Essay: Pride and Prejudice: Allegory, Imagery, and Symbolism

Pride and Prejudice is historical fiction, it shows the reader real accounts that happened in the Regency era. The Regency era was an era where women just were there to look good, cook, clean, and help around the house. In the novel Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen uses Allegory, Imagery, and Symbolism to express the idea that women virtue was heavily present, and such as Mrs. Bennet’s aggravation at her daughters, Jane’s way she thinks about others, and Elizabeth being the caring person she is we see how it all unfolds.
Mrs. Bennet is a woman that doesn’t like to hear the bad news that comes her way, when bad news comes her way then she reacts very rudely. When she nags her daughters to get married and she talks to all her friends about how her daughters are doing with each of their relationships and how they have money, as she says “Certainly, my dear, nobody said there were; but as to not meeting the people in this neighborhood, I believe there are few neighborhoods larger. I know we dine with four-and-twenty families.” (43) The daughters are under a lot of pressure to make her mother look good. Mrs. Bennet talks about how Pride and Prejudice has a lot of different characters that have to get married because when the Bennet’s die they have no one to inherit their belongings so the daughters are obliged to get married.
Out of all the daughters Jane has to be the nicest one because she thinks the best about everyone. When Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham’s story came up she said “They have both,” said she, “been deceived, I dare say, in some way or the other, of which we can form no idea. Interested people have perhaps misrepresented each to the other. It is, in short, impossible for us to conjecture the causes or circumstances which may have alienated them, without actual blame on either side.” (86) As the reader at the beginning of the book, we as readers get the idea that she is going to be the main character then all of a sudden the relationship is over. Jane is Mr. Bennet’s favorite so when Mrs. Bennet says something to Jane Mr. Bennet is the first one to respond when he finds out he reacts. When Jane was going to go somewhere and asked for the carriage Mrs. Bennet she said: “No my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to rain; and you must stay all night.” (31) Jane is also the oldest of the daughters of the Bennet’s, which puts pressure for her to be married firsts.
Elizabeth is definitely the most caring of the sisters. When Jane was becoming ill Lizzy was the only sister to walk to her a long way to see her make sure that she was alright. Also, she wants to be married out of love and not respect. “Elizabeth quietly answered ‘undoubtedly;’ and after an awkward pause, they returned to the rest of the family. Charlotte did not stay much longer, and Elizabeth was then left to reflect on all that was heard. It was a long time before she became at all reconciled to the idea of so unsuitable match.” (125) Elizabeth has bad luck with men and is trying to get married to her true love which is why she turns down Mr. Collins. When Elizabeth finally gets married to Mr. Darcy which is shocking because she thought that he was a really bad person. Due to the story about him and Mr. Wickham. “I will answer for it, he never cared three straws about her-who could about such a nasty little freckled thing?” (215) But she was only told those things, then later finds out what really happened and that he’s actually a really nice guy.
The Bennet’s overall is a really comedic family that has a plan and is executing it with some obstacles along the way. Mrs. Bennet has a problem when not knowing when to shut up. Jane needs to look at people differently and not the way she is because eventually she may be deceived easily in the future. Elizabeth needs to know the whole story before forming an opinion.
Work Cited
“Jane Austens’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’: The Novel as Historical Source EDSITEment.” EDISITEMENT! The Best of the Humanities on the Web, edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/jane-austens-pride-and-prejudice-novel-historical-source.