Character reflects one's marriage or attitudes towards love
----- Four different marriages in Pride and Prejudice

Outline

Thesis sentence: J ane Austen, by describing four different marriages in Pride and Prejudice, expressed her viewpoint that one’s character often reflects his or her marriage and attitudes towards love.

The combination of vulgar Collins and mediocre Charlotte results in a despicable marriage.
Collins is a vulgar, pompous and rapacious man who is subservient to his parsoness and always arrogant before his inferiors.
His pompous and rapacious character determines that his proposal to Elizabeth is a failure.
His vulgar and servile character and his ridiculous concept of love lead to his quick marriage with Charlotte.
Charlotte is a vain and mediocre girl.
Her mediocre character and perception result in her marriage with Collins
.

Her vain character brings about her false deion of her married life.
The combination of dissolute Wickhame and empty-minded Lydia results in a sex-oriented marriage.
Wickhame is a dissolute and cunning villain who is changeable in his love and crazy about money.
1. He is a thoroughgoing money-pursuer and love imposter,

which determines the transfer of his love from poor

Elizabeth to wealthy Miss. King.

2. His mean character and contemptible behavior bring about

his elopement with Lydia.

Lydia is an empty-minded and uncertain flirt who always
seeks her own fun and sexual excitement.

Her dissipation and foolishness lead to her romantic deeds
with officials in Meryton.

2. Her ignorance and dissipation lead to her elopement with

Wickhame.

C. Their marriage represents capitulation to personal claims.

The combination of pleasant Bingley and mild J ane results in a happy marriage.
Bingley is a cordial and simple young man who is easy to approach and constant in love, but he lacks strength and independence in his marriage.
1. His cordial and simple character and his attitudes towards

love lead to his quiet romance with J ane.

2. His weak and easily-led character lead to his parting with

Jane.

J ane is a kind and mild girl with introverted disposition. She is constant in her love but lacks strength and self-confidence.
1. Her kind and mild character and her attitudes towards love

determine her steady romance with Bingley.

2. She lacks strength and self-confidence, which makes her

readily believe that Bingley loves her no more.

C. Their marriage is happy.

The combination of decent Darcy and sensible Elizabeth results in a successful marriage.
Darcy is a good man of integrity with proud appearance. He is constant in his love and willing to make sacrifice for his lover.
His true love to Elizabeth leads to his first proposal to Elizabeth regardless of her humble family and her inferior position.
His decent character and true love to Elizabeth result in the fact that he did his utmost to rescue Wickhame and Lydia from their trouble.
Elizabeth is an intelligent and sensible girl, who is self-dignified and prone to hasty judgements. She is also brave and discreet in her love.
Her intelligence, bravery and discretion in love bring about the fact that she refused Collins’ first proposal against her mother’s will.
The fact that she is self-dignified and prone to hasty judgement leads to her refusal of Darcy’s proposal.
Her sensibility and right love concept bring about her successful marriage.
C. Their marriage leads to a reconciliation of personal and

social claims.

Character reflects his or her marriage and attitudes towards love

----four different marriages in Pride and Prejudice

Among all the novels written by J ane Austen, Pride and Prejudice has been valued as the most successful and popular masterpiece. This novel is peopled with characters of her own social class: The ladies and gentlemen of the landed gentry. The plot of this novel revolve around the intricacies of courtship and marriage between members of her class, which is great attraction to many readers. Deeply impressed by four different marriages in Pride and Prejudice, I made an analysis of those four types of marriages and came to an conclusion that one’s character reflects his or her marriage and their attitudes towards marriage. The four couples, varied in their characters, presented us with four different distinct marriages.

The first marriage presented before us is the marriage of Collins and Charlotte. Collins was a conceited and foolish young man. He would inherit the estate of Longbourn, the property of Mr. Bennet upon his death, which amounts to depriving five daughters of Mr. Bennet of everything. Therefore, the five daughters would have not enough money to support their life unless they are lucky enough to marry well-to-do husbands. Collins was vulgar and servile, seldom opens his mouth without mentioning his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Her “affability and condescension” (J ane Austen 58) is so impressive upon him that he felt greatly flattered only by “her visit in his humble parsonage”.(J ane Austen 59)

