Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Importance and Consequences of First Impressions

Written by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, is a successfully organized novel, handling love, comedy, and first impressions, she has two more works; Persuasion and Northanger which were published after her death, they are all good- but to me at least Pride and Prejudice which is a novel every single word feels genuinely essential, is the most perfect of them- there is this precision to it The novel follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet who is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literatüre. Her middle-class family living in 19th century England. Elizabeth, unlike her younger sisters, is quite quick-witted but perhaps is too judgmental and relies very heavily on her first impressions of people; this can easily be observed after her first meeting with Mr. Darcy. Boy obsessed Lydia, Elizabeth’s youngest sister, is rather childish and seems to be extremely foolish; these features are clearly being understood when she marries Mr. Wickham. Another crucial female personality is Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s and the entire Bennet family’s opportunistic fellow she marries Collins after Elizabeth rejects his marriage proposal. The mental ambitious behind the main characters’ marriages is another weird concept depicted in the novel: Elizabeth marries out of love, whereas her friend, Charlotte, marries so that she can  go on with her extravagant way of life. Lydia, Elizabeth’s youngest sister, marries with her personal opinions in herself, the love, but in fact, with another more sinister and cunningly opinion

The first marriage, we are introduced, in the novel is that of Charlotte Lucas to the nervous and fearful Mr. Collins who is boorish, pompous, and ridiculous heir to the entailed Bennet estate, Mr. Collins is also a clergyman whose parish is in the estate of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.. Charlotte, being a “well-educated woman of little fortune”(120; Vol.1, ch. 22), accepted Collins’ proposal without hesitation, regardless of her best friend, Elizabeth, had rejected the same proposal almost three days ago. Charlotte marries Collins most probably because of the chances he will be able to provide for her and because of the fact that will be able to make her life quite easy, she was planning that after the death of Mr. Bennet, Collins would “be in possession of the Longbourn estate” (120; Vol.1, ch. 22). Charlotte’s family, like Elizabeth’s family, did not receive their wealth from their inheritances, but rather from work and trade. People, who made their wealth in this way, were considered to be people who are belonging to lower class society; so when Mr. Collins does propose marriage to Charlotte, it was considered as extremely good fortune because he earned his money through inheritance and he was in the service of the propertied Lady Catherine . In conclusion, Charlotte married Collins, not out of love, but out of her desire for material gain and benefits

Lydia’s marriage was an even more serious note; she had eloped with the unsavory Mr. Wickham, seemingly perfect gentleman from a poor family, Wickham turns out to be the Bennet family's worst nightmare and whose character was more than questionable. However, we all make a fatal mistake, since he turns out to be a gambler with a large amount of debt, and what’s worse, he entices naïve girls, such as Lydia, to elope with him, without any consideration of the terrible damage brought to the Lydia’s family and her own. Therefore, it’s too arbitrary for us to evaluate a person only relying At the time of her departure, Lydia was little more than sixteen and was quite silly; the course of these events clearly indicated and reflected and readers got the implication underlined by the writer, in her letter to Elizabeth stating what she feels toward Wickham. Wickham was, at last, forced to marry Lydia which caused him to stop his plan of leaving her and put her money to use for paying his debts off.

Their marriage seemed successful initially but, as the things stand, they drifted apart and went on to live for the most part in poverty, continuously calling on Lydia’s sisters for financial contribution. Their marriage was not depending on love or mutual care; it was depending on Lydia’s need to prevail her sisters and Wickham’s need for money and make themselves shameful because of their present cunning situation. In the past, Wickham had been able to seduce other woman and fundamentally rob them of their fortune; once he was completed with them, he would leave them to their own means. He was attempting to do the same to Lydia but, maybe  luckily, maybe not, he encountered by Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth’s eventual husband. Their marriage and their process of relationship was too hurried and each of these characters did not have time to fully explore and better understanding of themselves and the others characteristic features. The consequence of such relationships usually end in guilt and regret for each person.

Of the three examined couples Elizabeth and Darcy have by far the most loving and prosperous marriage. Elizabeth firstly met Mr. Darcy, one year before their marriage, at a ball. Her fist opinion of him was that he was extremely vain and not worthy of her affections; quite similarly Mr. Darcy initially felt that Elizabeth was “tolerable…but not handsome enough to tempt [him]”(Bronte, 30). Elizabeth found support for her initial impressions of Mr. Darcy from her friends and fellows who shared her opinions and from the evil and cunning Mr. Wickham. Darcy’s first thoughts and views of Elizabeth and her family were that they would belong to lower class and that Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth’s mother, was a scheming simpleton who tried to deceive any rich nominate male person into marrying one of her five daughters. Based on his first impression Darcy persuade his fellow Mr. Bingly into make his departure and to break off relations with Jane, Elizabeth’s eldest sister.

When Elizabeth became aware of Mr. Darcy’s attitudes and behaviours she became quite irritated with him and her opinion of him got worse. Her aversion of Darcy made her blind to his feelings for her and she was quite shocked when he proposed to her the first time. She declined his first proposal and stated her grudges with him as her reasons for rejecting. After receiving a letter from him, describing his actions and a visit to his estate, she began to see Darcy’s. After learning of his real character she started falling in love with him and in the end accepted his second marriage proposal. Their relationship got well time and each had the chance to observe the other’s character; this being the case they were both able to obtain an accurate idea of what the other was truly like.

In conclusion, first impressions play a key role in Pride and Prejudice and the characters are immensely affected by the first impressions. We, readers, should not consider this issue as a piece of cake ; instead, it is advisable to pay much attention to it and to make a comprehensive analysis. Just by doing this, can we have a deep understanding of the topic of Pride and Prejudice, which is obviously not just a simple romantic story between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. The idea of the novel lies in and behind portrayal of the three main unions. The union of Collins and Charlotte demonstrates the ideas of ambition and a one-sided marriage; whereas the union between Elizabeth and Darcy shows one of compassion and mutual love. Lydia’s marriage to Wickham shows the bad side of people and how an unconscientious character can easily take advantage of an innocent and foolish child. The novel is a magnificent illustration of people’s interaction in 19th century England and could even be useful for studying that period in history.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen