Pride And Prejudice

Jane Austen beautifully illustrates many different types of women in her novel Pride and Prejudice. She is very accurate in her representations of women in terms of their class and roles. Three very different women in Austen’s novel are Elizabeth Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. They bring a different view of Austen’s era to the novel through their behavior and way of life. All of these women have very different attitudes and backgrounds which, as we see, influences how they make decisions and how they view matters.

As one of the most quick-witted and clever characters in the novel, Elizabeth Bennet proves to be the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice as well as one of the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous, being lovely, clever, and having the ability to converse brilliantly. She is one of the more peculiar women of the time because she seems to be beyond the class restrictions put on her by a spiteful society. Her honesty, virtue, and wit make her out to be the only character above this. She is one of the more uncommon women in the novel, who would rather find happiness in marriage than money. After being offered a marriage proposal by Mr. Darcy, it seems she would be the only woman back in that era who would refuse him. As she gradually comes to recognize the decency of Darcy’s character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.

Elizabeth’s very practical friend Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth’s best friend at the start of the novel. Being six years older than Elizabeth, Charlotte does not view love as the most vital component of a marriage. She is more interested in having a comfortable home. Therefore, when Mr. Collins proposes to Charlotte, unlike Elizabeth, she accepts. Charlotte Lucas represents the more common woman in Austen’s era. She conforms to what class she has been born