Collins was pompous and narrow-minded man who never possess his own conception of love, he intends to get married merely because it was the particular advice and recommendation of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. To begin with, he made up his mind to marry one of the daughters of Mr. Bennet as a way of reconciliation with the Longbourn family. The beautiful J ane, undoubtedly, is his first choice. But when he was informed that J ane had been privately engaged, he swiftly change J ane to Elizabeth, who is “equally next to J ane in birth and beauty” (J ane Austen 62). No mutual acquaintance and love between each other. Marriage to Collins was only “a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances” and “advice from Lady Catherine de Bourgh” (J ane Austen 95). J ane Austen gave us a full statement of his background and character. “Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society. The greatest part of his life having been spent under the guidance of an illiterate and miserly father, and though he belonged to one of the universities, he had merely kept the necessary terms, without forming at it any useful acquaintance. The subjection in which his father had brought him up, had given him originally great humility of manner, but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the consequential feeling of early and unexpected prosperity.” And “the respect which he felt for her high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, mingling with a very good option of himself, of his authority as a clergyman, and his rights as a rector made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility.” (J ane Austen 61)

His character can be vividly reflected in his first proposal to Elizabeth and determines that his court was a failure. We are not surprised at his failure when we read his ridiculous proposal to Elizabeth: “But the fact is, that being, as I am, to inherit this estate after the death of your honored father. I could not satisfy myself without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters, that the loss to them might be as little as possible, when the melancholy event takes place.” (J ane Austen 95) How rapacious and pompous he is! To acquire the wealth as well as a wife! What a ridiculous idea of his marriage conception it was!

Having been refused by Elizabeth, he quickly marries Charlotte. “In as short time as Mr Collins’ long speeches would allow, everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both.” (Mordecai Marcus 274) We can see from here that his love to Charlotte was by no means sincere and genuine. To Collins, Charlotte was the only choice he could make. He was the very man who was incapable of normal personal feelings. His whole character has been absorbed by his social mask, and he relates only his social self to other social surfaces. Thus Collins did not exactly capitulate to social claims, for he never recognized personal claims, and he was blind to the fact that his own personal claims were distorted social claims. A brief analysis of his combination of arrogance and servility will explain this distortion. Collins valued only social power, and so he sought security by cringing before his superiors. To his potential inferiors he was arrogant and rude, which behavior expressed anger at those who would not recognize his social power and vindincative compensation for his cring. As long as a wife could be settled, it doesn’t matter whether it was Charlotte or Elizabeth or anyone else.

Charlotte seems to me is a mediocre and vain young lady. She accepted Collins solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment. Her mediocre perception and eagerness to get married prevent her from detecting Collins’ pomposity and foolishness. We can also see her attitudes towards love and marriage from her words “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar before-hand, it doesn’t advance their felicity in the least. They always contrive to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.” (J ane Austen 110) That is her idea of marriage, which accounts for her quick marriage with Collins. Besides, Collins is the only alternative to penury and social isolation.

Charlotte’s letters about her married life to Elizabeth fully revealed her vain character. She (Charlotte) wrote cheerfully, seemed surrounded with comforts, and mentioned nothing that she could not praise. The house, furniture, neighborhood, and roads, were all to her taste, and Lady Catherine’s behavior was most friendly and obliging. She knew that Elizabeth had looked down upon her for her choice, as no one could understand the strangeness of Mr. Collins’ making two offers of marriage within three days and “any woman who marries Collins, a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man, can’t have a proper way of thinking.” (J ane Austen 110) Actually, she marries for the sake of marriage but she pretends to be happy. Charlotte is pitiable and Collins is contemptible. “Their marriage presents a complete abandonment of personal claims in favor of social claims.” (Mordecai Marcus 275)

The combination of dissolute Wickhame and empty-minded Lydia results in a sex-oriented marriage.

Wickhame first appears us as a very charming fellow. But his character , on the contrary, was mean and wicked. “A curious degree of sexual attraction often goes with a lively, unreliable disposition, which may either be somewhat superficial but perfectly well-meaning, or driven by circumstance which it has not the strength to withstand, become that of a scoundrel.” (Douglas Bush 591)Wickhame was well on the way to being a scoundrel; but his sexual fascination was so great that Elizabeth Bennet, who was normally of a very critical turn of mind, saw at first absolutely nothing in him but made him seem the most charming man he had ever met. Wickham’s constant attention to Elizabeth made her feel sure that she was in love with him. Wickham’s love, however, was short-lived. Soon after he was reported to court another lady, Miss King, who possessed ten thousand pounds. A sharp contrast emerged between his agreeable appearance and mean character. He regarded love as nothing but a tool to acquire wealth.

