Mrs Bennet didn’t pay any attention to Mr Collins, she didn’t realise how foolish and idiotic he actually is, all she wanted was Elizabeth to accept his hand in marriage so she will be well off in the future and live in Longbourn estate. Mrs Bennet is a very obsessed woman about wealth and rank but it refers certain women of Austen’s time.
Jane Austen satirises the snobbish attitudes of Bingley’s sister and her friend. Both of these two women are hypocritical because they are very judgmental of the Bennets’ position in society. They insult the Bennets’ because one of their uncles live in Cheapside, a poor part of London, but they forget that their brother’s fortune and their won had been made through trade, so they aren’t any better than the Bennets’. For example “ …they have another, who lives somewhere near Cheapside” they both laughed heartily.
Bingley’s sister and her friend are snobbish when they go to the first ball at the assemblies. They turned their noses up thinking they were better off than anyone else. At the ball their minds are on their superiority so they didn’t have any fun. They were also very quick to slight the people of the community. Austen is also showing that honest; hardworking people are considered less in society because they make their money through business. To become wealthy and high in society someone in the family from the past must start at the bottom and work your way up, but Bingley’s sister forgets that, because they have money now and believe they are higher than anyone else.
Jane Austen satirises the ridiculous character of Mr Collins and it is very amusing for the reader. Austen satirises Mr Collins for his obsession for furniture and money and his pretence of morality and education when he is really rather stupid and quite shallow. Mr Collins is desperate for a wife. For example, he changes his mind from liking Jane Bennet to Elizabeth Bennet instantly when Mrs Bennet tells him that Jane is currently involved with Mr Bingley. After Elizabeth turns down Mr Collins offer of his hand in marriage, he asks Lady Catherine to marry him. This suggests that Mr Collins is very shallow and just wants a wife to share his lifestyle with and for her looks.
Mr Collins doesn’t know Lady Catherine only married him because of she didn’t think any other man found her attractive or that would want as a wife. Mr Collins likes to show off. For example when Lizzy Bennet goes to visit Mr Collins and Lady Catherine at their estate, Mr Collins brags about every little detail in the house like the shelf in the cupboard. He shows Lizzy around making everything sound perfect to try and make her jealous. For example, “he addressed himself particularly to her, as if wishing to make her feel what she had lost in refusing him.” This shows how Mr Collins is a ridiculous, uncaring man who is a total embarrassment to be with.
Austen satirises Lady Catherine de Bourgh for being far too proud, rude and ill mannered. She is satirised for the way she misuses her position in society and her power. She loses her respect by being too impatient and arrogant. Lady Catherine de Bourgh doesn’t think before she speaks, and her opinion has too be heard and she is always right because she thinks she is more superior than anyone else because of her money and rank in society.
When Catherine de Bourgh goes to question Lizzy if Mr Darcy has proposed to her, Lady Catherine de Bourgh is very rude, arrogant and persistent. Lizzy had had enough of Catherine de Bourgh’s ignorance and answers her back the way she talks to people. For example, “You have widely mistaken my character, if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions as these”. As a result of Lizzy answering her back Catherine de Bourgh is very disgusted because no one has ever spoke back to her in that way, normally people “suck up” to her. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a very proud woman, nevertheless she acts like a child because she always has to be heard, she might be very posh and rich on the outside but she is a bitter, vain woman.
Austen’s use of satire is much more serious when she deals with morality. Austen satirises knowing the difference being right and wrong and good and bad with a few characters in the book. Mr Wickham at first seems to be a very nice, gentile and sociable man but when we hear his past with his affair with Georgina and how he was always playing around with different girls, we change our minds because he put a charm on to get people to trust him and he needs to marry a girl with some money to pay off his gambling debts off. Austen intends to show that you can’t judge a person from their looks and manner. Wickham comes across as a really nice, cheerful man because of this everyone believes his story about Mr Darcy and ho he’s the evil one, but the publics opinion of Mr Wickham automatically change when he is found out and what he is really like.
