Jane Austen For Dummies (55 page)
Read Jane Austen For Dummies Online
Authors: Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray
This novel's title is another one that suggests that two traits are going to be opposed and represented by two different characters â usually seen as Darcy's pride and Elizabeth's prejudice against him. But Austen isn't that simple. And the novel reveals that
There are many kinds of pride and prejudice.
Different characters display these characteristics for better or for worse.
Before examining how pride and prejudice vary in the novel, it's worthwhile to examine the book's famous first line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Sounds true, yes? But after reading the first chapter, the reader sees that the reverse is true: that single women desire single men with money. Austen has written the line with
verbal irony
â saying one thing, while meaning its opposite. The single rich man is considered the “rightful property” of the women, and so the game is on. Neither Darcy nor Bingley came to Meryton with the intention of marrying. But by the end of the novel, they both marry daughters of the village.
At one time covers of paperback editions of
Pride and Prejudice
frequently bore the profiles of a young woman and man (Elizabeth and Darcy), with her profile under
Prejudice
and his over
Pride
. And in the Meryton Assembly scene, when Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth and says so within her hearing, he certainly seems proud, and she certainly develops a prejudice against him.
But right from the first page of the novel, readers begin to encounter pride and prejudice in many forms:
Mr. Bennet is prejudiced in favor of Lizzy (Elizabeth), who is clever like he is, and Mrs. Bennet is proud of Jane's beauty and her own.
Mrs. Bennet is prejudiced in favor of Lydia and ridiculously proud when Lydia, who has been shamelessly living with Wickham, comes home a married woman after a Regency version of a shotgun wedding.
Elizabeth is prejudiced in Jane's favor when her sister questions whether Bingley really loves her.
Elizabeth is proud of her prejudices against Darcy, until she learns that Wickham lied to her; then, her pride is deflated.
Collins is proud of his patroness Lady Catherine's “condescension” to him.
Charlotte Lucas, desperate at being 27 years old and still unmarried, casts pride to the winds and accepts Collins as her husband.
Lady Catherine is prejudiced against Elizabeth and tries to stop her from becoming engaged to Darcy.
Miss Bingley is proud of her new money and new status, while she's prejudiced against those in trade â ironically forgetting that her father's being in trade gave her the new money and status she now has.
Miss Bingley is prejudiced against Elizabeth because she sees that Darcy is interested in her.
Wickham says Darcy is prejudiced against him.
Elizabeth takes pride in her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner's appearance and personalities.
Elizabeth has sufficient pride not to be cowed by Lady Catherine's pride.
