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Madison Shaw

Mr. Naylor

Honors British Literature

10 February 2015

Pride and Prejudice

In the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, most of the characters are blinded from reality because of their initial prejudice towards others. Each character in the novel handles each interaction in different ways and conforms to society. The title of the novel is best exemplified through Elizabeth Bennet’s pride and prejudice when she rejects Mr. Collinses proposal, interacts with Mr. Darcy for the first time, and misjudges Mr. Darcy’s innocent stares.
Elizabeth’s faithfulness to her pride is exemplified by her interaction with Mr. Collins. When Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, “it is impossible for her to do otherwise than decline” (Austen 74). Mr. Collins exclaims that he has more money than Elizabeth has and implies she would be foolish to not marry him. Elizabeth laughs at this proposal, because she views marriage differently. She is actually looking for love and a marriage that will contribute to her happiness instead of marrying for merely money. This reveals that Elizabeth values her self-pride and feelings for a man more than the benefits of the marriage financially. Collins never bothers to mention “love” nor does he invoke Elizabeth’s happiness, only his own. Despite the societal pressure to marry this wealthy man, she stays true to herself and politely declines his offer. Although Elizabeth takes pride in denying Mr. Collins proposal, the flaws in her character are demonstrated through her prejudice when she first meets Mr. Darcy at the ball. When Elizabeth overhears Mr. Darcy call her “tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt” him, she develops negative feelings towards his character (Austen 7). Despite what she overhears, Elizabeth barely knows Mr. Darcy as a person. She believes Mr. Darcy is a man only concerned with his social status and reputation. She eventually realizes that Mr. Darcy is not as bad as she makes him out to be, which leads to mutual understanding of each other.
When the Bingley sisters are singing and playing the piano, Elizabeth notices Mr. Darcy’s frequent stares. Elizabeth assumes Mr. Darcy is showing signs of his disapproval. When Mr. Darcy asks her to dance, she believes that he is trying to tease her and she denies him wittily. Elizabeth does not realize that Mr. Darcy is staring at her with fascination and admiration. She “hardly knew how she could be an object of great admiration” to Darcy and felt that she only “drew his notice because there was something more wrong and reprehensible” (Austen 34). There is clear miscommunication between the two of them and Elizabeth’s prejudgment of Darcy causes the slow development of their relationship.
Austen represents the title Pride and Prejudice in her creation of the character Elizabeth. Austen’s goal in the creation of the title reveals that the people who conform too closely to the rules of society will never achieve full happiness in life. Elizabeth realizes that her pride and loyalty to herself are more important than developing misconceptions about those she barely knows. The struggle between pride and prejudice is portrayed through numerous characters throughout the novel, but the character Elizabeth is represented best in this title.

Works Cited Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Dover, 1995. Print.

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