His elopement with Lydia is very sudden. It really leaves us some rooms to contemplate his real motivation. Lydia was not rich. It seemed that Wickhame’s elopement with her was beyond understanding. Nevertheless, further reading clarifies the obscurity and tells us his whole character. There are two motivations behind it: 1. He was a dissolute man who never ceased seeking sexual passion. 2. He availed himself of a chance to flee his creditors. His flight was rendered necessary by distress of circumstances rather than by his affection to Lydia.

Lydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, a favorite with her mother, whose affection had brought her into public at an early age. She had high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the attentions of the officials, to whom her uncle’s good dinners and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance. Lydia was an empty-minded and uncertain flirt who never ceased seeking her own fun and sexual excitement. The only interests in her life were to flirt with red-coated officials in a militia regiment in the neighborhood. Lydia’s minds were more vacant than their sisters’, and when nothing better offered, a walk to Meryton was necessary to amuse their morning hours and furnish conservation for the evening. And “Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued to express her admiration of Caption Carter, and her hope of seeing him in the course of the day, as he was going the next morning to London.” (J ane Austen 58) She was so temperamental that she cried bitterly when she heard that red-coated officials would leave the local town and rejoiced when some new red-coated officials come in.

As Lydia was young and empty-minded, she never give love a serious and proper consideration. Her thirsts for carnal desire and unrestrained life determine her sex-oriented marriage, Wickhame was seductive and pleasing outwardly, but mean and dirty inwardly. While Lydia, foolish and dissipated, only enchanted by his glorious appearance, see nothing of his real intention and personality. “At the opposite extreme to Collins and Charlotte, Wickhame and Lydia, who yield almost completely to personal claims” (Mark Schorer 72)

The combination of pleasant Bingley and mild J ane leads to a happy marriage.

Bingley was a popular person in the novel. He had a pleasant countenance and easy unaffected manners. We soon found that he was agreeable both in appearance and character. In the first ball at Netherfield, we began to make acquaintance of his personality through his behavior. “ Mr Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room, he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves” (J ane Austen 79) These personal strength certainly won J ane’s admiration, she thought that He was just what a young man ought to be, and sensible, good-humored, lively, and she never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with perfect good breeding! Bingley’ falls in love with J ane at their first ball and their romance flourishes quietly and steadily. His affection towards J ane was obviously sincere and unaffected. When J ane suffered an illness his anxiety for J ane was evident, and his attentions to herself most pleasing.And “ diffuseness and warmth remained for Bingley’s salutation. He was full of joy and attention. The first half-hour was spent in piling up the fire, lest she should suffer from the change of room, and she removed at his desire to the other side of the fire-place, that she might be farther from the door. He then sat down by her, and talked scarcely to anyone else.” (J ane Austen 104) We can feel Bingley’s real concern and affection towards J ane from these details. He was cordial and constant in his love.

Pleasant and modest as he was, Bingley was far from the man who was strong and determined. When their romance went smoothly, his sudden departure nearly ends his happy love. The cause of his departure stems from his relationship with Darcy. Bingley was endeared to Darcy by the easiness, openness, ductility of his temper, though no disposition could offer a great contrast to his own, and though with his own, he never appeared dissatisfied. On the strength of Darcy’s regard, Bingley had the firmest reliance, and of his judgement the highest opinion. His attachment to J ane was obvious, but he was so modest and pliable that he believed Darcy’s representation of J ane’s indifference; which, added Darcy, he genuinely believed himself. Darcy saw that J ane liked Bingley, but he did not believe her to be in love, and therefore liable to be injured except in a worldly sense by Bingley’s withdrawal. We can see this point from his letter to Elizabeth: “ Her (J ane) look and manners were open, cheerful and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening, that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.” (J ane Austen 127) Under the influence of Mr. Darcy, Bingley began to doubt J ane’s affection to him, he left her without saying good-bye. Later, when all misunderstanding clarified, he came back to J ane at Darcy’s assistance. Bingley’s indecisive character determines that his happiness were controlled by others.

