Essay Example about Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, at Steventon, Hampshire in England (Austen, 1994). She was the seventh child and the second daughter of George Austen and Cassandra. Jane was ever fascinated by a world of stories and began to write in bound notebooks and latter in her adolescent; she started crafting her novels (Austen, 1994). At her 30's she published sense and sensibility and also love and prejudice. She remained the most celebrated English writer until her death in 1817. Jane wrote Pride and Prejudice to point out the importance of marrying for love and not for economic gain. However, the book personifies two vices pride (using Darcy) and prejudice (using Elizabeth) and warns the reader about the inconsistency between reality and appearance (Austen, 1994). Pride and prejudice is a romantic novel; this is evident by love and marriage being the recurring themes. The novel too brings out the history of England women life in the 18th century displaying lives of both the rich and the poor of the time.

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Jane has successfully used this book to bring out the purpose of marriage the title Pride and Prejudice; she shows her satirical approach to marriage. "A single man in possession of good fortunes must be in want of a wife" If this phrase were acknowledged globally, then Mrs. Bennet would not need to look for husbands for her daughter keenly (Austen, 1994). The idea of marriage is more of one's wallet than the heart is repeated throughout the story when describing Bennet, a woman who's "business of her life was to get her daughters married" (Austen, 1994). Mr. Collins says while proposing to Elizabeth that he is not doing so in response to his belief but most importantly because "it is the recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honor of calling patroness" (Austen, 1994). Catherine encourages Collins to marry as part of his duty as a clergyman and to marry "a useful sort of a person able to make a small income go a good way" (Austen, 1994). For Elizabeth, love is vital in marriage; she refused to accept Darcy pursue at first because to her, he is freezing and incredibly proud prosperous and looks down on the middle- class girls.

Jane shows the whole town is prejudiced by gossiping about Mr. Darcy's pride, which is just a rumor. Although she dint aims to teach the modern reader, "no one knows what the future will be like," she proves how rumors spread even in contemporary society and prejudice opinion made. Her mother's words cultivated Elizabeth's prejudice to Darcy "he is the most disagreeable, horrid man not at all pleasing, and there is no enduring in him (Austen, 1994).

Austen wrote this novel on game theory; where choices are made by anticipating the payoffs for others. This is evident when Mrs. Bennet sends Jane to a neighboring estate knowing there is a storm coming and Jane will be invited by her host to spend the night hence maximizing face time with Charles Bingley who eventually marries her. Austen used her sharp and sarcastic wit to discuss different themes in her writing and added a touch of romance to her characters' dialogue. She uses burlesque and parody for comic effect of critiquing the portrayal of women in the 18th century. The theme romanticism and five sisters dealing with marriage issues will be exotic for women, thus the target audience.

The novel is an enlightenment on how the first impression may be deceptive and warn on the inconsistency between appearance and reality as illustrated by Darcy and Elizabeth. The writing is related to today's situations, for example, economic dependence of a woman on a good husband to attain respect. Segregation of the society into" lowly laity" and the" wealthy" is still there. Lessons drawn from the story include; first impressions don't make a person and above all, sharp wit, and a pair of beautiful eyes are worth far more than an expensive dress.

References

Austen, J. (1994). Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Online version http://www. pemberley. com/janeinfo/pridprej. html.