chapter three to be corrected halima

8/13/2019 Chapter Three to Be Corrected Halima

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Chapter Three Analysis

Chapter Three:

The Analysis

3-1 Introduction.

3-2 Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:

3-2-1 Plot.

3-2-2 Characters Analysis.

3-2-3 Themes Analysis.

3-3 Analysis of Instances of Irony from Pride and

Prejudice.

3-4 Conclusion.


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3-1 Introduction:

In Jane Austen's times, Englishmen most regarded the novel as a useless piece of

literature; they posed a risk to the virtuousness according to which the members of

English society, especially the female ones, were expected to behave.

In Contrast to the obtrusive morality of the majority of novels at that time , Austen's

pieces of work are strongly marked by an ironic tone, a subtle humor and highly

ambivalent statements. in ParticularPride and Prejudice, an ironic predominant tone

was detected throughout the novel. In order to analyse the novel thoroughly and

adequately, it is thus of paramount importance to study Austen's use of irony in Pride

and Prejudice and her intentions and motives behind the ironic statements

3-2 Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:

3-2-1 Plot:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good

fortune must be in want of a wife." (rerference)!!(There follows a quick antiphonal

dialogue expressing the marriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet, comically at odds with what

Austen later described in her Plan of a Novel as usual novel sty le.

The novel portrays individuals negotiating personal needs with external social

demands and internalised moral codes: using manners to control or mask inevitable

egoism, they manipulate talk to gratify themselves.

Here, however, the negotiation is less painful and more absurd as well as more

rewarding and wry. The love plot becomes the movement of two Individuals towards

marriage; it is also a progress towards civility, but something more socially and


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personally valuable, based on understanding anothers feelings and consequently

ones own.(Tod, 2006)

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are intent on having their five daughters marry above theirmiddle-class station. A rich single man, Charles Bingley rents an estate, Netherfield,

nearby. Mrs. Bennet pushes her husband to immediately introduce himself and form

an acquaintance. He obliges reluctantly. At a ball, all the Bennets are introduced to

the Bingley party. Everyone likes the courteous Mr. Bingley, but his close friend,

Fitzwilliam Darcy, is thought to be too arrogant and filled with unconcealed pride and

vanity. He wont dance with anyone outside of his own group or deign to speak with

them. He states, within Elizabeth Bennets hearing that she is tolerable, but not

handsome enough to tempt me." (page11) Mr. Bingleys affection for Jane develops

quickly, to the concern of his sisters and Mr. Darcy. They cant tolerate her lower

status, and are embarrassed by her familys manners and actions. Mr. Darcy, in spite

of his better wisdom, becomes infatuated with Elizabeth. He is drawn to her

uncensored wit and fine eyes. Miss Bingleys jealous criticisms of her do nothing to

lessen his admiration.

Miss Bingley has made plans to entrap him for herself, but they seem blocked.

Caroline Bingley invites Jane to Netherfield. While she is en route, in the rain, Jane

catches a severe cold. She is forced to stay at the estate and be treated by a local

apothecary.

Mrs. Bennet is delighted, because this puts Jane in proximity with Mr. Bingley and

his wealth. Jane becomes more ill, and her sister Elizabeth goes to Netherfield to

nurse her. The concern for her sister and strength of character appeal to Mr. Darcy,

but he is afraid of his infatuation with someone who is economically inferior. The

Bennet sisters departure after six days relieves nearly everyone.

Mr. Bennets estate, Longbourn, is entailed (by law bequeathed) to Mr. Collins, a

clergyman and cousin. This is because he has no son; thus, his property will go after

his death to Collins as the nearest male relative.


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Mr Bennet receives an inane letter from Collins, apologizing for the entail, and

hinting at the possibility of marriage with one of the Bennet daughters. He arranges

for a fortnight stay at Longbourn, where his officious stupidity delights Mr. Bennets

keen satiric sense, repels Elizabeth, and endears him to the vacuous Mrs Bennet. Mr.Bennet cant wait for him to depart and soon tires of his praise of his patron, Lady

Catherine de Bourgh. He sends his cousin on an errand to Meryton with his daughters.

There, they meet George Wickham, a handsome and personable military officer.

Elizabeth is intrigued when Wickham and Darcy, who obviously know each other,

meet on the street and both seem uncomfortable. At a ball, soon after, Wickham tells

his life story to Elizabeth. He states that Darcy disobeyed his own fathers will out of

resentment.

Wickham was a ward of Darcys father and had been promised revenue for a

clergymans position. Wickhams story makes Darcy look cruel and self-indulgent.

