Analysis of Major Characters in Pride and Prejudice

56第8卷第10期江右论坛Vol.8 No.102007年12月JIANGYOU FORUMDec. 2007Analysis of Major Characters in Pride and Prejudice何志燕(华东交通大学，江西南昌，300000Abstract: Pride and Prejudice is a novel about surmounting obstacles and achievingromantic happiness. The theme of pride and prejudice is discussed throughout the novel, andAusten displays it by the description of the main characters.Key words: pride; prejudice; love; positive; negative文章编码: 1005-3840 (2007) 10-0014-03Pride and Prejudice is a humorous story of love and life among English gentility during theGeorgian era. Mr Bennet is an English gentleman living in Hartfordshire with his overbearingwife. The Bennets' 5 daughters; the beautiful Jane, the clever Elizabeth, the bookish Mary,the immature Kitty and the wild Lydia. Unfortunately for the Bennets, if Mr. Bennet dies, theirhouse will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met, so the family's futurehappiness and security is dependant on the daughters making good marriages. Life is uneventfuluntil the arrival in the neighborhood of the rich gentleman Mr. Bingley, who rents a large houseso he can spend the summer in the country. Mr. Bingley brings with him his sister and thedashing, richer but proud Mr. Darcy. Love is soon in the air for one of the Bennet sisters, whileanother may have jumped to a hasty prejudice. For the Bennet sisters many stand between themand their happiness, including class, gossip and scandal.The second daughter in the Bennet family，and the most intelligent and quick-wittedElizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known femalecharacters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous- she is lovely, clever,which are showed by dialogues in a novel defined. Her honesty, virtue, lively wit, and brilliantconverse enable her to rise above the nonsense . Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency tomake hasty judgments often lead her astray; pride and prejudice is esenially the story of howshe and her true love, Darcy overcome all obstacles- including their own personal failings- -tofind romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father,two badly behaved younger siblings,and several snobbish,antagonizing females,she mustalso overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darey, which itally lead her to reject hisproposals of marriage. Her charms are suficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she中国煤化工MHCNMH G作者简介:何志燕，女，华东交通大学外语学院， 助教，研究方向:英语语言与文学专业收稿日期: 2007-12-1第十期Analysis of Major Characters in Pride and Prejudice57navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcy'scharacter, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.The son of a wealthy, well-established family and the master of the great estate ofPemberley, Darcy is Elizabeth's male counterpart. The narrator relates Elizabeth's point ofview of events more often than Darcy's, so Elizabeth often seems a more sympathetic figure.However during the reading we will eventually realize that Darey is her ideal match. Intelligentand forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too hastily and harshly, and his high birth andwealth make him overly proud and overly conscious of his social status. Indeed,his haughtinessmakes him initially spoil his courtship. At the same time Elizabeth's rejection of his advancesbuilds a kind of humility in Darcy. He demonstrates his continued devotion to Elizabeth, in spiteof his distaste for her low connections, when he rescues Lydia and the entire Bennet family fromdisgrace, and when he goes against the wishes of his haughty aunt, by continuing to pursueElizabeth. Darcy proves himself worthy of Elzabeth，and she ends up repenting her earlier,overly harsh judgment of him.Pride and prejudice are intimately related in the novel. As said in the words of Mary at thebeginning of the novel, "human nature is particularly prone to pride" (VolumeI, Chapter 5).In the novel, pride prevents the characters from seeing the truth of a situation and fromachieving happiness in life. Pride is one of the main barriers that create an obstacle to Elizabethand Darey's marriage. Darey's pride of place is founded on social prejudice, while Elizabeth'sinitial prejudice against him is rooted in pride of her own quick perceptions. Darcy，having beenbrought up in such a way that he began to scorn all those outside his own social circle, mustovercome his prejudice in order to win Elizabeth's heart. The overcoming of his prejudice isdemonstrated when he treats the Gardiners with great civility. From the beginning of the novelElizabeth prides herself on her keen ability for perception. Yet this supposed ability is oftenlacking, as in Elizabeth's judgments of Darcy and Wickham. In the end, Darcy's letter showsElizabeth that her judgments were wrong and she realizes that they were based on vanity, noton reason.In addition, the author Jane Austen displays a stark contrast between two characters in thestory. Austen does so by discussing the theme of pride throughout the novel. The concept of pridecan be defined in two ways: positive and negative, Possessing positive or right pride is to haveself-respect, honor, and integrity. On the other hand，wrong or negative pride is defined asshowing arrogant or disdainful conduct and haughtiness. Mr. Fitwilliam Darcy displays thepositive side of pride while Mr. Bennet possesses wrong or negative pride, and a lack of prideitself in some cases. Darey is responsible for his sister, himself, his estate, and his family name.He takes pride in these things and does anything he can in order to protect them. But Mr. Bennetwho is responsible as a father of five daughters, a中国煤化工of reputableconduct in the family, does not take