Name : Dangar Rinkal Nathabhai
Roll no.20
Enrollment no.4049206420220007
Batch : M.A (2022-24)
Paper Name : Literature of the Romantics
Paper code : 22394
Paper no.103
Topic : Character Analysis of 'Pride and Prejudice'
Submitted to : S.B.Gardi Department of English M.K.U Bhavnagar
Submitted on : 07/11/2022
Character Analysis of the novel 'Pride and Prejudice'
Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by Jane which is having every character significant in the context of its development and that is how character Analysis becomes necessary sometimes,as we are having various kinds of people around us in our society and in family also.
To start with the Analysis of each character let's have an introduction of the writer and novel.
Jane Austen:
Jane Austen is an English writer(born in 1775) of Romantic age and she has written six novels. The common theme of her novels is Love, Relationships, Marriage, analysis of social life and family matters.
Six novels are very famous which have been written by Jane Austen.
1.Sense and Sensibility (1811),
2.Pride and Prejudice (1813),
3.Mansfield Park (1814),
4.Emma (1815),
5.Persuasion and
6.Northanger Abbey (both 1817).
Jane Austen often criticized society and some wrong practices of people during the eighteenth century.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness.
Characters of the novel
Mr.Bennet,
Mrs.Bennet,
Elizabeth Bennet,
Fitzwilliam Darcy,
Jane Bennet,
Mr.Bringley and
Lydia Bennett
Character Analysis
Elizabeth Bennet
The novel's protagonist. The second daughter of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth is the most intelligent and sensible of the five Bennet sisters. She is well read and quick-witted, with a tongue that occasionally proves too sharp for her own good. Her realization of Darcy's essential goodness eventually triumphs over her initial prejudice against him.
Her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments often lead her astray; Pride and Prejudice is essentially the story of how she (and her true love, Darcy) overcome all obstacles-including their own personal failings-to find romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father, two badly behaved younger siblings, and several snobbish, antagonizing females, she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcy's character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.
Fitzwilliam Darcy
A wealthy gentleman, the master of Pemberley, and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though Darcy is intelligent and honest, his excess of pride causes him to look down on his social inferiors. Over the course of the novel, he tempers his class-consciousness and learns to admire and love Elizabeth for her strong character.
Jane Bennet
The eldest and most beautiful Bennet sister. Jane is more reserved and gentler than Elizabeth. The easy pleasantness with which she and Bingley interact contrasts starkly with the mutual distaste that marks the encounters between Elizabeth and Darcy.
Charles Bingley
Darcy's considerably wealthy best friend. Bingley's purchase of Netherfield, an estate near the Bennets, serves as the impetus for the novel. He is a genial, well-intentioned gentleman, whose easygoing nature contrasts with Darcy's initially discourteous demeanor. He is blissfully uncaring about class differences.
How did Jane and Bringley make the novel significant ?
Jane and Bringley both are much good and kind characters who didn't judge each other and that is the sequence which made us feel something wrong in the relationship or behaviour of Elizabeth and Darcy.
As I have written above about the personalities of Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley that they are having a simple mind without any differences, during the whole novel Jane didn't show her eagerness to marry a wealthy and upper class person and Bringley didn't Denied to marry a lower class girl or never showed his pride about his class and money.
Despite their centrality to the narrative, Jane and Bingley are vague characters, sketched by Austen rather than carefully drawn. Indeed, they are so similar in nature and behavior that they can be described together: both are cheerful, friendly, and good-natured, always ready to think the best of others; they lack entirely the prickly egotism of Elizabeth and Darcy. Jane's gentle spirit serves as a foil for her sister's fiery, contentious nature, while Bingley's eager friendliness contrasts with Darcy's stiff pride. Their principal characteristics are goodwill and compatibility, and the contrast of their romance with that of Darcy and Elizabeth is remarkable. Jane and Bingley exhibit to the reader true love unhampered by either pride or prejudice, though in their simple goodness, they also demonstrate that such a love is mildly dull.
