Pride and Prejudice Themes/Main Ideas

Love

Love in Pride and Prejudice involves navigating and overcoming personal egos and prejudices, which are presented as inescapable effects of social hierarchy. Elizabeth initially believes Darcy is a snobbish, class-conscious man. On the other hand, Darcy’s condescension toward Elizabeth for her lower class status and poor upbringing prevents him from acknowledging her virtues.

There are other characters in the novel whose social anxieties and snobbery create obstacles to the realization of their love. Mrs. Bennet’s sole obsession, for instance, is getting her daughters married to men of reputable social standing. Much to Mrs. Bennet’s frustration, Ms. Bingley, who inherits the fortunes of her trading family, has her eyes on Darcy. She is shocked to discover Darcy’s interest in Elizabeth, and tries to dissuade him from marrying a lower-class woman.

Elizabeth learns from Wickham, the late Mr. Darcy’s godson, that Darcy had ensured that Wickham would be denied his share of the inheritance. Wickham claims that Darcy had acted out of jealousy, which further strengthens Elizabeth’s dislike for Darcy. She thus feels justified in rejecting Darcy’s marriage proposal.

However, as is the case with Austen’s other novels, love tends to transcend social differences. In Pride and Prejudice, love is placed in stark contrast to the normative understanding of marriage as an economic and political contract. An example of the latter would be Charlotte Lucas and Collins’ marriage; Charlotte marries Collins mainly for his money.

Reputation

In Jane Austen’s fictional world, a woman’s social reputation is crucial: a woman who loses her reputation is stigmatized and ostracized. When Elizabeth braves the rains and walks all the way to Netherfield, she is ridiculed by the Bingley sisters for her poor upbringing and unfeminine behavior. The Darcys and the Bingleys also disapprove of Mrs. Bennet’s lack of refinement. When Lydia elopes with Wickham and the two cohabit out of wedlock, the Bennets are disgraced. In fact, Mrs. Bennet fears this may ruin the possibility of getting her other daughters married to men of social significance. By the end of the novel, however, the stakes of a lost reputation are left unexplored. Would Darcy still have married Elizabeth if his money had not convinced Wickham to marry Lydia?

Class

Jane Austen’s novels typically explore sociocultural mores, especially the workings of class. In fact, class is arguably the most prominent thematic thread in her novels; it influences most of Austen’s characters’ choices. Austen also tends to present class boundaries as rigid, almost insurmountable barriers. For instance, in Pride and Prejudice the Bennets may interact with the Darcys and Bingleys and even pursue social and potential marital connections with them, but their primary social ties and milieu remain distinct. They even seem mutually exclusive in some instances.

Darcy is preoccupied with class even as he falls in love with Elizabeth, a woman from a lower class. Collins’ idea of gratefulness involves an excess of flattery and sycophancy: this is evident in his repeated attempts to please and praise his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Ms. Bingley only likes people if they are her social equals. Meanwhile, Wickham displays a propensity to go to any length to acquire social standing. To this end, he gives Georgiana false promises of marriage, makes false accusations against Darcy to appropriate a share of his inheritance, and elopes with Lydia to avoid the debts he owes to various tradesmen. Indeed, he promises to marry Lydia only if he is paid her share of the inheritance. Although the marriages between Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy seem to transcend social differences, their unions do not entail the erasure of class differences. Given Austen’s preference for literary realism, there are no revolutions in her fictional world to challenge and dismantle the structural inequities of class.