The answer to the question" What is Pride and Prejudice About" is not a plot summary. The plot is what happens in the novel, not what it is about. You might say that all of Austen's novels are about how to live. Pride and Prejudice is about how to make the most important choice of your life. It is about how to select a mate. Marriage, in other words. There are two aspects of this decision: what factors should you consider, and how do you know the information upon which you act is correct? Mr. Darcy does not understand the factors and the weight to be given them at the start of the novel, but he learns. Elizabeth Bennet does not know how to properly assess information, but she learns.
There are various reasons one can marry in this novel, and the first thing for a prospect to determine is the purpose of the marriage. Elizabeth is speaking with Jane about Mr. Bingley and the marriage advice he might get from his sisters, during Mr. Bingley's extended stay in London. Jane says the sisters can only wish their brother's happiness, and, as she notes if he is "attached" to her, i.e. in love with her, he can only find happiness by marrying her. Elizabeth, a bit more realistic than Jane, rebuts with the idea that they might wish their brother to marry for money, or social advancement, rather than happiness. This idea points to Ms. Darcy as the ideal mate since she has both; and the Bingleys, who while not short of money, are only one generation from being a family of merchants. She does not say that Bingley himself would consider money or social position important: and indeed he does not.
The right answer is: happiness. Even Mr. Collins knows this, for, as he explains to Elizabeth when proposing, one of his reasons for marrying is to increase his happiness. Happiness requires mutual affection. "Oh, Lizzy, do anything rather than marry without affection" says Jane. Mr. Bennet expresses this idea a bit differently, saying saying Elizabeth must respect her husband, must look up to him as a superior, else her disposition will lead her into disgrace and unhappiness.
Austen seems to be showing in this novel that we should judge others by the "content of their characters" as Martin Luther King, Jr put it one day in Washington, rather than by the competing claims of their wealth, power, or social status. Mr. Collins is wrong when he says, in a letter to Mr. Bennet, that the 3 elements of happiness are wealth, social position, and extensive patronage in the church. But then, Mr. Collins is often wrong.
More to come, quotes at this moment are approximate.
There are various reasons one can marry in this novel, and the first thing for a prospect to determine is the purpose of the marriage. Elizabeth is speaking with Jane about Mr. Bingley and the marriage advice he might get from his sisters, during Mr. Bingley's extended stay in London. Jane says the sisters can only wish their brother's happiness, and, as she notes if he is "attached" to her, i.e. in love with her, he can only find happiness by marrying her. Elizabeth, a bit more realistic than Jane, rebuts with the idea that they might wish their brother to marry for money, or social advancement, rather than happiness. This idea points to Ms. Darcy as the ideal mate since she has both; and the Bingleys, who while not short of money, are only one generation from being a family of merchants. She does not say that Bingley himself would consider money or social position important: and indeed he does not.
The right answer is: happiness. Even Mr. Collins knows this, for, as he explains to Elizabeth when proposing, one of his reasons for marrying is to increase his happiness. Happiness requires mutual affection. "Oh, Lizzy, do anything rather than marry without affection" says Jane. Mr. Bennet expresses this idea a bit differently, saying saying Elizabeth must respect her husband, must look up to him as a superior, else her disposition will lead her into disgrace and unhappiness.
Austen seems to be showing in this novel that we should judge others by the "content of their characters" as Martin Luther King, Jr put it one day in Washington, rather than by the competing claims of their wealth, power, or social status. Mr. Collins is wrong when he says, in a letter to Mr. Bennet, that the 3 elements of happiness are wealth, social position, and extensive patronage in the church. But then, Mr. Collins is often wrong.
More to come, quotes at this moment are approximate.
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