John Locke once said, “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts,” and this statement couldn’t be truer. In her novels, Jane Austen uses a similar technique to bring her characters to life and make them more relatable to her readers; thus providing a window into the characters’ inner ideals. In one of her masterpieces, Pride and Prejudice, we especially see Austen’s brilliant characterizations into play that speak volumes of insight into society and human nature. More specifically, Austen ingeniously uses Elizabeth Bennet’s actions, her words, her outlook on others, and her comparison with other characters to display Austen’s own innate ideologies.
We first see Austen’s mastery at play in providing her readers with insight into her ideals through a simple action of Elizabeth’s that takes place towards the beginning of the novel. When Jane becomes sick after being rained on during her journey to Netherfield on a horse, she is forced to stay at Netherfield, exactly according to her mother’s grand schemes. Out of concern for Jane’s health, and it seems as if she is the only one, Elizabeth is insistent upon paying Jane a visit. The carriage is not available to her and her only option is to walk the three miles to Netherfield, which is exactly what she does. Although she does not walk the whole distance by herself, she does walk the latter distance through the meadows without an escort (Austen 22-23).
This act was quite unconventional and speaks volumes into Elizabeth’s character, and into what Austen is trying to say, for two reasons. Women, during this time period, “were not supposed to take cross country tramps alone – both because they might be endangered by vagabonds and because their app...
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... us that similarity in intellectuality, as a result of education, will increase the likelihood of a happy marriage. Austen wanted women to be on par with men intellectually, which would come as a result of education (Brown 332).
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Bantam Books, 1981.
Dean, Jenny. “Jane Austen and the Female Condition: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century
England.” UAHuntsville. 15 Apr. 2012 n/S1998/jennyd.html>. “Jane Austen's Art of Characterization.” NeoEnglish System. 19 Dec. 2010. 15 Apr. 2012 tp://neoenglishsystem.blogspot.com/2010/12/jane-austens-art-of-characterization.html >.
Nardin, Jane. “Propriety versus Morality in Jane Austen’s Novels.” The Jane Austen Society
of North America. 05 Mar. 2012
0/nardin.htm>.
In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen used the character of Elizabeth Bennet to epitomize the harmonious balance between reason and emotion in a woman, making her a truly admirable and attractive character.
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