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Changes in Time (Pride and Prejudice)

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Submitted By jordan22alexis
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Changes In Time Throughout Jane Austen’s novel, “Pride and Prejudice”, she uses time in many different ways. Though it is evident that the novel is set in the nineteenth century, it is obvious how it has retained it’s charm and appeal to readers through time. While retaining it’s value through it, time is used in a very different way in the novel. As one reads, characters are seen using their time wisely, wasting time, and killing time. Among all else, characters are exposed to long periods of waiting that people in modern times would not settle for, which clearly shows how times have changed. While reading Pride and Prejudice, most readers experience a nostalgic feeling throughout the novel. Yet, somehow, reader’s today still enjoy it just as much as the readers did back during it’s actual publication date in 1813 (Pride and Prejudice, By Jane Austen). The main reason it has retained it’s value through time is that it has so many similarities to times today. Take Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, for example. Although Mr. Darcy is the obvious victor of Elizabeth, there is a love triangle. Love triangles are one of the more conflict-causing aspects in the novel that are similar to today. Marriage is one thing that is, in a way, the same as it was back then. Conceptually, marriage has not changed since the 1800s. Somewhere deep down, regardless of how much it may be denied, every person longs to be able to find the love of their life--that person they wind up marrying and living happily ever after with. It is easy to see how important marriage was in Austen’s time. In fact, the first line of “Pride and Prejudice” states that “It is a universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife (Austen).” Unfortunately, even though the fact that everyone wants to be married is the same, it can not

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