I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collin’s 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.
Austen tells us Elizabeth is shocked that Charlotte Lucas ‘would have sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage.’ The words ‘better feeling’ seem to suggest an instinctive feeling of something morally ‘right’ and it is because Elizabeth is shocked that her friend has placed material wealth above these feelings. It is these ‘better feelings’ are promoted in the story.
Many fairy tales begin with the words; ‘Once upon a time’, or are set in fictional places. This sets the scene of the tale somewhere, such as Longbourn in Pride and Prejudice, or in some time which is undefined and vague. This is because it makes the tale which is ‘too good to be true’ more believable by not pinning it to any particular time or space.
To add to the sense of detachment from normal life many fairy tales often have royal and magical characters and they seem to be able to able of such perfect or angelic qualities. In romantic writing there is also royalty or characters of high social status to be found. In more modern romance the royal characters have been replaced by rich people who are also noble, the film ‘Pretty Woman’ is a good example of this. The story is about a rich, good-looking, middle-aged business man (Edward Lewis, played by Richard Gere) who pays a prostitute (Vivian Ward, played by Julia Roberts) $3000 to accompany him for a week and they end up falling in love. Edward Lewis could be compared to ‘Prince Charming’ in Cinderella. These characters have a set role in the plot and have a definite quality that enables them to be easily characterised, for example, if the character is evil, he or she is purely evil and is a ‘villain’. This kind of set role enables a definite opposition of forces, such as good against evil.
The diversion from our perception of reality provided by the romantic genre and fairy tales can bring about excess of pleasure in the participator because of its ability to draw on the reader's imagination and bring them closer to a more perfect reality. The sense of illusion created by Romance offers solutions to problems which cannot be solved in reality, the idea of having something that shows us how things could be rather than how things are can be a cathartic and helpful experience. It may be good to have a goal to aim for even if it is impossible to reach because it can bring us closer to those ideals.
Characters in Romantic writing and Fairy tales usually, through the course of the narrative, usually undergo some sort of transformation. The villains and hindrances are the catalysts for these transformations. In chapter three in pride and prejudice Mr. Darcy is heard by Elizabeth to say about her: “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.” This condescending and snobbish remark is surely one of a proud and arrogant man. However, as the story progresses, his opinion changes and
no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature on her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes.
The attraction of Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth which at first was inexistent grows strong and sustains many obstacles such as the resentment of many of the town’s people, including Elizabeth, towards him and the mocking of Elizabeth by Mr. Bingley’s sisters. Mr. Darcy’s final words to Elizabeth before her acceptance of his offer of are those of a humble and reverent character.
You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.
Even more respectable are the actions of Mr. Darcy in saving Elizabeth’s family by paying for the money that Mr. Wickham requested of the Bennet family with no expectation of gratitude or even acknowledgement. He feels that because he held back information as to the true qualities of Mr. Wickham, which may have prevented Lydia running away with him, it is his duty to solve the problem.
The transformation of Mr. Darcy’s character is central to the cathartic nature of the novel because it offers hope that adoration and love can really change a person for the better.
One of the conventions of both the romantic genre and the fairy tale is that of romantic love. Romantic love describes a compelling emotional or erotic bond which transcends material interest. The concept of Romantic love concept arose in the medieval period and is based around the assertion that love exists beyond mercenary considerations and social status. This kind of reality appeals to us because it is a means to be liberated from economic circumstances. Many literary forms offer this escape into another reality to but the romance genre usually offers us a more pleasant and desirable escape. This offering is an expectation of the fairy tale. The story of Cinderella takes a young lady who is rescued from her poverty and repression by a handsome prince because he falls in love with her. This is strange and improbable because the young girl is of such a low social status in comparison with the prince.
This idea of the beauty of a young lady giving rise to her being rescued from her poverty by a wealthy man is also a theme in the story of Pride and Prejudice; Elizabeth’s social status is significantly lower than Mr. Darcy’s and it is expected that they would not conventionally be compatible. The author, in the third person perspective, tells us that when Mr Darcy finally and formally confesses his feelings for Elizabeth which “will not be repressed” he speaks of ‘feelings besides those of the heart’. She also mentions ‘His sense of her inferiority – of its being a degradation – of the family obstacles which judgement had always opposed to inclination’ The “family obstacles” he talks of are due to her social inferiority. It is the fact that her family does not have the grand reputation to match his and if they were to be wedded it would reflect badly on his family.
Later, in chapter fifty-six, Lady Catherine de Bourgh calls Elizabeth “a woman of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family.” She goes on to say that her “alliance will be a disgrace” and that Mr. Darcy should be wedded to her own progeny because “Their fortune on both sides is splendid.” The conversation between Elizabeth and the irascible Lady Catherine is one of the greatest oppositions of the ideal of Romantic love in Pride and Prejudice. It is the fact that Lady Catherine is trying to prevent a marriage of unconventional love which is so opposed to mercenary interest. She is trying to put a stop to their special emotional bond which defies the voice of authority, reason and ultimately the values of a capitalist society.
Their defiance has no political or necessarily intelligent reason but is due to something conceived as ‘true love’. This concept is the driving force of the romantic ‘quest’ in the novel and is what potentially offers us the ‘escape’ or catharsis that both Romantic writing and the fairy tale can be an effective medium for.
Bibliography
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice (London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1994. First published 1813)
Pretty Woman (Marshall, 1990)
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter one, page five
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter twenty-two, pages one-hundred to one-hundred and one
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter twenty-two, page one-hundred and one
‘Pretty Woman’ (1990), directed by Gary Marshall, written by J.F. Lawton
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter three, pages eleven to twelve
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter six, page twenty
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter fifty-eight, page two-hundred and twenty-two
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter thirty-four, page one-hundred and forty-seven
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter thirty-four, page one-hundred and forty-seven
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter thirty-four, page one-hundred and forty-eighty
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter fifty-six, page two-hundred and seventy-three
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter fifty-six, page two-hundred and seventy-four
‘Pride and Prejudice’: Chapter fifty-six, page two-hundred and seventy-four