Elizabeth buys this account; because she has pre-determined, negative Elizabeth

becomes infatuated with the charming Wickham, as do her younger sisters. She

resents his absence from the ball thrown by Mr. Bingley at Netherfield. She attributes

his lack of attendance to a dispute between Wickham and Darcy, because Wickham

has persuaded her of Darcys bad character. She annoys Darcy by bringing up the

subject, and is puzzled by his persistence in approaching her, as she does not know of

his attraction. Elizabeth is mortified by her familys behavior that evening. Mrs.

Bennet loudly proclaims the merits of a match between Jane and Mr. Bingley. Mary,

her sister, bores everyone with her mediocre piano playing. Mr. Collins, her cousin,

gracelessly proposes marriage, and she is further embarrassed. He wants a marriage of

convenience, and she wants no part of it. She tries to convince him that her refusal is

earnest. The support of her father makes Collins see the truth.

The Bingley party leaves Netherfield for London, and Caroline Bingley writes to

Jane to inform her that they wont return until winter. She hints in her letter that Mr.

Bingley intends to court Georgiana Darcy. This is a match that has been determined

for years between the families.


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Elizabeth rightly discerns that Bingleys sisters and friend are trying to keep him

from the Bennets. Her family is not prominent enough for their aspirations.

Mr. Collins, rejected by Elizabeth, is consoled by Charlotte Lucas, her best friend.To Elizabeths great surprise and astonishment, Charlotteplots to marry Mr. Collins,

from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment. (reference)

She had always considered herself plain and almost an old maid, so she snaps at a

chance to be a respectable lady of society. He proposes, they marry, and they leave for

their residence near Rosings Elizabeth later accepts Charlottes invitation to visit her

in her new establishment. Elizabeth is gratified that Charlotte has taken charge

choosing not to react to her husbands stupidity or her patrons insolent behavior.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a tyrannical despot. She tells everybody what to do, and

is not to be contradicted. She plans to unite the family estates by marrying her

daughter to Mr. Darcy, who is due to arrive at Easter. Darcy continues to court

Elizabeth. He seeks her companionship, but says little. One night, he declares his love

and proposes.

He is discourteous, and stresses his familys superiority. Elizabeth is as angry as she

is astonished. His seeming pride is unbearable to her, and she adamantly refuses his

declaration and derides him.

She accuses him of breaking up Jane and Bingley, and ruining young Mr.

Wickhams reputation. Darcyacknowledges both charges without seeming remorse or

explanation, and leaves her with a cold, indifferent attitude.

The next morning, Darcy finds Elizabeth on one of her walks. He delivers a letter,

which tries to answer her reproaches. Darcy intervened in Bingleys romance because

he wanted him to marry a wealthy person, and he was not convinced that Jane was

truly in love with him. Janes placid manner never convinced him that there was any

deep emotion between them. He went on to add that the Bennet family left a lot to be

desired.


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Mrs Bennet was vacuous; Mr. Bennet, indifferent and unequivocally negligent, and

the two younger daughters were flirtatious and empty-headed. No criticism was

leveled at either Jane or Elizabeth. He revealed that Wickham was a man without

principle, and had presented his case falsely. Her former prejudice was now quitejarred, and she had to contemplate the probability of this being true Elizabeth and her

Aunt and Uncle Gardiner set off on a tour. One of their unofficial stops is at

Derbyshire which is her aunts and Darcys home county. Since they are in the

vicinity of Pemberley, Darcys estate Mrs. Gardiner wants to visit it. Elizabeth has

apprehensions, but does not object when she learns the owner is away. She finds

Pemberley extremely pleasant. The house is prestigious, and the gardens lavish.

Elizabeth muses that if she had been more perceptive and indulgent, this place could

have been hers. She hears the housekeepers glowing description of Darcy as being

extremely good- natured and generous to the poor Darcy unexpectedly appears, a day

early, and both he and Elizabeth are embarrassed. Darcy is attentive and gracious and

extremely cordial to the unpretentious aunt and uncle. Darcy insists upon Elizabeth

meeting his sister, and they call the next day at the inn. The formidable Miss Darcy

seems not proud, but shy. She barely is able to carry on a conversation without

deference to her brother. There is much affinity between the two. It is not as obvious

to Elizabeth that Darcy is still in love with her. The Gardiners see this, but await

