Reevaluating the Depth of Pride and Prejudice
It is a popular opinion that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is the lightest novel that lacks profound meaning. However, Mr. Samuel Kliger states there is a deep sense in this progressive novel as the author builds her antithesis on the opposition between nature, the side which Elizabeth takes, and art. However, Austen does not deprecate the latter “altogether.”
Elizabeth learns to take class divisions into account while remaining “natural,” and Mr. Darcy finally accepts this part of her. Further, critics mention that Pride and Prejudice includes many literary borrowings. Elizabeth, while including the features of other heroines, has a distinctive feature of disliking and teasing the hero with whom she later falls in love, and Austen supports Elizabeth’s skepticism.
The Novel’s Social and Structural Themes
The essence of Pride and Prejudice is that it is a novel instead of an anti-novel, and it does not include any satirical elements. Unlike Austen’s following novel, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice is anti-snob, anti-religious, and individualistic, standing on the side of the young against the old and promoting the power of a formerly depressed social class. Further, Kliger’s idea about the opposition between art and nature being at the novel’s core might be wrong because the literary work has deeper antitheses. One is built on the strong opposition between Elizabeth and Darcy and, simultaneously, on their equal balancing against the simpler Jane and Bingley. The two main characters help each other reveal their flaws and develop.
Transformations Through Pride and Prejudice
While the novel’s title might support a tendency to perceive pride and prejudice as two polar qualities, they are not, and the characters slowly realize that they are proud and prejudiced. Elizabeth and Darcy overcome these flaws by admitting that the other is worthy of respect, making the two characters humbler about themselves. Additionally, when Elizabeth’s father is revealed deeper as a character, it helps her realize that he influences her as much as Darcy is affected by his family’s negative features. The skeptical intelligence of Elizabeth and Darcy allows for their scrupulous self-knowledge. At the same time, considering the number of severe and challenging topics mentioned in the novel, not all are covered and appropriately revealed.