pride in his family:TYHC N M H Gnnet insteadridicules the members of his family and in turn does not control their unruly actions. Mr. Darey,58江右论坛2007年the leading male character in the novel, possesses an ancient family name, magnificent estate,and a sizable fortune which may seem to contribute to his pride. But later on in the book, welearn that he is a generous master to his servants and tenants and a loving brother to his youngsister Georgiana. He is responsible for so much: his sister, his family name, and his estate,Pemberley. Although seen as excessively proud in a negative way, Charlotte Lucas defendsDarcy by saying that a man of his wealth and family background has a right to be proud. Darcycares dearly for his younger sister, Georgiana. As the estate holder of the family, it is hisresponsibility to watch over and guide her. In an experience with George Wickham,Georgianais deceived and almost taken in by Wickham. But Darcy finds out and stops it immediately. Thisshows that Darcy is concerned with his sister's well-being; this incident further intensfies hishatred for Wickham, but Darcy protects his sister from him. By protecting his sister,Darcalso wants to make her happy; in turn, he purchases a piano for Georgiana so that she can playwell. He takes his responsibilities seriously and fufills them. For example, as explained briefly inthe previous paragraph, he takes pride in his honor and displays generous treatment of hisservants and tenants. Mrs. Reynolds, the housekeeper, says that Darcy is the best landlord,and the best master. He cares even for his servants generously and is not baughty about hishigher class status. This further shows Darey's attention to responsibility, self-respect, andhonor. Mr. Darey is also in charge of the protecting his family name and estate. He holds hisfamily name and estate of Pemberley with high esteem and value, but not in a conceited mannerlike Lady Catherine de Bourgh's. Darey's pride here is not of a negative nature, but is one ofpositive nature. His pride in his name is typical of any person; and in some instances when it isjeopardized, he takes care of the situation and returns everything back to normal. For example,Darey does not want the Pemberley estate to be stained with Wickham's foul and unconscionablebehavior. He takes pride in the Darcy name and wants to protect it from the likes of Wickhamwho has tried to blemish the family name. Along with Darcy's pride and reputable fufillment ofhis responsibilities comes the honor that he shows. For example, Darcy undertakes the rescue ofLydia from Wickham; he does so by agreeing to pay Wickham a certain amount in turn for hismarriages with Lydia. Darcy also does this to save his family name because in the future, he isgoing the marry her sister, Elizabeth Bennet.Mr. Bennet is a witty father of five daughters and a husband of a foolish wife. He is adisappointed man, who long ago gave up all hope of finding happiness in his marriage who oftentreats his foolish wife and younger daughters as objects of amusement. He fails his duty as ahusband by not controlling his rowdy wife and as a father for not keeping his young flirtatiousdaughter, Lydia, out of trouble. He suffers from a lack of pride by not being responsible as theleader of the household and not protecting his daughters from harm. Mrs. Bennet's behaviorinside and outside of the Longbourn estate is utterly中国煤化Ibehavior andreactions to trivial occurrences is excessive. For exanYHCN M H G Bennets hadattended，Mrs. Bennet talked loudly without watching over her own behavior. Mr. Bennet does第十期Analysis of Major Characters in Pride and Prejudice59not control his wife or even tell her to quiet down. In order to protect the reputation and integrityof the family, he must maintain the good manners in the family. This also applies with Lydia'sbehavior. She flirts with most of the soldiers in the regiment, and Mr. Bennet does not evencriticize her wanton behavior. He does not take pride in his daughters and thus does not putmuch care into their behavior; through this he cannot protect the reputation of the Bennetfamily name. Another of his disappointments is that his estate, Longbourn, can only be handeddown to a male heir. Because he has tried to get a son and gets five daughters instead. There is noone to hand it down to; thus the estate goes to Mr. Collins, his cousin. Expecting a son, henever saw a need to save any of his income in order to provide for his daughters' future. Mr.Bennet fails his responsibility to provide for his family and daughters. His lack of pride leads tohis own lack of responsibility for the things that should be most important to him, his familyand its reputation.Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bennet differ obviously concerning the subject of pride. Darcy possessesa positive form of pride while Bennet almost has none at all. But within the pride, there exists adifference in priority. Mr. Darcy is careful about the Darcy family name and protects it with ahawk-like manner. He takes his responsibility as the landowner, brother, and master veryseriously. On the other hand，Mr. Bennet lets his family do as it pleases and almost does not care.The reputation of the Bennet family is blemished by the behavior of its members because thehead of the household, Mr. Bennet, lacks the pride to protect it.Pride and prejudice is one of the most cherished love stories in English literature. With themain characers, Austen suggests that true love is a force separate from society and one that canconquer even the most diffcult of circumstances.Reference:[1] 简.奥斯汀， 《傲慢与偏见》中国对外经济贸易出版社，2000年.[2] 杨正和，《外国文学名作欣赏》，科学出版社，1999年。[3] 侯维瑞，《英国文学通史》，上海外语教育 出版社，1999 年.[4] 吴伟仁，《英国文学史及选读》，外语教学与研究出版社，1988年.中国煤化工MYHCNMHG