Pride And Prejudice

Too Much Pride, Too Much Prejudice?

In everyday life, people are affected by bias and, also, the guilt of bias against others. Bias can be cultural, racial, or personal, but the primary basis for all bias is ignorance. It is believed that women are the lesser of the sexes. Society believes that in this time period that women always need to get married and social standings are held by wealth. Pride and Prejudice is an historically accurate depiction of the time. Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice, demonstrates, through Elizabeth Bennet's actions towards others, that Ms. Bennet holds many biases against other characters based on her prideful spirit and tendency to prejudge others.

Mr. Collins, a clergyman intended to inherit Mr.Bennet's property, offers his hand in marriage to Elizabeth because he knows that the Bennet's want to keep the property in the family. Elizabeth rejects Mr. Collins's proposal because her pride will not allow her to marry a man she does not love. Elizabeth replies to Collins's proposal:

Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me, I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them . . . could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last women in the world who would make you so. (Austen 74)

Mr. Collins's love interest in Elizabeth is truly sincere. His proposal is more than a proposal of security. Elizabeth's pride, in her beliefs, is one of the primary reasons that she rejects Collins's offer.

Elizabeth is clearly not in love with Collins. She is willing to take the risk of rejecting this proposal and waiting for another one from someone else. Even with her denial of his proposal, Mr. Collins does not accept it as rejection. Elizabeth continues to demand that he respect her refusal as sincere. Elizabeth's pride causes her to reject Mr. Collins's proposal because she is looking for a man who she is in love with, not just the safety of a marriage. Elizabeth is not an elegant female who is playing coy, but a rational creature who is speaking the truth.

Elizabeth is not a typical woman. She rejects Collins's proposal because she believes that there needs to be love in a marriage. This is not in line with the thinking of her time. Women of her time compromise love for security. They do not care if they do not love the man to whom they are married. Marriage, to them, offers a sense of security, both financially and socially. Elizabeth is willing to sacrifice her security and keep looking for a proposal from someone she truly loves.

At the ball, Elizabeth is unexpectedly approached by Mr. Darcy. He asks to dance with her and without even realizing, she accepts. As he walked away, she starts to worry about what she just did. Elizabeth is reluctant to accept Mr. Darcy's invitation to dance with him. As he walked away, Elizabeth turns to Charlotte and says, "'Heaven forbid! - That would be the greatest misfortune of all! - To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! - Do not wish me suck an evil (62).'" Elizabeth's acceptance to Mr. Darcy's invitation to dance puts her in an awkward situation with herself.

This act changes Elizabeth's actions toward Mr. Darcy. Before this, Elizabeth always acts like she does not like Darcy. She was always too prideful to admit she liked Darcy even the slightest bit. After her dance with Darcy, she begins to open up to him and lets her pride go.

Elizabeth's quick acceptance is one of the first things to show that she is not letting her prideful spirit get the best of her. This quick acceptance shows that she is interested in Darcy, but also it shows her free spirited side. After Elizabeth accepts, she goes right to Charlotte and cannot believe what she just did. Even though she is quick to accept, she is also quick to think she has just made a mistake.

Elizabeth blames herself for Lydia running away and marrying Mr. Wickham. "'When I consider, that I might have prevented it! -- I who knew what he was. Had I but explained some part of it only -- some part of what I learnt -- to my own family! Had his character been known, this could not have happened. But it is all, all too late now (185).'" Elizabeth thinks that she can stop her sister or anyone because she will convince them that pride is more important.

Elizabeth, being the older sister, feels that she needs to protect her younger sisters from society. She feels that it is completely her fault because her parents couldn't stop her and the oldest sister, Jane, was not there to help. Lydia was just out in society looking for anyone to give her even the slightest bit of attention. Mr. Wickham was the one who just happened to give her that attention.

Elizabeth also held information that may have stopped her in marrying Wickham. Even though she had this information, she did not want to unveil it without knowing the full truth. Therefore, she concealed the information from everyone. Once she had received the full story, it was too late to stop Lydia from running off and marrying Mr. Wickham.

Not only was Elziabeth a very prideful woman, she also tended to prejudge others. Elizabeth is quick to prejudge Mr. Darcy to be a bad man. She takes Wickham's word when she is told about Darcy breaking a promise. She does this without hearing Darcy's side of the story. When Elizabeth hears Wickham's story of this