In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen tells of the romantic exploits and drama of the Bennet family. Due to the prejudice of most of the characters, even the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, misunderstandings and problematic situations arise. It does not help the heroine that many antagonists stand in her way. The most prominent villain turns out to be George Wickham, a member of the militia of whom uses his good looks and seemingly good personality to lie and manipulate others, playing ignorant to the troubles he has created; he becomes a large contributor to Lizzy’s prejudice and the book’s overall concept of a judgmental society that favors certain characteristics of a person over others.
The first and foremost point to Wickham’s villainy is his attractiveness. Austen takes the time to actually describe him as a truly handsome man, and that is his primary bait for his victims. In addition to his physical appearance, he possesses the charm of a fox, and the first person to fall into his trap is Elizabeth. Lizzy, whose prejudice lies in basing her entire of opinion of someone mainly on first impressions, experiences a pull to Wickham’s character due to his superficially angelic disposition and equally handsome demeanor. Once Lizzy realizes the truth about Wickham, he has already moved onto his next victim: her younger sister, Lydia. He uses his looks to convince the stupidly foolish Lydia to elope with him, showing the reader the true power of his face and charm. Many villains are portrayed as unappealing characters, but the most evil of them are the ones with the beautiful appearances and contrastingly ugly nature.
One of Wickham’s many unpleasant attributes is his deceitfulness. Once he sees that Elizabeth has been captured by h...
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...e possible consequences of a swift assessment of a person with the whole elopement fiasco with Wickham and Lydia. While Wickham is evil for being ignorant to his wrongdoings, Austen wants the reader to see that Elizabeth and society is also wrong in being ignorant to Wickham’s true nature.
There is more than one villain in Pride and Prejudice, but the figurehead of evil turns out to be George Wickham. His looks and appeal are used to lie and manipulate, and he does not express any remorse for his actions; instead, he feigns ignorance. Wickham portrays the most evil of antagonists: the ones whose book covers do not match their content. The growth, or rather deterioration, of Wickham’s character plays a large role in the meaning of the novel, in that it presents the prejudices and pridefulness that society can hold towards someone.
Works Cited
Pride and Prejudice
Sheehan, Lucy. "Historical Context for Pride and Prejudice." Columbia College 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2014
Proud and arrogant, Mr. Darcy stands at the head of the room giving a cold, dark stare. He gives the impression at the first ball to the people of Meryton that he is prideful, looks down upon their society, and that he possesses poor manners. Mr. Darcy, new to town, is perceived by the Bennets in a demeaning light. After the ball Elizabeth’s mother says, “…Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! […] I quite detest the man." (Austen. 9.). The opinions Elizabeth holds of Mr. Darcy are completely formed from the opinions of others. She also does this because at the first ball she hears Darcy exclaim to his friend, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me,” (Austen. 7). From then on, she continually attacks him with snide, biting remarks. Because Mr. Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth at the first ball in Meryton, she becomes determined “never to dance with him,” (Austen. 13). Elizabeth soon meets Mr. Wickham, who lies to portray Mr. Darcy as a coward who disobeyed his father and ruined Wickham’s life. Through his deceitful charm, he gains Elizabeth’s trust. In ad...
Lizzie’s perception of Mr. Darcy is extremely overshadowed at present by the revelation that he has been the instrument of her sister’s pain. The groundwork of this extenuating from their initial meeting where he rejected the suggestion by Mr. Bingley that he should dance with Lizzie. Wickham’s persuasive coloring of Mr. Darcy only further led along Lizzie’s mistrust of the gentleman, and the Jane revelation sent her over the edge. Therefore, at the time of the proposal she perceives him thus: “you manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others” (128). The key aspect
Works Cited Austen, Jane. A. Pride and Prejudice. Norton Critical 3rd edition, ed. Donald Gray. New York and London: Norton, 2001.
Throughout Jane Austen’s, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett faces many challenges to realize that she was in the wrong and her prejudice against Mr. Darcy was misguided. Austen emphasizes the importance of wisdom through Elizabeth who faces the challenge of overcoming her prejudiced judgement to reach maturity and recognize the man she loves.
This novel is mainly focused on Elizabeth Bennet as she struggles to overcome her prejudices about Darcy, a rich and handsome suitor who has taken a liking to her, while the tales of the other Bennet sisters as they grapple with their own prejudices and search for the truth unfolds concurrently. Jane Austen suggests through events in the novel that structuring the truth to fit one’s personal idealism and prejudices can unfairly color one’s opinion of another and inhibit one from finding self-fulfillment. The interplay between truth and idealism will be explored in this essay by analyzing how idealism influences truth, the difference between the idealistic interpretation and reality in Pride and Prejudice, and the effect of using idealism to construe the
Lydia, Mr WIckham and Lady Catherine de Bourg have no self awareness and are unhappy in the novel. The marriage of Lydia and Mr Wickham is one of the unhappy marriages. Mr Wickham and Lydia are both very similar and are both unaware of their faults; they are both careless with money and see no problem with asking their relatives for money. Lydia as the youngest daughter is well accustomed to having other people look after her and she is dependent on other people. Lydia’s lack of self awareness doesn’t affect her greatly; she is happy and claims that she loves Wickham. She is very fond of him but he is not fond of her and quickly loses interest, “Wickham’s affection for Lydia, was just what Elizabeth had expected to find it; not equal to Lydia’s for him.” Lady Catherine de Bourg has no self knowledge. She is full of herself and sees herself very highly; it is obvious she is lacks self knowledge. She makes discourteous comments about other people without thought to their opinions and she also enunciates comments about how she views herself. Lady Catherine de Bourg is unhappy because she is disappointed ...
