Dynamic Characters In Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen

Jane Austen published her seminal novel Pride and Prejudice during a period of time where ideas on social class and the role of women in society were beginning to shift. In her novel, Austen uses two of the main dynamic characters, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, to portray these shifting ideas. Through the changes that Darcy and Elizabeth experience throughout the narrative, Austen questions the prevailing attitudes of the time on responsibility, class, and basic human emotion, conveying to the readers that love can supersede class boundaries once one’s prejudices and pride are set aside. At the beginning of the novel, Austen portrays Mr. Darcy as a haughty individual, highly biased toward the decorum of society and maintaining one’s social
There are severe class limitations in 19th century Britain, where Austen opens her novel, but the fact that Darcy and Elizabeth are able to find solace in each other shows readers that society is fluid and ever-changing—or at least the society seen from Austen’s perspective. One of the key scenes that illustrates the dynamism of Darcy and Elizabeth and speaks to their capacity to change occurs during a dinner at the family manor Rosings, attended by Elizabeth, Darcy, and Darcy’s aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Lady Catherine epitomizes the haughtiness of England’s upper class. She is enraptured by status, and at the dinner, she treats Elizabeth as an inferior. Darcy’s reaction to his aunt’s arrogant display is not to follow suit, but to rebel against the attitudes she exemplifies, as shown here in this quote: “Mr. Darcy looked a little ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding, and made no answer” (Austen 169). His defiant thoughts portray an epiphany unfolding in Darcy’s mind, where he begins to see the ridiculousness of the “pride and prejudice” he and his family had been carrying all through their