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Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in Themes of P&P, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your Themes of P&P paper at affordable prices ! One thing that may not be obvious is that it is always more "genteel" to be a rural land-owner than to be actively involved in commerce, no matter how much money you're making in business (thus "trade", or business, can be a disparaging word). This is why Mr. Gardiner is looked down upon by the Bingley sisters and Lady Catherine. Charlotte Lucas is a victim of Sir William Lucas being taken in by this myth of rural land-owning gentility.

But why is it so popular? Perhaps because, in our era of gender roles in flux, it presents an earlier age where these roles were clearly defined and understood by all. Interestingly though, Elizabeth Bennet (Lucy Taylor) stands out as an unusually independent woman. Although she knows she cannot break through society's constraints, she insists on the maximum freedom within them. The story of her and Darcy's reluctant romance is one of two people coming to know and like each other in spite of society's expectations, with neither having the whip hand. It is a meeting of minds, which might be the deeper reason we like this romance from an otherwise alien time.

Marriage is an important theme of Pride and Prejudice. Its influence over the characters and events of the novel is hinted at in the ironic opening sentence: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife'(Chapter 1). Regardless of what any young man might desire or need, finding suitable marriage partners for her daughters becomes an all consuming passion for Mrs Bennet. In her opinion, the wealthier a young man, the more attractive a proposition he becomes. Jane Austen is keen, however, to point out the dangers of a marriage that is not based on mutual love and respect.

The second marriage of the novel is the practical and mutually advantageous arrangement between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte, who at twenty-seven would have been considered a mature bride in Jane Austen's day, realises that any real chance of love has probably passed her by. Although she realises her chances of true happiness are limited, she marries Mr Collins in the hope that she will avoid poverty and loneliness in old age:

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"Without thinking highly of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want'(

In Jane Austen's world, Lydia's scandalous loss of dignity and fall from grace would have resulted in banishment from her family and respectable society. Even though Lydia is saved from total degradation, her punishment will be an unhappy marriage without the love and respect of her partner.

Social Satire

When Jane Austen wrote her novels in the early nineteenth century, English society was dominated by the aristocracy and landed gentry. Society and etiquette was controlled by a rigid set of conventions and protocol, which on the surface at least, were there to preserve decency and good manners. As a result of their inherited wealth and positions, the landed classes, who owned much of the countryside, had an innate belief in their own superiority over the rest of society. Consequently, they looked down on those whose occupations and income were not connected with land ownership.

Jane Austen describes the landed gentry in detail and attacks the shallowness of their etiquette and manners. She criticises their arrogance and conceit and the way they are prepared to condemn those who contravene their moral standards and behavioural codes. While she gives them a semblance of civility, Jane Austen is scathing of the gentry's superficiality and hypocrisy. The absurd and patronising Lady Catherine de Bourgh , for instance, is ridiculed for her intolerance and disdain for those of a lower social rank. She is prepared to accept Mr Collins' sycophantic flattery but is not prepared to tolerate a member of her family marrying one of his distant relatives.

Another aspect of Jane Austen's social satire is her amusing portrait of the pompous and hypocritical Mr Collins, whose Christian beliefs are contradicted by his materialism and lack of charity and forgiveness towards Lydia. In the author's opinion he is too conscious of status and possessions for a clergyman.

In each case, anxieties about social connections, or the desire for better social connections, interfere with the workings of love. Darcy and Elizabeth's realization of a mutual and tender love seems to imply that Austen views love as something independent of these social forces, as something that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape the warping effects of hierarchical society. Austen does sound some more realist (or, one could say, cynical) notes about love, using the character of Charlotte Lucas, who marries the buffoon Mr. Collins for his money, to demonstrate that the heart does not always dictate marriage. Yet with her central characters, Austen suggests that true love is a force separate from society and one that can conquer even the most difficult of circumstances.

