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A review by canisand
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5.0
Upon reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, I can see many contexts of the text due to my perspective. As a reader, the work evoked many strong feelings, such as sympathy, anger, and sadness. I often sympathized with Mr Darcy’s character and sometimes even Elizabeth’s. There were many characters that shaped my perspective of the text by making me angry. For example, many scenes with Elizabeth and her prejudices made me very distraught and mad, and so I started to associate all of her ideas with false accusations. Throughout the text, Lizzy very quickly jumped to conclusions due to her conforming to society’s ideas on Mr Darcy, and it made me very skeptical to believe other things she thought. It was easy to feel empathy and sadness for Mr Darcy after gaining this perspective, because I wasn’t letting myself be blinded by the same prejudices that Elizabeth was.
There were many features in the story that stood out to me as a reader. The main one was the theme of pride vs vanity. I greatly enjoyed what Austen added to the story in this theme. She included metaphors in comparing Wickham’s character to Darcy’s — demonstrating Wickham’s vanity versus Darcy’s pride. I liked how as a reader you are led to confuse the two, and start to believe that Mr Darcy’s pride is actually vanity. I also liked how Austen included hints to Darcy's actions in his speech. For example, he says to Elizabeth “I will not torment you with vain wishes,” which has many meanings correlating with his later actions. He knows that he cannot publicly solve the problem of Lydia’s marriage, so he will not speak any more of it. Underneath this meaning, he is basically saying that the ball is in Lizzy’s court. He alludes to his affections for her but states that he will not bring it up again for he believes her to be indifferent. Austen includes many features like this in her story, and I appreciated how it created a sense of foreshadowing throughout the text.
As a reader, my culture and worldview definitely affected how I read the story. As someone in the middle class, I was able to connect to both perspectives of class demonstrated in the text. I could easily see and relate to the romanticization of Mr Darcy and his estate, and see how his views are shaped by his surroundings. His environment growing up had an effect on his pride, and it was easy to connect to that influence. I could also connect to Elizabeth and her family, and see how marrying into a wealthy family would benefit them. Obviously, marrying into a wealthy family isn’t one of my primary concerns, but I was able to see how someone's affections would be subconsciously heightened by seeing another’s wealth. For example, Lizzy’s affections for Darcy were intensified after seeing his property and home at Pemberley. It was easy for me to observe how Lizzy was feeling at that time.
Jane Austen was born into a family of the upper middle class (moderately wealthy) in 1775. As was the Bennet family, Austen’s family was very large in order to match the chance of an early death. Producing more children, preferably sons, would boost your economic status and help carry the family line. Austen moved around England a few times before realizing that she prospered best in a rural setting, and she eventually settled in the countryside to write her novels. During this time period, it was not customary for a young lady to be living outside of an urban city (there would be no amiable applications for her hand), and this lifestyle is shown in her writing. She talks very highly of city life but puts a want of settling into her characters. Elizabeth, for example, flourishes in forests, surrounded by rocks and mountains. In the rise of the Victorian era, Austen’s books became unfashionable. People wanted to read about applicable issues instead of stories with little true meaning. She alludes to her life very often in her texts, especially in Pride and Prejudice. Auten never married, and her problems were with herself and with matters of her heart, instead of marital issues. At this time, marrying wealthy was more important than marrying affectionately, and Austen defies this idea both by not marrying and by writing characters who also oppose this ideology. Elizabeth married for affection and not wealth and economy, and Austen’s opinions of feminine bravery of the time period are spotlighted.
There were many features in the story that stood out to me as a reader. The main one was the theme of pride vs vanity. I greatly enjoyed what Austen added to the story in this theme. She included metaphors in comparing Wickham’s character to Darcy’s — demonstrating Wickham’s vanity versus Darcy’s pride. I liked how as a reader you are led to confuse the two, and start to believe that Mr Darcy’s pride is actually vanity. I also liked how Austen included hints to Darcy's actions in his speech. For example, he says to Elizabeth “I will not torment you with vain wishes,” which has many meanings correlating with his later actions. He knows that he cannot publicly solve the problem of Lydia’s marriage, so he will not speak any more of it. Underneath this meaning, he is basically saying that the ball is in Lizzy’s court. He alludes to his affections for her but states that he will not bring it up again for he believes her to be indifferent. Austen includes many features like this in her story, and I appreciated how it created a sense of foreshadowing throughout the text.
As a reader, my culture and worldview definitely affected how I read the story. As someone in the middle class, I was able to connect to both perspectives of class demonstrated in the text. I could easily see and relate to the romanticization of Mr Darcy and his estate, and see how his views are shaped by his surroundings. His environment growing up had an effect on his pride, and it was easy to connect to that influence. I could also connect to Elizabeth and her family, and see how marrying into a wealthy family would benefit them. Obviously, marrying into a wealthy family isn’t one of my primary concerns, but I was able to see how someone's affections would be subconsciously heightened by seeing another’s wealth. For example, Lizzy’s affections for Darcy were intensified after seeing his property and home at Pemberley. It was easy for me to observe how Lizzy was feeling at that time.
Jane Austen was born into a family of the upper middle class (moderately wealthy) in 1775. As was the Bennet family, Austen’s family was very large in order to match the chance of an early death. Producing more children, preferably sons, would boost your economic status and help carry the family line. Austen moved around England a few times before realizing that she prospered best in a rural setting, and she eventually settled in the countryside to write her novels. During this time period, it was not customary for a young lady to be living outside of an urban city (there would be no amiable applications for her hand), and this lifestyle is shown in her writing. She talks very highly of city life but puts a want of settling into her characters. Elizabeth, for example, flourishes in forests, surrounded by rocks and mountains. In the rise of the Victorian era, Austen’s books became unfashionable. People wanted to read about applicable issues instead of stories with little true meaning. She alludes to her life very often in her texts, especially in Pride and Prejudice. Auten never married, and her problems were with herself and with matters of her heart, instead of marital issues. At this time, marrying wealthy was more important than marrying affectionately, and Austen defies this idea both by not marrying and by writing characters who also oppose this ideology. Elizabeth married for affection and not wealth and economy, and Austen’s opinions of feminine bravery of the time period are spotlighted.