Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen published in 1813. It is a text that describes the manners, education, social classes, money and marriage issues of England during that time, which are quite different from today. In comparison to today’s life, I think this novel has several interesting points to talk about.    

  The novel shows that there was an obvious social class difference based on occupation, wealth and gender. The Bennets are middle class while the Bingleys and Darcys are upper class. The upper class treated the middle class as inferiors socially. Women could not own properties. There was an idealized type of woman in England at the time. Elisabeth, who is protagonist of this novel, is a strong, independent and smart woman, was considered socially unacceptable in that time period. However, her personality is loved by millions of modern readers. Regardless of the gender of readers, they consider the character an attractive woman due to her philosophies and her actions/because she went against the norm. 

The concept of courtship is also really different from today. Modern conventions such as living together or having sex before marriage were banned and looked down upon. Courtship was considered as a step toward marriage as that was the ultimate goal. If we compare these ideals to the age we live in, people these days have relationships far more freely without thinking about marriage. 

            The main story of this book is that Elisabeth and Darcy recognize the error. Elizabeth misjudged Darcy based on a poor first impression, Darcy had prejudice on Elizabeth’s poor social class. They made these error based on their pride and prejudice, overcome all obstacles and achieved their love. I think people have issues or make errors caused by pride and prejudice all the time, not just in 18th century England. Judging people hastily for some reasons, even if not based on social class like the book, causes many issues in terms of human relationships especially those that are romantically based.

            I enjoyed reading story in different time period. It was interesting to understand the values they believed right at the moment and how peoples mind changed through the time.