Table of Contents
Elizabeth Bennet
Charming and free-spirited, Elizabeth runs counter to the expectations of a young lady of her historical time. She is head-strong and thinks for herself rather than simply falling into conventional lines. She see the flaws in her own mother and father and therefore is not as apt to remain naïve about the intentions of others. Unlike her sister Jane, who follows conventions and assumes the best of other people, Elizabeth bases her views on evidence of those she meets.
Throughout the novel, Elizabeth’s encounters with Darcy are marked by wit and intelligence. Her ability to match him in intellect becomes both a feature of his reticence and his attraction toward her. Darcy is enchanted by her ability to remain in possession of herself and her refusal to be star-struck by the wealth, privilege, and power of the upper-class characters.
Elizabeth’s primary flaw is her prejudice. She is overcome by her first impressions, particularly of Darcy. The fact that she is so quick to believe the stories of Wickham and Fitzgerald demonstrate her propensity to think the worst before she has all the information. It is therefore fortunate that Darcy does not simply give up on her.
In the final analysis, Elizabeth is able to apply her intelligence and fair-mindedness to other and herself, admitting where she was wrong or mistake and becoming willing to swallow her pride in admitting her mistakes to Darcy. This final virtue is what wins Darcy’s heart.
Elizabeth Bennet is one who is both a creature of her time and one who resists the dictates of her time. She is a lady in the most conventional ways for the period in history: chaste, demure, polite, and proper. Yet, she also demonstrates intellect and self-possession which is uncharacteristic of young women of the age. It can be argued that Austen renders Elizabeth as something a feminist ideal for women of this historical period insofar as she is a fully active character rather than merely a passive recipient of the wills of men and other more empowered characters.
Fitzwilliam Darcy
As much as Elizabeth plays the role of prejudice in the novel, Darcy is the figure of pride. He is arrogant from the beginning and is thus misunderstood in ways that harm primarily himself. Though he may be a source of envy by other in his good looks and wealth, he is off-putting to Elizabeth and other for his overweening pride. His mock indifference to Elizabeth at the ball, his presumption toward Jane and Bingley, all serves to render him pompous more than enviable. In the end, it is Elizabeth’s strength of character which shocks him into realizing the error of his own pride.
Though love is triumphant in the novel, Darcy does represent something of a paradox for the historical period. For a gentleman to marry beneath his station was highly unusual and came with a cost to his reputation and social standing. Clearly this is Austen’s point in making this work. Darcy’s willingness to let love prevail over the social mandates of the age make him more of a knight in shining armor than it would otherwise appear had the character followed the strict mandates to class arrangements.
Mr. Bennet
Basically a sensible man, Mr. Bennet would seem to have given up on exerting his influence in any meaningful way due to his unhappy marriage to Mrs. Bennet. Her preoccupation with marriage and social arrangements are tiresome to him, and he has largely withdrawn from taking a direct role in matters which effect his family and his daughters. He emerges to express opinions in ways which are callous at times even if he also demonstrates are real affection for his daughters. In the end, Mr. Bennet does demonstrate his care and love for his daughters, particularly Elizabeth, as he takes a strong interest in managing the affairs and best interests of Jane, Elizabeth, and Lydia.
Mrs. Bennet
Of all the characters in the novel, Mrs. Bennet is largely a figure of her historical time period. She thinks of nothing but making the proper marriage arrangements for her daughters. She is entirely focused on marrying them to wealthy and powerful men. She has no thoughts of love or the actual wills of her daughters. For her, marriage is an economic arrangement designed to provide for the well-being of women and for the proper stature of a family.
Even as she is utterly fixed on proper relationships for her daughters, she is uncouth and lacks refinement. She is at times embarrassing at social occasions, speaking out of turn and making herself seem rude to the more refined characters in the novel.
Jane Bennet
Jane is the proper lady of her age in contrast to Elizabeth. Demure and passive, she accepts her role as little more than a lady who is destined to be married for economic reasons more than for love. She is the character foil to Elizabeth.
Bingley
Bingley is young, attractive and wealthy. Yet he lacks the fire and force of Darcy. Though he is in every way the model of gentleman, he has none of the romantic appeal that Darcy expresses in winning over Elizabeth. His character works in the novel to show the both the appeal of the stereotypical gentleman as well as the dull lack of fire that such a man presents. He is likeable enough, yet he is simply not interesting to a forceful young woman such as Elizabeth and he acts as the vapid counter to Darcy’s potentially reckless pride.