Elizabeths version. When Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth go to Pemberley for a

requested return visit, Miss Bingley tries in vain to insult Elizabeth in her presence

and behind her back. She fails completely to work her will on Darcy In the midst of

her happiness, Elizabeth receives two letters from her sister Jane. They say that Lydia

has eloped with Wickham. The pair left Brighton for London and are not presumably

married. Elizabeth fears that her sister is permanently disgraced, and that her own re-

discovered love for Darcy can never result in marriage. She and the Gardiners leave

for home as fast Mr. Bennet went after them, as they can make preparations. The

eloped pair is elusive for several days. But returns home unfulfilled. Mr, who took the

matter into his own hands, writes and states that Gardiner they have been found. He

adds that Lydia has agreed to a quick marriage All of this has been arranged by

Darcy. He works secretly to pay off Wickhams gambling debts and ensure a suitable

dowry. Mrs. Bennet is ecstatic about this development. Mr Bennet, Elizabeth, and


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Jane are sure that Mr. Gardiner must have paid out a tidy sum to get Lydia married

officially and save the family name. Little do they realize that it was Darcys work. Mr. Darcy confronted Wickham, bribed him and offered a commission in the army if

he would marry Lydia. He did this because of his love for Elizabeth, and because ofhis sense of blame for Wickhams irresponsibility Lydia and Wickham visit

Longbourn as a married couple. Elizabeth inadvertently learns of Darcys

involvement in the marriage when Lydia passes on a confidence. She gets the

complete story when she writes to Mrs. Gardiner Bingley returns to Netherfield and

falls in love with Jane again. After a while, he proposes. She acc epts. Mrs Bennets

joy is lessened by the appearance of Darcy, whom she has always distrusted Lady

Catherine de Bourgh arrives at Longbourn, after hearing a rumor that Darcy is

enraptured with Elizabeth. She ridicules Elizabeth and demands her to reject a

proposal from Darcy. Elizabeths answer is reserved. Lady Catherine speaks with

Darcy. This only lets Darcy acknowledge that Elizabeth has had a change of heart,

and he renews his proposal to her. This time it is met with a positive attitude.

3-2-2 Characters:

Elizabeth Bennet (Heroine)

The second of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's five daughters, who has inherited her mother's

beauty and her father's intelligence. At twenty, Lizzy has perfect manners, but she is

as witty and independent-minded as the period's strict social code will allow. She

finds her mother's vulgarity humiliating, but reproaching her for it, even in private,

would be a breach of decorum.

On the other hand, she publicly teases Mr. Darcy for his lack of chivalry" I am no

longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now

at your knowing any.(Chapter8, page51)And her willingness to assert her own opinions shocks Lady Catherine, Who is used

to the deference and even the awe of those around her.

As attractive as they are to modern readers, however, Lizzy's independence and

willfulness are the chief obstacles in the book's romantic plot, for they lead her to the


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prejudice of the title. The night she meets Mr. Darcy, he shows obvious contempt for

her family, friends and neighbors, and she accidentally overhears him making some

belittling remarks about her. That is enough to convince her to dislike him on

principle. Though Wickham later misrepresents Darcy's character to her, she is tooeager to believe him, and too willing to ignore the inconsistencies in his story,

because of her determination to think badly of Darcy.

Otherwise, however, she is a model of late-18th-century upper-class feminine

virtue: like her father, she reads a great deal; she both plays the piano and sings well;

she is clever of speech; and she is a devoted and affectionate friend and sister.

When Jane falls ill during her visit to Netherfield, Lizzy hikes three miles across

country to take care of her -- climbing over fences and muddying her petticoats --

rather than recall any of her father's horses from their vital farm work. Bingley's

sisters deride such unladylike exertion, but it speaks volumes about Lizzy's

sensibility, self-reliance, and compassion.

Fitzwilliam Darcy

Mr. Darcy supplies the pride of the title, and he has good reason for it: he is not only

tall, handsome, and clever, but filthy rich. At 28, he is the sole owner of the

Pemberley estate in Derbyshire, which generates annual revenue of 10,000 pounds,

making him one of England's 400 richest people. Darcy is well bred , he attends to all

the formalities that civility demand of him -- but he does not go out of his way to

make others feel comfortable. He has no patience for frivolousness: he would rather

sit silent than engage in vacuous small talk, and he doesn't like to dance, which is

counted a serious fault in an eligible bachelor. Because of his natural dignity and

contempt for vulgarity, his reticence makes him appear haughty, though that

appearance is heightened by his arrogant conviction that, in accompanying his friend

Bingley to Hertfordshire, he has slipped several rungs down the social ladder. None of

the locals likes him. But after Lizzy refuses his (first) offer of marriage, he proves

himself, in an attempt to "obtain [her] forgiveness" and "lessen [her] ill opinion,"

(reference!!!) capable of great charm and generosity. He even ignores the difference


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in rank between himself and Lizzy's uncle and aunt Gardiner, who are not

landowners. We also discover that the housekeeper at his estate has "never had a cross

word from him"(reference!!)in 24 years, that he is" affable to the poor," and that he

indulges and dotes on his younger sister-- though she still remains a little bit afraid ofhim..