Reputation - Pride and Prejudice depicts a society in which a woman's reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism. This theme appears in the novel, when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield and arrives with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation-conscious Miss Bingley and her friends. At other points, the ill-mannered, ridiculous behavior of Mrs. Bennet gives her a bad reputation with the more refined (and snobbish) Darcys and Bingleys. Austen pokes gentle fun at the snobs in these examples, but later in the novel, when Lydia elopes with Wickham and lives with him out of wedlock, the author treats reputation as a very serious matter. By becoming Wickham's lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia clearly places herself outside the social pale, and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family. The fact that Lydia's judgment, however terrible, would likely have condemned the other Bennet sisters to marriageless lives seems grossly unfair. Why should Elizabeth's reputation suffer along with Lydia's? Darcy's intervention on the Bennet's behalf thus becomes all the more generous, but some readers might resent that such an intervention was necessary at all. If Darcy's money had failed to convince Wickham to marry Lydia, would Darcy have still married Elizabeth? Does his transcendence of prejudice extend that far? The happy ending of Pride and Prejudice is certainly emotionally satisfying, but in many ways it leaves the theme of reputation, and the importance placed on reputation, unexplored. One can ask of Pride and Prejudice, to what extent does it critique social structures, and to what extent does it simply accept their inevitability?

Class - The theme of class is related to reputation, in that both reflect the strictly regimented nature of life for the middle and upper classes in Regency England. The lines of class are strictly drawn. While the Bennets, who are middle class, may socialize with the upper class Bingleys and Darcys, they are clearly their social inferiors and are treated as such. Austen satirizes this kind of class-consciousness, particularly in the character of Mr. Collins, who spends most of his time toadying to his upper class patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though Mr. Collins offers an extreme example, he is not the only one to hold such views. His conception of the importance of class is shared, among others, by Mr. Darcy, who believes in the dignity of his lineage; Miss Bingley, who dislikes anyone not as socially accepted as she is; and Wickham, who will do anything he can to get enough money to raise himself into a higher station. Mr. Collins's views are merely the most extreme and obvious. The satire directed at Mr. Collins is therefore also more subtly directed at the entire social hierarchy and the conception of all those within it at its correctness, in complete disregard of other, more worthy virtues. Through the Darcy-Elizabeth and Bingley-Jane marriages, Austen shows the power of love and happiness to overcome class boundaries and prejudices, thereby implying that such prejudices are hollow, unfeeling, and unproductive. Of course, this whole discussion of class must be made with the understanding that Austen herself is often criticized as being a classist: she doesn't really represent anyone from the lower classes; those servants she does portray are generally happy with their lot. Austen does criticize class structure but only a limited slice of that structure.

'Pride and Prejudice' criticizes the Victorian society values through the three major problems of women: economic dependence on a man, their traditional role as domestic and accomplished wifes and their need to marry a man to fulfil their 'proper' destiny. These problems are represented in some characters in the novel, and, specially, in Elizabeth Bennet.

First of all, the major problem of Victorian women was their lack of economic independence, and therefore, being under the protection of a husband or any male relative. As they could not work and most of them did not have money of their own, society pressed them to find 'a single man in possession of a good fortune'. This is the case of the Bennet sisters and the Lucas sisters. It is especially hard for the Bennets because their estate is entailes to their cousin, Mr. Collins. The situation is criticized through Elizabeth's opposition to marrying him for money. On the other hand, Charlotte Lucas, does what society expects from her and marries Mr. Collins.

Secondly, this economic dependece links to the traditional view of women during the Victorian times. The role of 'Angel in the House' was the established path, which every woman had to follow: being passive, domestic and accomplised. However, Elizabeth does not possess these Victorian values. She likes being outdoors and unaccompanied, just as she did when she visited Jane in Netherfield. She is not passive because she likes to discuss with other people her opinions, facin even a man like Mr. Darcy or a highly ranked woman as Lady Catherine. And finally, she is not at all accomplished because her mother educated her at home. This traditional view of women is strongly criticiezed with men's attitude towards women. Men in the novel treat women as objects and not as 'rational beings'. It is especially clear in the frist proposals that Elizabeth rejects in which Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins do not take her into account. The fact that Elizabeth does not follow the role of Victorian women shows the critical ideas that the novel presents about society.

Finally, women's destiny is totally ruled by their lack of freedom socially and economically speaking. They MUST marry, even if they are part of the aristocracy and have money. Mrs. Bingley is a clear example of how tradition and society pressed women into marriage to fulfil their lives. Elizabeth also needs to marry, but for money. The big irony of Elizabeth's opposition to the Victorian traditions is that she finally follows her 'proper destiny' and marries the richest man. In the end the critique is on marrying for money rather than in marriage itself.

In conclusion, 'Pride and Prejudice' uses Elizabeth to show the clear problems of women in the Victorian society, although she is not a total rebel in the problem of marriage. Elizabeth, then, is the one to focalize what was considered normal and give it asense of being unjust to women through irony and a lot of common sense.

