conceited but throughout the novel, Elizabeth realises that her judgment of Darcy was incorrect and she starts to fall in love with him. Whereas Darcy is filled with pride for being wealthy and having a high status in society for which he is prejudiced against Elizabeth by judging her family and thinking that they should behave accordingly. His manner changes as he falls in love with Elizabeth after acknowledging her personality and different ness compared to other regency women of his league.
Although Elizabeth’s character was created in 1813, my opinion is that Elizabeth Bennet is a modern day women. I believe this considering her actions in the novel such as making sure she doesn’t give Darcy the satisfaction of her admiration and rejecting Darcy’s wealthy proposal. Her manners in the novel show that she is an open-minded women who is out-spoken to make sure her opinions are heard and that is exactly what a modern day woman would have done, especially taking into account her response to Darcy’s proposal. Elizabeth does not accept Darcy’s proposal until she falls in love with him; this is precisely what a women from the 21st century do is she were in Lizzy’s shoes. There is a lot to be learnt from Elizabeth Bennet in the novel of Pride and Prejudice some of which are: Making sure your opinions are heard, support what you believe in and have pride in what you believe in, marry a man when you love him not because of his wealth and position because you may have a luxury lifestyle but an unhappy marriage, and finally to make my own decisions and to take chances in life whether your right or wrong; making major decisions without the opinions of others. This novel is one that was created in 1813 but surprisingly included the opinions of women in the 21st century.
