Meg Huffingham
January 5, 2016
In what ways does Austen strikingly reveal the theme of money in “Pride and Prejudice”? From the very first line of the novel “Pride and Prejudice,” it becomes apparent that the theme of money is the foundation that the story was built on. Jane Austen wrote this book over two hundred years ago, and although money still plays a great role in the world we live in today, a person’s place in society no longer depends on it the way it did in Austen’s time. Characters like George Wickham, Mrs. Bennet and Lady Catherine De Bourgh are all unique in their disposition and the way they treat people, but when comparing the way they each regard money, they are more similar than they appear. The first of these characters to be introduced is Mrs. Bennet. Mrs. Bennet is a self-centered, unaffectionate mother who is unafraid to overtly speak of money unlike the rest of the people in this time period. Her only real interest is to marry her daughters off to men who will be useful to herself, like Mr. Bingley and Mr. Collins. Austen introduces this interest in the first chapter when Mrs. Bennet is begging Mr. Bennet to take a visit to Netherfield Park to become acquainted with the extremely wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley, who she intends to fall in love with one of her daughters. Her only reason for wanting Elizabeth to become Mrs. Collins is so that she will not be forced out of their home at Longbourn after Mr. Bennet passes away. Even when she learns of Lizzy’s engagement to Mr. Darcy, a man she had detested just minutes before, she shows no concern for Elizabeth’s feelings about him the way her husband did. Instead she yells excited exclamations about how rich Lizzy will be, and she delights at the idea of bragging about it to everyone in the neighborhood. However, Mrs. Bennet is a walk in the park compared to the icy cold blizzard that is Lady