Pride and Prejudice Essay

GLEN MILLNER

MLLGLE006

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

ESSAY

TUTOR: SIMON VAN SCHALKWYK

DATE: 04/05/2007

Jane Austen began writing the novel Pride and Prejudice in the year 1796 and was first published in 1813. The book written in the 19th Century, became part of the era of Romanticism, a time were many of the prominent writers, such as Dickens and Tennyson began to rationalize things around them and emerged as the great thinkers of the time. Pride and Prejudice however was not the books original name. Its initial name was First Impressions, which in context of the book begins to explain the way their world was structured and perceived by Austen. She was born and raised in London and began writing at a very young age. Austen’s ideas in Pride and Prejudice reflect a capacity for a diverse society where themes of class and social behavior were maintained by a hierarchal format. The story takes place in and around London, were the rulings of the upper classes governed the actions of the middle and lower classes. The pursuit of marriage is a theme that bears a close connection with class and is a relationship that is carried throughout the course of the story. A mans place in the story is determined by his desire to find a suitable wife, a choice that is made according to the female figures charm and elegance. The mans social status, largely dictated by his ownership of property and annual income, distinguishes his eligibility amongst the female characters. So the book takes on a social format relevant to the above plot outline and revolves around the communication between the male and female characters. The language and discourse in particular, are commonly on the subject of the negotiation of matrimony.

Chapter thirty-four focuses on Mr. Darcy’s first proposal to Miss Elizabeth. Mr. Darcy’s self absorbed approach causes Miss Elizabeth to deny his attempt to woo her into marriage. His true feelings towards Miss Elizabeth are masked by an “insipidity” in his address, and his hasty disregard and lack of compliment of her external beauty, indicate an arrogance in his character. (Austen, 1952: 35). His preconceptions with class play a fundamental role and causes him to misjudge her, as a result their interaction is misinterpreted. Elizabeth says that: “he was the last man in the world whom he could ever ...