Other Important Characters in the Novel

Its useless to mention each character in this way, all the part that is

in green you summarize it giving few hints about each character by

order of importance in no more than two pages

Jane Bennet:

Jane is the oldest in the family. Beautiful, good-tempered, sweet, amiable, humble

and selfless, Jane is universally well-liked. She refuses to judge anyone badly, always

making excuses for people when Elizabeth brings their faults to her attention. Her

tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt leads her to be hurt by insincere

friends such as Caroline Bingley, although in the end her judgments seem to be more

accurate than Elizabeth's overall and to do her much less harm. Jane is a static

character as she is basically a model of virtue from the beginning, there is no room for

her to develop in the novel.

Charles Bingley:

Mr. Bingley, much like Jane, is an amiable and good-tempered person. He is not

overly concerned with class differences, and Jane's poor family connections are not a

serious deterrent to his attachment to her. Bingley is very modest and easily swayed

by the advice of his friends, as seen in his decision not to propose to Jane as a result of

Darcy's belief that Jane is not really attached to him. Also like Jane, Bingley lacks

serious character faults and is thus static throughout the novel. His character and his

love for Jane remain constant; the only thing that changes is the advice of Darcy,

which leads him not to propose to Jane in the beginning of the novel but to propose to

her in the end.


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Mr. Wickham:

An officer in the regiment stationed at Meryton, Wickham is quickly judged to be a

perfectly good and amiable man because of his friendliness and the ease of his

manners. He initially shows a preference for Elizabeth, and she is pleased by his

attentions and inclined to believe his story about Darcy. Yet while Wickham has the

appearance of goodness and virtue, this appearance is deceptive.

His true nature begins to show itself through his attachment to Miss King for purely

mercenary purposes and then through Darcy's exposition of his past and through hiselopement with Lydia, deceiving her to believe that he intends to marry her.

Mrs. Bennet:

Mrs. Bennet is a foolish and frivolous woman. She lacks all sense of propriety and

virtue and has no concern for the moral or intellectual education of her daughters.

From the beginning of the novel her sole obsession is to marry off her daughters.

She is perfectly happy with Lydia's marriage, and never once censures her daughter

for her shameful conduct or for the worry she has caused her family. Her impropriety

is a constant source of mortification. Elizabeth, and the inane nature of her

conversation makes her society so difficult to bear that even Jane and Bingley decide

to move out of the neighborhood a year after they are married.

Mr. Bennet:

An intelligent man with good sense, Mr. Bennet made the mistake of marrying a

foolish woman. He takes refuge in his books and seems to want nothing more than to

be bothered as little as possible by his family. His indolence leads to the neglect of the

education of daughters. Even when Elizabeth warns him not to allow Lydia to go to


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Brighton because of the moral danger of the situation, he does not listen to her

because he does not want to be bothered with Lydia's complaints.

Lydia Bennet:

Lydia is foolish and flirtatious, given up to indolence and the gratification of every

whim. She is the favorite of Mrs. Bennet, because the two have such similar

characters. Lydia is constantly obsessed with the officers in the regiment, and sees no

purpose to life beyond entertainment and diversion. She lacks any sense of virtue,

propriety or good-judgment, as seen in her elopement with Wickham and her

complete lack of remorse afterward.

Catherine (Kitty) Bennet:

Kitty seems to have little personality of her own, but simply to act as a shadow to

Lydia, following Lydia's lead in whatever she does. The end of the novel provides

hope that Lydia's character will improve by being removed from the society of Lydia

and her mother and being taken care of primarily by Jane and Elizabeth.

Mary Bennet:

The third oldest of the Bennet sisters, Mary is strangely solemn and pedantic. She

dislikes going out into society, and to prefers to spend her time studying. In

conversation, Mary is constantly moralizing or trying to make profound observations

about human nature and life in general.

Mr. Collins:

A clergyman and an extremely comical character because of his mix of

obsequiousness and pride, Mr. Collins is fond of making long and silly speeches and

stating formalities which have absolutely no meaning in themselves. For Mr. Collins,

speech is not a means to communicate truth but a means to say what he thinks the


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people around him want to hear or what will make the people around him think well

of him. He is in line to inherit Longbourn once Mr. Bennet dies, and wants to marry

one of the Miss Bennets to lessen the burden of the entailment.

When Elizabeth refuses him, he considers his duty discharged and transfers his

affections to Charlotte Lucas.

Charlotte Lucas:

Charlotte acts as a foil to Elizabeth by embodying the opposite view of marriage.

Charlotte makes no attempt to find a husband whom she loves and esteems, butsimply gives in to the necessity of acquiring financial security through marriage. She

deals as well with Mr. Collins as is possible, but Elizabeth doubts their long-term

happiness.

Sir William Lucas:

A pleasant but not overly deep or intellectual man, he is a friend of the Bennet

family. He is civil but his conversation is basically limited to empty observations and

descriptions of his presentation and knighthood. Elizabeth accompanies him and his

younger daughter Maria to visit Charlotte.

