The first character I am going to talk about is Elizabeth Bennet. Out of all the Bennet sisters, Elizabeth comes across the most headstrong one. She knows what she wants and won’t agree to anything to anything that people want her to do if she doesn’t want to. For examples, Mrs Bennet wants Lizzy to marry Mr. Collins and get quite overexcited at the thought of her daughters marrying, no matter who it is to. However, Lizzy is not attracted to Mr. Collins in the slightest, and makes this known in her several refusals to his marriage proposal. One of her other sister, such as Lydia – who is only interested in flirting, marriage, and men – might’ve accepted Mr. Collins’ proposal, as it would’ve meant lots of money and big houses. Also, the higher status that would be acquired would tempt one of them to accept.
We can see, quite clearly, that Elizabeth is the heroine of the story, and is the girl whom everyone likes and gets along with. The fact that she is so independent and head-strong is why Darcy becomes so attracted to her.
Austen presents Lizzy as being less attractive than her older sister Jane, to emphasise her unique personality that attracts Darcy to her so much. In fact, Austen makes Lizzy seem very much different from all her sisters, as all they like to talk about is men, parties, and getting married. She is also made out to be very different to her mum, as we can see Elizabeth is the clear favourite of Mr. Bennet’s daughters. We especially see this when, in chapter 59, he says to her, “My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life”. From this we can tell he wants her to be really happy with whomever she ends up marrying. The reader can detect this favouritism, as Mr. Bennet only says this to Lizzy, none of his other daughters. This quotation also makes us feel very sorry for Mr. Bennet, as Austen is inferring that he is unhappy in his marriage and doesn’t respect his wife. This use of irony makes us see a more serious side to him, as other times in the book, his use of irony has been quite funny.
Throughout the book, Austen doesn’t comment much on what Lizzy looks like, only that she is pretty and has “dark eyes”. Also, we hear Caroline Bingley say she has “no beauty”. A good quote that sums up Lizzy is, “Her wit and vivacity will be acceptable to Lady Catherine when tempered with silence and respect”, said by Mr. Collins. This means that although he loves the fact that she is so lively and funny, she would also need to be quiet and respectful at times for Lady Catherine to like her.
The second person I am going to talk about is Mrs Bennet, on of the liveliest characters in the story. The marriage between Mrs Bennet and her husband plays a big part in the novel, and is regularly mentioned and referred to. Her main purpose in life is to see all five of her daughters settled down and married. We can see this when three of them are all married (Jane, Lydia and Elizabeth), she is so happy and excited. We see two extremes to Mrs Bennet:- one of depression, thinking none of her daughters will end up married, and one of such happiness, when three of them get married!
We can see Mrs Bennet’s dislike for Mr. Darcy when Elizabeth announces they are to marry, and her mother is so shocked that she agreed to marry him. In chapter 18 we see Mrs Bennet’s obvious dislike of Darcy. “What is Mr. Darcy to, pray, that I should be afraid of him? I am sure we owe him no such particular civility as to be obliged to say nothing he may not like to hear”. This means that she doesn’t care if he hears her speaking ill of him, and in her opinion her family owe him nothing. She feels that she shouldn’t speak quietly just because she is saying something nasty about him.
Mrs Bennet and Mr. Collins seem to be the two most eccentric characters in the whole story. They are always very over the top and dramatic. This adds a sense of comedy to the book, which is very much needed to make it less serious. In the story, whenever Mrs Bennet mentions the fact that Mr. Collins entails his lane, she refers to her husband dying before she will. She does this without even knowing, making it very funny to watch or read.
The relationship between Mr. And Mrs Bennet is somewhat fake, in the way that Mr. Bennet regularly uses sarcasm towards his wife. For example, in the opening chapter, “I have a high respect for your nerves…I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at lest”. Most of the time she cannot detect his sarcastic tone, but the reader can, making it funny to read. Mrs Bennet is portrayed to be very bossy, especially towards Mr. Bennet. We can see this right from the start, in the opening chapter, when Mrs Bennet says to him “You must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he comes into the neighbourhood”. From here onwards, we can see that it is Mrs Bennet who “wears the trousers” in this relationship.
The third and final character I am going to talk about is Mr. Bennet. All he really wants is a peaceful life, with all his daughters settled down and married. Although, he doesn’t make it quite the obsession that his wife does”
Mr. Bennet’s character is largely centred on his relationship with his wife and five daughters, and includes a large amount of wittiness and comedy. A good example of this is when he makes a remark about her nerves, and having to put up with them for over 20 years! By making a joke about this, we can see his hidden tiredness of being married to Mrs Bennet for 20 years. He can be rather cruel, however, when he makes jokes. Especially when he remarks upon Jane being abandoned by Bingley. Mr. Bennet shows a great deal of wit and humour, but also has a sense of irresponsibility when it comes to his daughters. Although he wants them all to be happy and get married, he doesn’t really show an interest in what they do or where they do.
The marriage between Jane and Bingley is very different to that of Lizzy and Darcy. Jane and Bingley are very much the same: they like dancing and going to parties. However, Lizzy and Darcy are very different. This is a case where opposites attract. Mr. Bennet is pleased with the engagement of Jane and Bingley, whereas, he is concerned that Lizzy is making a mistake by marrying Darcy. He talks of his own experiences to her when he says “unable to respect your partner in life”.
Conclusion: Overall, this story is based entirely upon courting and marriage. After all, the opening quotation tells you this – “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”. This immediately tells us that the story is based upon marriage and settling down.
Many of Jane Austen’s novels and about marriage and she saw that men provided for their wives and family, which left women little opportunity to provide for themselves. Marriage gave women security and responsibility but also took away their freedom and independence.
The original title of the book ‘First Impressions’ says a lot about what the story is about as well. It is based a lot upon people’s first impressions of people. For example Elizabeth’s first impressions of Darcy are that he is rude, quiet and snobbish, whereas Jane’s first impressions of Bingley are that he is handsome, kind and sweet.