In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen criticizes marriages based on infatuation. Lydia is immature and foolish enough to confuse lust for love. On the other hand, Wickham 's character is very manipulative and scheming. Wickham 's past proves that because he had planned to run away with Darcy 's sister
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has emphases on how characters are perceived by the world they live in. Mr. Darcy is an unpopular and misunderstood character who is the symbol of pride throughout the novel. Mr. Wickham is a charismatic soldier who is perceptive of those around him and capitalizes on his knowledge. Throughout the novel similarities and differences between characters are highlighted. Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy grew up together, yet Mr. Darcy is known for having a disagreeable countenance and a large sense of pride and Mr. Wickham is more charming, charismatic, and socially well-versed. In the fourth chapter of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth says “It does not necessarily
Pride and Prejudice, one of Jane Austen’s masterpieces, makes use of satire to promote social change, because the English society of the 19th century only saw marriage as a ticket that would help you move upward on the social ladder. Throughout the book, the reader gets front row seats as Austen mocks both the conservative middle class and upper class, giving the dissentient characters a chance to be seen in society with a better image. Austen expresses her feelings on why social changes must occur to her audience by making use of satire to describe Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Hurt, and Miss Bingley in comparison to the way she develops characters such as Elizabeth Bennet and the wealthy gentleman Fitzwilliam Darcy. Furthermore, while the reader gets to witness dramatic moments from Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Hurst, and Miss. As Bingley strives to comply with the traditions of the 19th century, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy play a significant role in trying to demonstrate to the reader why love should be the chief reason for marriage.
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a remarkable story showing the complications between men and women before and during their time of falling in love. The plot is based on how the main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, escape their pride, prejudice and vanity to find each other; however, both must recognize their faults and change them. Jane Austen follows the development of Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship in how they both change in order to overcome their own vanities and be able to love each other. Mr. Darcy is a very proud and vain man. Darcy’s pride occurs because his family allows him to follow his principles “in pride and conceit” (Austen 310).
The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love for his daughters while, on the contrary, Mrs. Bennet’s love is over-acted and conditional. Both parents help to shape their daughters’ characteristics and beliefs: Lydia reflecting Mrs. Bennet’s flighty and excessive behavior while Elizabeth inherits Mr. Bennet’s pensive and reflective temperament. Looking past their dissimilar personality traits and contradicting convictions, both parents hold the family together and play an integral role in the household structure.
One of the most striking examples of Austen's satire is her emphasis on reason, as opposed to the wanton passion lauded into the bulk of romantic novels. Lydia and Wickham's marriage is seen as a triumph of their "passions" over their "virtue", and she is certain that "little permanent happiness" can arise from such a union. This is exemplified by Wickham's continuance of his extravagant habits, and the degeneracy of any feelings between them to indifference. The indifference Mr Bennet has for his wife, and the unsatisfactorine...
Jane Austen has a great talent for developing her characters into what she envisions. Jane Austen’s effective use of character development is best displayed by the male characters in Pride and Prejudice, where the male characters are not what they first appear to the reader. Mr. Wickham, who first appears to be prince charming, ends up almost the exact opposite. Mr. Bingley, who is initially shy but friendly, grows in his confidence, courage, and independence. And last, Mr. Darcy learns he does not know it all, he needs others.
Darcy is widely perceived as the “proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (13). In the beginning of the novel, Darcy exhibits bad pride by putting his reputation in front of Elizabeth’s feelings. For instance, Darcy says to Bingley at the Netherfield ball, “[Elizabeth is] not handsome enough to tempt me” (13). Darcy does not only unveil his arrogance, but he also offends Elizabeth by calling her too ugly for his satisfaction. Although Elizabeth “remained with no very cordial feelings towards [Darcy]” (14) after his rude remark, Darcy’s comment holds the potential to lower Elizabeth’s self-esteem and pride in her beauty. In this example, Darcy favors his pride, consequently revealing a harmful trait that can negatively affect Elizabeth, or in fact anybody, which ultimately makes Darcy seem narcissistic and vain. Although Darcy originally shows bad pride, his character reveals later that he, as a matter of fact, obtains mostly good pride. In a conversation between Elizabeth and Wickham, Elizabeth asks, ‘“can such abominable pride as [Darcy’s], have ever done him good?”’ (80). Wickham responds, ‘“Yes... brotherly pride, which with some brotherly affection, makes him a very kind