Maria Lucas:

Charlotte's younger sister, she is as empty-headed as her father. Her only role in the

novel is to travel with Elizabeth and Sir William to visit Charlotte.

Mrs. Gardiner:

An intelligent, caring and sensible woman, Mrs. Gardiner acts a mother to Elizabeth

and Jane, filling in for the inadequacy of Mrs. Bennet. She brings Jane to London with

her in order to help cheer her up when she is heartbroken because of Bingley's failure


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to return to Netherfield, and she advises Elizabeth to avoid encouraging Wickham's

affections. She attempts to help Lydia see why her elopement with Wickham was

wrong, but Lydia is completely inattentive.

Caroline Bingley:

Miss Bingley is a superficial and selfish. She has all of Darcy's class prejudice but

none of his honor and virtue.

Throughout the novel she panders to Darcy in an attempt to win his affections, but to

no avail. She pretends to be a genuine friend to Jane but is extremely rude to her whenshe comes to London. She also tries to prevent the marriage of Jane and Bingley and

to prevent Darcy's attachment to Elizabeth by constantly ridiculing the poor manners

of Elizabeth's mother and younger sisters.

Mrs. Hurst:

Bingley's other sister, Mrs. Hurst's character basically matches that of her sister

Caroline. She seems to have no real affection or esteem for her husband.

Mr. Hurst:

An indolent man, he does almost nothing but eat and entertain himself by playing

cards. He never says an intelligent word in the entire novel, and seems to be

concerned only with the quality of the food.

Georgiana Darcy:

Georgiana is Darcy's sister and is ten years his junior. She is quiet and shy but

amiable and good-natured. She has great reverence and affection for her brother. She

and Elizabeth get along well and become good friends after Elizabeth's marriage to


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Darcy. Bingley's sisters had hoped that Bingley would marry Georgiana, thus uniting

the fortunes of the two families.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh:

Lady Catherine is extremely wealthy and likes to let others know of their inferiority

to her. She loves to give people advice about how to conduct their lives down to the

minutest details, loves to hear flattery from others and hates to be contradicted.

Extremely conscious of class differences, she attempts to prevent Darcy from

marrying Elizabeth but actually unwittingly gives him the courage to propose a

second time.

Miss de Bourgh:

Miss de Bourgh is a frail, weak and sickly child who is extremely pampered by

Lady Catherine.She speaks little in the novel but seems to be generally good-natured.

Lady Catherine had wanted Darcy to marry Miss de Bourgh.

Colonel Fitzwilliam:

A cousin of Mr. Darcy and a pleasant and amiable gentleman, he is a companion to

Elizabeth during her stay with the Collinses. Colonel Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth that

he must marry someone with a large fortune because he is the second son, the first

case in the novel where a man's marriage choices are constrained by financial need.

Mrs. Phillips:

Mrs. Phillips is Mrs. Bennet's sister, and shares her sister's foolishness and frivolity.

She lives in Meryton, and the Bennet sisters, particularly Lydia and Kitty, often visit

her in order to socialize with the officers.


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Mrs. Forster:

The wife of Colonel Forster, who is the head of the regiment stationed at Meryton,

she becomes friends with Lydia and invites her to spend the summer with them in

Brighton. She is clearly not very responsible in her supervision of Lydia, and seems to

have a rather frivolous character.

Colonel Forster:

A good-natured and basically responsible man, Colonel Forster tries to do all that he

possibly can to help the Bennets recover Lydia after her elopement with Wickham.

While the elopement is not his fault, Lydia was under his care and he did not seem to

be observing her conduct very closely.

Miss Younge:

Miss Younge was Georgiana Darcy's governess at one point and conspired with

Wickham to get Georgiana to elope with him. Clearly lacking in all moral sense, she

is mentioned in the novel again when Darcy bribes her to tell him the whereabouts of

Wickham and Lydia.

3-2-3 Analysis of Themes

3-2-3-1 Pride

As said in the words of Mary at the beginning of the novel, "human nature is

particularly prone to "pride" (Volume I, Chapter 5).The two major themes of Jane

Austen's Pride and Prejudice are summed up in the title. The first aspect can be

traced in the actions and statements of the work's entire major and many of its minor

characters. Pride is the character flaw that causes Elizabeth Bennet to dislike

Fitzwilliam Darcy upon their first meeting. She perceives in him a cold aloofness that

she attributes to his own inflated opinion of himself. Yet Elizabeth herself also suffers

from the same flaw; her pride in her own ability to analyze character is such that she

refuses to reevaluate Darcy in the face of evidence in his favor.


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In some characters, Austen depicts pride overtly. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is

motivated by pride in her family's status to try to break up a potential match between

Elizabeth and Darcy"Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done.

