FREE ESSAY ON PRIDE AND PEJUDICE

PRIDE AND PEJUDICE

Family Ties
In Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, she created a realistic family image, by
introducing some of the imperfections that many families encounter. The Bennet family,
consisting of five daughters, a marriage obsessed mother, and an unhappily married
father, contain many of these difficulties. Throughout the love, joy, heartache and pain,
which evolved from the series of events the Bennet family encountered, one character in
particular, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, viewed her family from another perspective.
Elizabeth Bennet, though a very loving and respectable woman, had developed a rather poor
opinion of her family: Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she
could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic
comfort(Pg. 209). As the second daughter of her family, Elizabeth had to deal with the
many discomforts of being a daughter of five. Though Elizabeth loved her sisters dearly,
she found it difficult not to see the differences between them, and in turn, each of
their actions contributed to her perspective of her family. One sister in particular,
Miss Lydia Bennet, caused Elizabeth the greatest concern. Lydia was a  self-willed and
careless(Pg.189) individual that cared only about men and marriage. As one of the
youngest sisters, Lydia felt neglected from the opportunities her eldest sisters
received. In turn, Lydia became the flirt of the family, causing embarrassment not only
to herself, but as well to her family. When Lydia eloped to London, Elizabeth feared that
the source of her behavior was derived from the negative behavior of her parents. Not
only did Elizabeth fear for Lydia's sake, she feared as well for her other sister,
Catherine, who was under the direct influence of Lydia: Catherine, weak-spirited,
irritable, and completely under Lydia's guidance(Pg.189). While supported by their
mother's indulgence(Pg.189), the two ignorant, idle, and vain(Pg189) sisters, was a
subject that Jane and Elizabeth often united to check the imprudence of Catherine and
Lydia.(Pg.189). Besides the poorly thought out actions of Catherine and Lydia, Elizabeth
had no problems with her other sister Mary, who mainly kept to herself, and Jane, the
eldest sister, whom she shared a very close friendship with.
Besides the faults of some of Elizabeth's sisters, one of the biggest faults of their
family was the relationship between her father, Mr. Bennet, and her mother, Mrs. Bennet:
she had never felt so strongly as now, the disadvantages which must attend the children
of so unsuitable a marriage(Pg.210). Though Elizabeth loved her father dearly, she was
unable to be blind to the impropriety of her father's behaviour as a husband(Pg.209).
Though made up of an odd mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and
caprice(Pg.3), he was a man of few words and was clearly unable to make his wife
understand his character(Pg.3). In the decade of the Bennets, marriage was clearly seen
through beauty and fortune. It became evident, after resentment had settled in, that Mr.
Bennet had married for other reasons besides love: Her father captivated by youth and
beauty/ had married a woman whose weak understandings and illiberal mind, had very early
in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her(Pg.209). Mr. Bennet's poor
decision making had indeed hurt Elizabeth and impacted her opinion of her family, but by
respecting his abilities(Pg.209), and being grateful for his affectionate treatment of
herself(Pg.209), Elizabeth knew that her father was a man of good intentions.
Besides the impression Mr. Bennet's faults had on Elizabeth, her mother's faults as well,
contributed much to Elizabeth's poor opinion. Mrs. Bennet had not made marriage between
her and Mr. Bennet any easier as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his
amusement(Pg.3). She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain
temper(Pg.3). Elizabeth found it difficult to deal with her mother's improper judgement
and nervous behaviour. Mrs. Bennet often over exaggerated small incidents and was very
demanding in her ways. As a mother of five daughters, it was acceptable for her to be
concerned for her daughters' future. But Mrs. Bennet 's entire business of her life was
to get her daughters married(Pg.3). Elizabeth loved her mother and was appreciative of
her mother's concerns, but Elizabeth was also not blind to her mother's intentions. After
Mrs. Bennet's desperate attempt to get her to marry Mr. Collins, Elizabeth became fully
aware of her mother's self indulgent intentions, fore Mrs. Bennet was seeking a man who
would either allow her to remain at Longbourn or would bring fortune into the Bennet
family. Elizabeth on the other hand was nothing like her mother; fore Elizabeth sought
love and romance as her basis of marriage. Therefore, through her and her mother's
differences, Elizabeth was left with disappointment.
Through the series of events the Bennet family encountered, Elizabeth began to perceive
each member of her family from a different angle, and in turn, began to accept her
family's faults. After this realization, she was not only able to start accepting the
faults of her family, but she was able to start accepting her own faults as well.