J ane was the most mild, kind and modest girl in this novel. Her character is vividly showed in many parts of the novel. “Compliments always take you (J ane) by surprise, and me (Elizabeth) never” and “ Oh, You (J ane) are a great deal too apt you know, to like people in general, you never see a fault in any body, all the world are too good and agreeable in your eyes. I (Elizabeth) never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life.” (George Saintsbury 194)We can see from here that it is quite natural for J ane, so kind and innocent, falls love with the pleasant and simple Bingley. She adored Bingley very much. But her tranquility and introversion nearly consumed her felicity. J ane was so excessively demure that even when her heart was fluttering with romantic passion, her manner showed only genteel pleasure and politeness. It was generally evident that J ane was yielding to the preference which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a way to be very much in love; but she considered with pleasure that it was not likely to be discovered by the world in general, since J ane united with great strength of a feeling, a composure of temper and a uniform cheerfulness of manner, which would guard her from the suspicious of the impertinent. J ane cherished her feelings towards Bingley, yet she chose to conceal it. She tried to control her passion, lest anyone find it. Darcy, therefore, could detect no attachments from her serene appearance and forms the idea that Bingley was involved in an unrequited love. Then, great efforts were ensured to separate Bingley from J ane.

Having been informed of Bingley’s departure, J ane was in great distress. But she pretended to be all right and said nothing about her sadness. Her weakness and obedience had been thoroughly exposed now. “ ‘You doubt me’, cried J ane, slightly coloring “Indeed you have no reason. He may Ilive in my memory as the most amiable man of my acquaintance, but that is all. I have nothing either to hope or fear, and nothing to reproach him with. Thank God! I have not that pain. A little time therefore – I shall certainly try to get the better.’” That’s all her interpretation and solutions to the wound of love, “ a little time” (J ane Austen 134) can ease her mind, cure her wound. What a passive attitude towards love it is! They finally got married and lived happily ever after, which were the results of Darcy and Elizabeht’s efforts. As I analyzed before that Wickhame and Lydia’s marriage represents capitulation to personal claims. It is difficult to fit Bingley and J ane into this pattern because immobility, not capitulation or progressive adjustment, characterizes them until they are united by outside forces. They may, however, be connected to the pattern by noting that they possess traits necessary for adjustment but do not see this until it is pointed out to them. They are also related to the pattern by their inability to assert personal claims and resist certain social claims, which inability results in passivity rather than in adjustment or capitulation. In the thematic structure they can be placed towards the center, but below Darcy and Elizabeth in a realm of impercipience, passivity, and chance.

The combination of decent Darcy and sensible Elizabeth results in a successful marriage. I give this marriage much preference over the other ones, as it is a great inspiration to us and an ideal one we are looking for. Darcy first appears to us as a handsome but very proud person, cold and ill-mannered. “Darcy soon draw the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome feature, noble mien.” And “ he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud , to be above his company, or above being pleased!” (Wu Weren 125) As a matter of fact, he was a good man, a man of integrity, with the sombre attractiveness of a wicked one. His love to Elizabeth, nourished by day-to-day encounters with her, grew steadily and quickly. He admired Elizabeth for her intelligence and disposition, tried to understand her by every possible means. The more he understood, the more he loved her. His first proposal to Elizabeth is the culmination of the whole novel. Darcy. Suffered by his long-suppressed feeling, decided to make a proposal to Elizabeth. It was no easy thing for him to court her regardless of her humble family and her inferior position. But his ardent admiration for Elizabeth beats his consciousness and social position. While his arrogance spoiled the chance of being accepted. He chose to tell her that he liked her against his character, against his will and reason. His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation, of the family obstacles seriously offended Elizabeth. So she indignantly hurled his proposal back in his face. Embarrassed and ruffled, he didn’t lose the control of himself, he acted like a real gentleman, he asked Elizabeth to forgive him for having taken up so much of her time, and accept his best wishes for her health and happiness. His love to Elizabeth, undoubtedly, was ardent and sincere, even Elizabeth herself was quite astonished at his court and sorry for the pain he had suffered. “Her astonishment, as she reflected on what had passed, was increased by every review of it. That she should receive an offer of marriage from Darcy! That he should have been in love with her for so many months! So much in love as to wish to marry her in spite of all the objection which had prevented his friend’s marrying her sister, and must appear at lease with equal force in his own case, was almost incredible!” (J ane Austen 174)