Reputation and social status are important when it comes to love, or are they? Pride and Prejudice exemplifies examples that prove this statement to be invalid. It is acknowledged and known that a man in possession of a good fortune is in want of a good wife and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice represents this statement. Through strong themes, sociological aspects, irony and a little bit of foreshadowing and symbolism this comedy of manners shows the ability of love to overcome all obstacles

The pivotal theme is that marriage is important to individuals and

society. Throughout the novel, the author describes the various

types of marriages and reasons behind them. Marriage out of

economic compulsions can be seen in Charlotte's marriage to

Collins. Marriage due to sensual pleasure can be seen in Lydia's

marriage. The marriage of Jane and Elizabeth are the outcome of

true love between well-matched persons.

For the women of her time marriage on any terms

was often the only escape from a depressing spinsterhood in respectable

poverty. Around this crucial issue of marriage she weaves her lively

subthemes of social criticism, making fun of snobbery, hypocrisy, the

spiteful gossip of respectable housewives and the prying impertinence of

ladies of title

Every society has its rules of social behavior, but manners are much less

important today than they were in Jane Austen's time. Her world was

dominated by social rituals that had built-in rules-balls, formal visits, and

conversations in which people were supposed to avoid personal or

otherwise embarrassing subjects. In Pride and Prejudice Austen

demonstrates her view that these rules are necessary: they constitute civil

and considerate behavior, the "oil" that allows relationships to run

smoothly. She is often critical of characters who break the rules and

sometimes uses them for comic effect-as when Lady Catherine de Bourgh

pries into the Bennet family's affairs. Mr. Collins represents the other side

of the coin-he is comic because he carries good manners to a ridiculous

extreme. Elizabeth represents the middle ground. When Mr. Collins

proposes, she rejects him with a proper "thank you." But when Darcy

proposes, she tells him that she cannot express gratitude to him because she

does not feel gratitude-and she goes on to tell him exactly how she does

feel, in words that bristle with angry criticism of him. It is clear that while

Jane Austen approves of the correct forms of social behavior, she makes fun

of them when they are carried to excess, and she does not approve of them

as cover-ups of strong and justifiable feelings.

. PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY

The English gentry, as Jane Austen shows us, were highly privileged

people. When Darcy is criticized for being proud, Charlotte Lucas comes to

his defense, saying that a man of his wealth and family background has a

right to be proud. As the story unfolds, however, it becomes clear that

privilege brings with it responsibilities-ones that Darcy takes seriously. For

example, his housekeeper tells of his generous treatment of his servants and

tenants. And, shortly after that, Darcy undertakes the rescue of Lydia and

the rehabilitation of Wickham, at least as far as he is able. Darcy's sense of

responsibility impresses Elizabeth and finally wipes away her prejudice

against him.

Women in Regency Britain had far less options than women of today. By and large, women did not receive a formal education, and their aim was to become "accomplished", which means being proficient in the social graces such as music, needlework and literature, although the latter did not have the same emphasis.

In our story, Elizabeth was a well read and, therefore, intelligent young lady, having made full use of her father's extensive library – hence she became his favorite. As a result of being well read, she was regarded as opinionated, and this was one of the features that attracted Darcy to her.

There was constant pressure on women of these times to marry well, to obtain financial security, not for just themselves, but also for their immediate family.

Being in love with your partner was clearly a bonus, and most women did not expect to achieve this. The most important benefits of marriage for a woman were financial security and social position.

The position of unmarried women was clearly defined. You will note in Pride and Prejudice that there is no instance where a single woman traveled alone, or was without a chaperone.

When the Bennett daughters traveled they were either with a relative or a married woman. Both Jane and Elizabeth traveled with the Gardiners. When Elizabeth stayed in Kent, it was with Mrs. Collins. When Lydia traveled to Brighton it was with Mrs. Foster, the Colonel's wife, so when she runs away with Wickham she breaks all the social codes of the day and therefore, brings disgrace on her family. This situation could only be redeemed one way – with Lydia's marriage to Wickham. Anything less would forever tarnish the Bennett family name.

The situation regarding unmarried women with no financial means of support was dire. However, if they could obtain a position as a companion or governess, these were the few jobs that were allowed for women to take in Regency Britain. Although they retained their respectability, some of these jobs were unpleasant and degrading for they were always in a vulnerable situation. They could always be easy prey for men in the families for which they worked.

Another way to obtain income for the single woman was through writing, and some women authors used a male pseudonym.

However, the best way for a woman to avoid all these pitfalls was to marry well.

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