To all the objections I have already urged, I have still

another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your

youngest sister's infamous elopement. I know it all; that

the young man's marrying her was a patched-up business,

at the expense of your father and uncles. And is such a

girl to be my nephew's sister? Is her husband, is the son

of his late father's steward, to be his brother? Heaven

and earth!--of what are you thinking? Are the shades of

Pember ley to be thus pol luted?" ( Chapter 56, page 275).

Mrs. Louisa Hurst and Caroline Bingley try to achieve the same effect with the

relationship between their brother Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet. In each case,

however, Austen depicts the pride of these minor characters as ridiculous. (Heilman,

1975). In the case of Elizabeth and Darcy, however, Austen treats pride less directly.

On his first appearance in the novel, Darcy appears "above his company and above

being pleased," reports Heilman, He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the

world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again. ( Chapter3, page

11).

The people who record these observations, the critic continues, "believe that they

are seeing a sense of superiority, snobbishness, excessive self-approval." However,

they do not take into consideration that some of the other behavior that Darcy

exhibits, such as "reserve, an apparent unresponsiveness to overtures, a holding back

from conventional intercourse, pleasantries, and small talk," may actually stem from a

quiet personality. So what appears to be pride may be simple shyness or

awkwardness. When Elizabeth and others consider Darcy full of pride, they are also

condemning him, says Heilman, for not obeying the rules of the "neighborhood social


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ways." For Darcy and Elizabeth, at least, pride can be more than a simple negative

quality.

In fact, pride serves several different functions in the novel. In addition to themisplaced pride of the minor characters, there are characters who negleet to honor

their pride when they should protect it. Elizabeth's friend Charlotte Lucas decides to

marry William Collins, the heir to Mr. Bennet's estate, out of a simple desire to make

his estate her own

"I see what you are feeling," replied Charlotte,"you must be

surprised, very much surprised,so lately as Mr. Collins was

wishing to marry you. But when you have had time to think it all

over, I hope you will be satisfied with what I have done. I am

not romantic you know. I never was, I ask only a comfortable

home; and considering Mr. Collins's character, connections, and

situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness

with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the

marriage state." (Chapter 22, page 100).

Elizabeth strongly objects to such a union; it offends her sense of pride for someone

to enter into a loveless marriage for purely material purposes.

The George Wickham-Lydia Bennet elopement is another example of an arrangement

where pride should have been taken into consideration and was not. In this way,

Heilman states, Austen defines pride as "the acceptance of responsibility. This

indispensably fills out a story that has devoted a good deal of time to the view of pride

as an easy and blind self-esteem." Gradually, even Darcy and Elizabeth herself come

to a realization of the necessity not to reject pride, but to control it.

3-2-3-2 Prejudice:

Prejudice is the faults of being blind to the truth becauseweare partial; preferring

to see appearance rather than reality, because we have interest in doing so .The reason

for Prejudice may vary. We may be Prejudice towards someone because they please

us or against someone because they rejects us.


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The subject of prejudice is linked to pride in the title of Pride and Prejudice. It is

also more directly linked to Elizabeth Bennet's character. From the beginning, states

Marvin Mudrick in "Irony as Discrimination: Pride and Prejudice," "Elizabeth sets

herself up as an ironic spectator, able and prepared to judge and classify, already

making the first large division of the world into two sorts of people: the simple ones,

those who give themselves a way out of shallowness (as Bingley fears) or perhaps

openness (as Elizabeth implies) or an excess of affection (as Mr. Collins will

demonstrate); and the intricate ones, those who cannot be judged and classified so

easily, who are 'the most amusing' to the ironic spectator because they offer the most

formidable challenge to his powers of detection and analysis you wish to think all the

world respectable and hurt if I speak ill of anybody (Chapter 24,page107). EIizabeth

is prepared to divide the entire world into one of these two categoriesan extreme

example of prejudice in the "pre-judging" sense of the term. It is most evident in her

judgment of Darcy, so sure is she of her powers of observation that she refuses to

reevaluate Darcy even when the weight of evidence begins to turn in favor of him.

It is not until Darcy overcomes his own prejudice against those of lower socialstation by treating Elizabeth and the Gardiners graciously and considerately at

Netherfield that Elizabeth's opinion of him begins to change. "Not only do Elizabeth

and Darcy have the most serious problem of surmounting barriers of misconception

and adverse feeling," Heilman declares, "but they are the most sensitive both in

susceptibility to injured feelings and in capacity for getting to the center of thingsto

matters of prejudice and pride." The ending "is a remarkable tracing of Elizabeth's

coming around to a completely changed point of view," the critic concludes. "To Jane

she acknowledges that she has cultivated her 'prejudices' and has been 'weak and vain

and nonsensical.'" With this realization, Elizabeth begins the process of change that

will eventually bring herself and Darcy together.