Darcy’s steady character and noble minds determine that his love was not mere overnight’s impulse. After having been accused of arrogance and selfish of the feelings of others, Darcy decided to make a change of himself. In order to win the favourable impression of Elizabeth, he invited Elizabeth, her aunt and uncle to visit his Pemberley. No efforts spared on the part of Darcy, we can find his manners remarkably improved and his behavior strikingly altered! That he should even speak to her was amazing! – but to speak with such civility, to inquire after her family! Never in her life had she seen his manners, so little dignified, never had he spoken with such gentleness as to this unexpected meeting. What a contrast did it offer to his last address in Rosing’s park, when he put his letter into her hand! She knew not what to think nor how to account for it! Of course, she could account for it! Love was the real cause of all those amazing alternations.

We can get a better understanding of Darcy’s character through Lydia Wickhame’s case. He certainly had deep aversion to Wickhame for he had seduced his sister in vain and slandered him maliciously. However, his affection for Elizabeth outweighed anything else. He did his utmost to rescue L:ydia and Wickhame from their trouble. He met Lydia and Wickhame several times, extricate them from their debts and assist them in their marriage. Without consideration of humiliation and social position, he did all these things secretly and consciously. The only motive he professed was that his conviction of its being owing to himself that Wickhame’s worthlessness had not been so well-known, as to make it impossible for any young women of character, to love or confide in him. But we were all deeply touched by the real motive behind this.

Elizabeth is my favorite heroine. “She was a young woman very much addicted to making speeches, very pert often, fond of having the last word, and prone to hasty judgements, with really nothing but her prettiness and a certain sharp smartness of talk to recommend her.”(Margaret oliphant 290) She was self-dignified and sensible, valued true love as something noble and lofty, but never trade self-esteem with love, never trade money with love.

Her refusal of Collins’ pompous proposal is a mirror, which reflects, for the first time, her perception and character, and her attitudes towards love. Elizabeth lived in an acquisitive society, a society which treats a penniless old maid less as a joke than as an exasperating burden upon her family. Elizabeth, if she were not lucky enough to marry a rich man, would have not enough money to support her future life, which she was fully aware. Nevertheless, she turned down Collins’ proposal against her mother’s will. Because no love ever existed between them. Collins foolishness and falseness sickened her. We have already observed the insistent significance of the entail and Collins, who would inherit the estate when Bennet died. In proposing to Elizabeth, the magnanimous Collins said that he knew that she would, after her father’s death, had no more than a thousand pounds in the four percents. Such hieroglyphics, which Collins asked to threaten Elizabeth, but nothing could shake her firmness. Her choice proved to be wise later. Collins then married Charlotte, whose marriage was considered by Elizabeth as unaccountable and ridiculous. She thought that Collins was a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man and that woman who married him, couldn’t have a proper way of thinking.

Then came the proposal of Darcy, yet her prejudices against Darcy ensured the same results. There were three things Elizabeth seriously holds against Darcy: She thought he had spoiled J ane’s chances with Bingley; that he had done this because he despised the social position of the family, and that he had ruined Wickhame’s career without due cause. In spite of deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man’s affection, and though her intentions did not vary for an instant, she was at first sorry for the pain he was to receive. Obviously, Darcy’s proposal was more impressing than that of Collins, as it derived from the true affection. But his haughty words insulted Elizabeth’s self-esteem. She was by no means to sacrifice her self-respect to accept Darcy’s court. She hurled his proposal sharply and decidedly in his face. “ I had not been for a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.” (J ane Austen 154) Ruffled and vexed as he was, he was still impressed by her courage and frankness. As a matter of fact, her harsh refusal of Darcy’s proposal increased his admiration instead of reducing his passions.

Elizabeth, however, was a witty and sensible lady. She tried to find the real character of Darcy through her own observation and understanding. Later, she was invited to visit Pemberley, Darcy’s home. At Pemberley, Elizabeth’s understanding of Darcy deepened. She never took anybody’s words lightly without giving them her proper consideration. Having been informed of Darcy’s great assistance in Wickhame and Lydia’s case and Wickhame’s true character, Elizabeth became more favorably inclined to him than ever before.