Mr.Bennet
Mr. Bennet is the patriarch of the Bennet household-the husband of Mrs. Bennet and the father of Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kitty, and Mary. He is a man driven to exasperation by his ridiculous wife and difficult daughters. He reacts by withdrawing from his family and assuming a detached attitude punctuated by bursts of sarcastic humor. He is closest to Elizabeth because they are the two most intelligent Bennets.
Initially, his dry wit and self-possession in the face of his wife's hysteria make Mr. Bennet a sympathetic figure, but, though he remains likable throughout, the reader gradually loses respect for him as it becomes clear that the price of his detachment is considerable. He is in fact a weak father who, at critical moments, fails his family. In particular, his foolish indulgence of Lydia's immature behavior nearly leads to general disgrace when she elopes with Wickham. Further, upon her disappearance, he proves largely ineffective. It is left to Mr. Gardiner and Darcy to track Lydia down and rectify the situation. Ultimately, Mr. Bennet would rather withdraw from the world than cope with it.
Mrs.Bennet
Mrs. Bennet is a miraculously tiresome character. Noisy and foolish, she is a woman consumed by the desire to see her daughters married and seems to care for nothing else in the world. Ironically, her single-minded pursuit of this goal tends to backfire, as her lack of social graces alienates the very people (Darcy and Bingley) whom she tries desperately to attract. Austen uses her continually to highlight the necessity of marriage for young women.
Mrs. Bennet also serves as a middle-class counterpoint to such upper-class snobs as Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley, demonstrating that foolishness can be found at every level of society. In the end, however, Mrs. Bennet proves such an unattractive figure, lacking redeeming characteristics of any kind, that some readers have accused Austen of unfairness in portraying her-as if Austen, like Mr. Bennet took perverse pleasure in poking fun at a woman already scorned as a result of her ill-breeding.
Lydia Bennett
Lydia is the youngest and wildest Bennet daughter. She is her mother's favorite because like Mrs. Bennet, she is preoccupied with gossip, socializing, and men. Lydia is described as having "high animal spirits and a sort of natural self-consequence." She is attractive and charismatic, but she is also reckless and impulsive. Lydia's behavior frequently embarrasses her older sisters, and when Lydia receives the invitation to go to Brighton.
Elizabeth makes an impassioned speech about her sister's character,She explains that "our respectability in the world must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia's character" Elizabeth also articulates her fear that Lydia is on the road to becoming "a flirt in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation." Lydia has an innate tendency toward wild and selfish behavior, but as a character she also sheds light on the failings of her parents, and father in particular. Because of her young age and lack of education, Lydia is presented as not entirely culpable for her behavior because she lacks parental guidance and discipline.
We can notice here,each character of the novel is getting psychological development in their mentality and actions but Lydia Bennett is remaining the same, Foolish and Wild.
Charlotte Lucas
Charlotte is initially described as "a sensible, intelligent woman... who was Elizabeth's intimate friend." Because of this intelligence, Elizabeth assumes that Charlotte shares her values, even though Charlotte is actually much more pragmatic and even cynical. For example, after Charlotte makes a series of speeches explaining that "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance" and highlighting the importance of choosing a partner who can provide economic stability, Elizabeth gently rebukes her, explaining that "You know it is not sound and you would never behave in this way yourself." Because Elizabeth is blind to Charlotte's true values, she feels shocked and betrayed when Charlotte chooses to marry Mr. Collins. Charlotte's character is consistent throughout; when Elizabeth goes to visit her after her marriage, she is forced to "meditate upon Charlotte's degree of contentment... and to acknowledge that it was all done very well." Charlotte accurately assesses her priorities and what she needs to be happy, and chooses accordingly. As a result, she stands in contrast to Elizabeth, who forms inaccurate assessments of situations and people.
Conclusion :
Each character of the novel Pride and Prejudice are developing psychology and at the end they all comes to know where they were wrong.
As Austen was the Victorian novelist,she made every character as same as the people of our society,the way they're behaving and the mindset they have in this modern times also.
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