Pride and Prejudice - in-text philosophies

I wanted to open up the summer with a light read, so naturally I chose Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I don’t know what turned me on to it initially – going in I had no idea what it was about (to be honest I was expecting more of a war story than a love story). Reflecting on it will be a bit of a stretch since it is no longer fresh in my memory, but it was a fantastic book so I think it is worth a blog post.

Pride and Prejudice is filled with little proverbs. Most of these snippets of wisdom come from the two main characters, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. For example, there is a scene when Elizabeth compliments the humility of Darcy’s dear friend Mr. Bingley. In response, Darcy shoots a line at Bingley, “Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.” Quite the statement for casual conversation, don’t you think? Darcy’s words are both aggressive and insightful.

The aggressiveness supports the image that Darcy exudes at the start of the novel of being bright yet self-righteous. Even in a conversation among friends, he feels the need to assert his superiority, though it comes at the cost of degrading his best friend. The insightfulness of the quote made me wonder if the average Joe of the late 19^th century was far smarter than our generation, or if Austen used her characters as outlets for her personal philosophies. Granted, all writers do this to an extent – writing is a fantastic outlet of emotion. Her philosophies are more “in your face” than most authors, though.

Margaret Atwood for example writes some thoughtful short stories starring middle-aged couples. Had I not read her bio before reading the books, I would not have picked up on the feminist implications in her short stories. Since I did, I recognized that these stories have a trend of strong, intelligent women who cannot reach their potential because weaker male characters hold them back. To the uninformed eye, the hints at feminism are subtle enough to plant a grain of thought in the reader’s head that maybe modern relationships between men and women generally suppress the woman.

Austen’s views on human tendencies are more pronounced than Atwood’s. After Darcy makes his explicit statement about the nature of humility, he proceeds to analyze the underlying intensions of Bingley’s words and actions. He spits Bingley’s words back at him accompanied with the theory that Bingley only said them to impress the ladies in their presence. His speech is all is very George Clooney-esque and is mildly charming to the reader. But the speech serves a greater purpose than to make the reader smirk and swoon a bit at Darcy’s superior intelligence. It also provides Austen with an outlet through which she can express her feelings on the flaws of the human race. By making her four main characters Elizabeth and Darcy, the profound characters, and Bingley and Jane, the two good-hearted characters, Austen uses Darcy and Elizabeth as her portals to critique well-meaning members of the human race. Bingley is the most likable male character in the book.

The forward presence of her philosophies presented through Darcy’s snappy remarks gives Austen’s book pace. His readiness to attack adds dynamic to the relationship between the four main characters and keeps the reader on his toes. I am tempted to assume that Austen has a similar flare to her personality and that as a woman in the late 19^th century, her writing was one of the only outlets for her brilliance.