3-2-3-3 Marriage:


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Pride and Prejudice's famous first sentence declares the centrality of marriage to the

storylineIt is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of agood fortune, must be in want of a wife.( Chapter 1,page 5).In the course of the book - which spans a little less than a year - four marriages in facttake place:

Three of the Bennet girls' and Charlotte Lucas's. More are plotted: Lady Catherine

schemes that Darcy should marry her daughter; Miss Bingley schemes to marry

Darcy, and to get her brother married to Darcy's sister; Mr. Collins actually proposes

to Lizzy; and Wickham fixes his attentions on Darcy's sister, Lizzy, and the fleetingly

glimpsed Miss King before finally being persuaded to marry Lydia.

In England in the late 18th and early 19th century, marriage among the wealthy was

viewed as a kind of financial merger. When Darcy and Ann De Bourgh were infants,

their mothers had already decided they would marry - and not, obviously, on the basis

of personal affinity and sexual attraction. A little farther down the social ladder, Mrs.

Bennet is furious when Lizzy refuses Mr. Collins's proposal: the thought of pawning

her daughter off on a buffoon is negligible beside the prospect of keeping Mr.

Bennet's estate - which Collins will inherit - in the family.

Austen is obviously unsympathetic to this view of marriage. Charlotte's decision to

marry Mr. Collins damages her friendship with Lizzy, who repeatedly characterizes

her motives as"mercenary," and when Lizzy visits the newlyweds at the Hunsford

parsonage, she quickly deduces that Charlotte has arranged household affairs such

that she spends as little time with her husband as possible. But neither is Austen a

romantic. Lydia loves Wickham wholeheartedly, but their marriage is a disaster. Mr.

Bennet, too, married because he was "captivated by youth and beauty," ( Chapter 42,

page 183) but his wife's foolishness "had very early in their marriage put an end to all

real affection for her." (Chapter 42, page 183) The book's two successful marriages -

Lizzy's and Jane's - follow long delays, reversals of opinion, and several tests of both

character and commitment. Toward the end of the book, moreover, Jane asks Lizzy

how long she has loved Darcy. When Lizzy replies, "I believe I must date it from my

first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley," (Chapter59, page 288) we suspect


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she is only half-joking. Austen seems to suggest that, while economic motives for

marriage should not be decisive, neither should they be despised.

3-2-3-4 The Rights, Status, and Education of Women:

In Pride and Prejudice, the stakes of the marriage plots are high because Mr.

Bennet's estate has been entailed away from the female line" - a common legal

provision of the period whereby only men may inherit property. If the Bennet girls do

not marry well, they will be almost penniless when their father dies. The fact that the

heir of the estate, Mr. Bennet's nephew Mr. Collins, is a buffoon who already has a

comfortable living of his own, might suggest that Austen considers entailment unfair.Critics have pointed out, however, that only two characters in the book - Mrs. Bennet

and Lady Catherine actually object to the entail, and that they are scarcely less

ridiculous than Collins. It seems unlikely that Austen would make them the

mouthpieces for her own opinions.

If Austen is equivocal about women's political equality, however, she insists on

their intellectual equality. At the time of the novel, the education of gentlewomen was

intended to equip them to be good wives, and it emphasized decorative arts and

household management. Bingley mockingly describes the conventional

"accomplishments" of women as "painting tables" and "netting purses"; his sister

Caroline rejoins that a truly "accomplished" woman must also have "a thorough

knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages."

By these standards, Lizzy is undistinguished: she has neither been to a women's

boarding school nor had a governess; her musical performance is "pleasing, but by no

means capital"; and she astonishes Lady Catherine with the admission that she cannot

draw. Nonetheless, when she asks Darcy what attracted him to her, he responds, "the

liveliness of your mind, I think."(Chapter 60, page 293).

When Lizzy rejects Collins's marriage proposal, he simply cannot believe she is

serious, ascribing her refusal to the "wish of increasing my love by suspense,

according to the usual practice of elegant females."(Chapter 9, page37).


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In reply, she says, "Do not consider me now as an elegant female . . . but as a rational

creature." (Chapter19, page88) Most critics agree that the phrase "rational creature"

intentionally employs terminology Mary Wollstonecraft introduced in her seminal

feminist tract A Vindication of the Rights of Women. The exchange would thenexplicitly reject the conventional view of women as nothing more than contestants in

the marriage lottery, armed only with studied coquettishness and the ability to "knit

purses."

3-3 Analysis of instances of irony from the text of Pride and

Prejudice:Irony and satire are techniques that not only Austen but her characters - particularly

Lizzy and her father - employ throughout the book. Lizzy, we are told, has a lively,

playful disposition, which delights in anything ridiculous, and Mr. Bennet later says

to her, "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in

our turn?"(Chapter57, page 280) Mr. Bennet invites Collins to visit purely in the hope

of finding him absurd, and Lizzy subtly taunts Lady Catherine by flouting her

expectation of deference.