Austen also satirises Mr Collins for his morality. He is a priest and people expect him to be an intelligent and calm man. Mr Collins is actually a clumsy, imprudent man who just wants a wife no matter what she is like on the inside. He sees himself as a moral figure but his personality and actions prevent other people seeing him as one. The church isn’t the most important thing in his life, but people like Lady Catherine de Bourgh is important to him because of her wealth and power. He doesn’t behave the way we would expect a person from the church to act. Mr Collins comes across as a very shallow man, who only cares about people wealth, rank and looks.
Jane Austen satirises public opinion and the attitudes of people at Meryton. People make their minds up of people by first impressions. At first Wickham is loved by everyone, he is the perfect gentleman that every woman would dream of having. On the other hand peoples first opinion of Mr Darcy is that he is a very rude, ignorant man, that no woman would ever dream of marrying.
Everybody believed Wickham’s ‘story’ about Darcy because Wickham is seen as such a gentleman, very pleasant and he is ”universally liked”. When everyone finds out he is a fake and covers his really personality they all automatically agree he is pure evil and then Darcy is seen as a ‘good man’.
Furthermore Mrs Bennet changing her opinion of Mr Darcy and Bingley’s sister is never ending. At first she likes Bingley’s sister even though she makes mocks the Bennets because they aren’t as high up in society as herself. Mrs Bennet soon changes her mind about her as does she with Mr Darcy, at first she sees him as a rude ignorant man but after he helps find Wickham and Lydia she suddenly greets him with open arms and care.
Austen satirise all the people at Meryton for their attitudes and opinions. The people at Meryton make an opinion on how people act on first impressions, or also known as prejudging people. If your not seen as good then people will not want to listen to you and your reasons as with what happened to Mr Darcy at first. This shows how selfish people were in Austen’s era, because you can’t actually judge someone by what you think they are like only by getting to know them you can actually find out what they are really like.
Jane Austen satirises the social standards of her era in Pride and Prejudice because it shows how pathetic and conscious people were about their position in society. In the Book we see how Mrs Bennet is an incredibly annoying character. She is obsessed by the desire to see that her daughters get married and she doesn’t care for anything else in the world. This is what many mothers did back then, they just wanted the very best for their children, and like any mother but in Austen’s time they were obsessed about social standards.
Reputation was a big issue in Austen’s era. Women were expected to act in certain ways Stepping outside the social norms makes her exposed to ostracism. Men also had to be kind and gentile. Women were thought of as to just keep the men company as they were considered to not be very intelligent are good at anything apart from doing thing around the house. However in the novel Elizabeth Bennet acts differently to most women of her time, she has a brain and she uses it. Rank in society was very important because it shows how much power you had. People like Lady Catherine de Bourgh misuses her position is society and power and acts like a spoilt child. She is also very vain.
Class was also very important. Class and reputation both reflect on the life of the middle and upper class in England. The lines were very strictly drawn between the classes. The Bennets are middle class but socialize with the upper class, to some of the upper class they are seen as inferiors and are treated as such. Austen criticizes class but only the upper and middle class. In the novel Austen shows the power of love and how it can break the class boundaries as we see between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Bingley and Jane Bennet. Austen satirises this kind of class-consciousness, particularly in the character of Mr. Collins, who spends most of his time gratifying to his upper class patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Austen satirises morality in a much more serious and bitter way when talking about knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is very important for people reputation, some people never learn, for example Mr Wickham and his gambling and drinking addictions and how he acts and uses women dishonourably. He tried to marry Darcy’s sister, Georgina, but Darcy stops him then Wickham catches Lydia’s attention by his charm but underneath he is deceitful.
Public opinion is also seriously satirises as the people at Meryton decide automatically on an opinion of someone, but it is more likely to be wrong which is called prejudging someone. You can’t really judge and person until you have actually spoken to them and got to know them properly. But at Meryton first impressions decided whether you are a good or bad person.
This novel shows how strong love can be but Charlotte Lucas who marries the ridiculous, shallow Mr Collins for his money demonstrates that the heart doesn’t always lead to marriage. Austen shows that true love is much more powerful than rank and power in society, and that it can overcome the most difficult and trying circumstances. It also demonstrates how class-consciousness people acted in Austen’s era, this novel also shows us how feeble people were to try and be better than everyone else back then.