Then came the Lady Catherine’s visit. She was Darcy’s aunt, and came to clarify the rumor that Darcy had engaged with Elizabeth. Hoping to marry her own daughter to Darcy, she had charged down with characteristic bad manners to order Elizabeth not to accept his proposal. The spirited girl was not to be intimidated by the bullying Lady Catherine and coolly refused to promise not to marry Darcy. “ If there is no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I should certainly not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry Miss De Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Darcy is neither by honor nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?” (J ane Austen 231)

Finally, Elizabeth married Darcy, a really successful marriage.

Collins and Charlotte seem assured of a more or less indispensable social equilibrium which Wickhame and Lydia lack. Wickhame and Lydia’s marriage based on great sexual satisfaction. The relationship between Bingley and J ane provides the novel with less movement than do Collins- Charlotte and Wickhame – Lydia, but it provides more subtle and perhaps more revealing contrasts to the Darcy – Elizabeth relationship.The contrast between Bingley – J ane and Darcy – Elizabeth enables us to feel poiganant modulations each time we compare one couple with the other. Bingley and J ane possess personal attractiveness and dignity, social graces, and a measure of good sense, but they lack insight, strength, and self-confidence. J ane’s indifference towards Bingley and her quickness to believe that he has lost interest in her show inability to assert personal claims and to resist excessive social claims. Bingley similarly lacks self-confidence, and he yields easily to criticism of J ane’s social position. If we can’t imagine Bingley and J ane acting much differently, we at least are strongly concerned and sympathetic with their weakness; we wish that they had the strength of Darcy and Elizabeth. Unlike Bingley- J ane, Darcy – Elizabeth are deep and strong enough to hope for each other’s continued affection even after circumstances have borne strong evidence against it. Also, they are able to stand up against excessive social claims. Darcy becomes willing to associate himself with the Bennet family ( Lady Catherine’s opposition is a much slighter obstacle). Although the excessive social claims, which Elizabeth must resist might be slighter, they are not negligible. First, she must resist an overbearing verbal storm from Lady Catherine (which surely would crush a J ane), and then she must assert her claim to Darcy despite her realization of her family’s true narture, of lesser importance are her embarrassments in informing her family that she will marry Darcy and her pain in observing Darcy in association with her mother and younger sisters. Contrast between these two couples are reveals dangers that hover near for Darcy and Elizabeth. Elizabeth could not act as do Charlotte and Lydia, but we can imagine her yielding to hopeless passivity. Darcy could not act as Collins or Wickhame do, but we can imagine him permanently stiffening into the inflexible pride he displayed in condemning Elizabeth’s family to her face. Such action would scarcely parallel Bingley’s behavior, but the weakness it would display would have effects like those of Bingley’s weakness. Most important of all, Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s differences from Bingley and J ane suggest to us the power of will which Darcy and Elizabeth develop, the ability to educate themselves which lies at the heart of the novel.

In this novel, J ane Austen, by describing four different marriages, expressed her viewpoint that one�s character reflects his or her marriage and attitudes towards love. At the center stand Darcy and Elizabeth whose struggles lead to a reconciliation of personal and social claims. Far to one side of them stand Collins and Charlotte, who demonstrate a complete yielding to social claims. At the opposite extreme stand Wickhame and Lydia, who represent capitulation to personal claims. Although the Collins � Charlotte and Wickhame � Lydia marriages dramatize the possible fate of a girl in Elizabeth�s social position, their chief purpose is to show by contrast the desirability and integrity of the adjustment between Darcy and Elizabeth. Only Bingley and J ane help to dramatize alternatives which were significantly possible for Darcy and Elizabeth and thus to show the strength represented by their adjustment.

Works Cited

Austen, J ane. Pride and Prejudice. Walton Street: Oxford University Press, 1970
Bush, Douglas. "Mrs. Bennet and the Dark Gods: The truth about J ane Austen," The Sewaneeb Review Autumn, 1956: 591
Marcus, Mordecai. "A Major Thematic Pattern in 'Pride and Prejudice'," Nineteenth-Century Fiction December, 1961: 274-79
Oliphant, Margaret. "Miss Austen and Miss Mitford," Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine March, 1870: 290
Saintsbury, Geroge. Prefaces and Essays. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1933.
Schorer, Mark. "Pride Unprejudiced," The Kenyou Review Winter, 1956: 72
Wu, weiren. History and Anthology of English Literature (part 2). BeiJing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1988.