The technical definition of "irony" is "the expression of meaning using language of

a different or opposite tendency," as when Lizzy, refusing to dance with Darcy, tells

Sir William that "Mr. Darcy is all politeness," or when, at the end of the book, Mr.

Bennet says, "I admire all my three sons-in-law," but "Wickham perhaps is my

favorite."(Chapter59, page289).Irony can be seen, however, as acknowledging a

multiplicity of perspectives simultaneously; its prominence in a novel so concerned

with the difference between real and perceived value is thus no accident Before

Wickham's true character had been exposed, for example, Lizzy told her aunt, in all

seriousness, Mr. Bennet's later declaration of a favorite son-in-law is a joke, but it also

illustrates the reorientation of the book's value system through the resolution of the

marriage plot.

Jane Austen initially worried that Pride and Prejudice was a work "rather too light,

bright and sparkling" (REFERENCE)!!!to justify its moral themes yet it is for its


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dazzling ironic wit that the novel is prized today. The multi faceted device of irony is

deftly manipulated by Austen : "first the mischievous narrator, who finds a greet

enjoyment occasionally in professing opinions which, in fact, are not her own, then

the explorer of differences, exposing the absurdities of character, and finally themoralist revealing complex principles and themes" ( Mudrick,1952:page)

To Jane Austen irony does not mean, as it means too many, a moral detachment"

(Encarta Online Encyclopedia).To her it was all about humor and fun. She uses irony

in most of her works "her mother has a great sense of humor" (Brodie's notes

1990!!!!).

And it was genetically passed to Jane. The convention within which she lived and

wrote demanded a certain code of conduct, and this influenced her writing a great

deal. Her way of showing what she thought of this way of living is by being ironic

without being cruel, satirical without being complacent. In Most of her books, a lot of

characters are snobbish and their life style is very different. For instance, women had

to know how to sing and dance. Perhaps Jane Austen found that very amusing the fact

that they were all acting in a stereotypical way and decided to mock them, as she does

use her irony in a very humorous way as Elizabeth's response to Miss CarolineBingley and Mr. Darcy

no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not

greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must

have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing,

dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word;

and besides all this, she must possess a certain something

in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her

address and expressions, or the word will be but half

deserved. Caroline Bingley(ch:page)

All this she must possess, added Darcy, and to all this

she must yet add something more substantial, in the

improvement of her mind by extensive reading.

Mr. Darcy (ch:page)


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always sarcastic with each other .In fact most of their conversations are ironic, when

Mr. Benner says to Mrs.Bennet " you are over scrupulous surely" (Chapter13, page

52).

Mr. Bennet thinks his wife is hyperactive, their conversations are ironic on a whole

because they mainly contradict the first line of the novel. When Jane and Bingley

danced all night long, then the whole society in the novels assumed that " if you were

fond of dancing, then it certainly was step towards falling in love" (Chapter3, page

12). Dancing was the only way that two couple could have a private conversation in

public.

Elizabeth does not get along with Mr. Darcy at first but they end up getting

married. The way she speaks ill about Mr. Darcy is very ironic. She describes him to

be " a most disagreeable, horrid man, not all worth pleasing"(Chapter4, page15).

Subsequently when Darcy was told to dance with Elizabeth primarily he was not keen

on the proposal and described her as " Tolerable, but not handsome enough"

(Chapter3, page 11). The two more conversations, which lead to irony, for instance

when Jane was invited for lunch with the Bingley's, Elizabeth had to go there due to

the unforeseen circumstances. She has a conversation with Darcy about how women

in that society should be. This is when he begins falling in love with Elizabeth while

not acknowledged.

Mr. Bennet is very ironic towards Elizabeth falling in love. He thought she would

be his "only sensible" daughter, but instead she falls in love with Wickham, the wrong

gentleman. And later she falls in love with Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bennet is very ironic about

this as he tells Jane "your sister is crossed in love, with Darcy I find . I congratulate

her."(Chapter59, page 290. This is the irony of his favourite daughter falling in love.

Charlotte's views are also ironically expressed as she says " marriage had always been

her object.

.Add more ironies, where is the part on Feminism????

3-4 Conclusion:


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Jane Austen's use of irony in Pride and Prejudice is very effective, she has a very

wide range of irony as well as the way she puts her irony forward. It gives a good

variation to her novel, and makes it much more intriguing.

She is a major satirist, and that makes the reader think to an extent. The way she use

irony also brings out her characters much more carefully. Though that she can get

carried away sometimes. Nevertheless, she is so used to using irony that she at

sometimes did not even notice she was using it.


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chapter three to be corrected halima

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