While Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice primarily follows the storyline of the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, the plot is largely driven by Elizabeth’s connection to her family. Each of the characters within the novel seem to convey a certain trait which Austen satirically exploits, and the Bennets are no exception; where Elizabeth is prideful and Mrs. Bennet is imprudent, Mary Bennet is bombastic. Mary is esteemed for being the purportedly most accomplished Bennet, yet Mary’s overeagerness to display her musical talents or proverbial wisdom at inconvenient times and in an often tone-deaf manner belie the narrator’s notion of her intelligence. While Mary is seemingly intended to represent the model of an accomplished woman, Austen’s characterization …show more content…
One of the focal points of the plot hinges on the entailment of the Bennets’ Longbourn Estate, meaning that the property could only be passed down to the closest male relative. Because of the Bennet sisters’ lack of resources, their only option is to marry well, as they have no opportunity for a respectable career or intellectual pursuits. However, even in marriage is the idea women's intellectual capacities discouraged; During Mr. Collins’ proposal to Elizabeth, despite complimenting her wit and vivacity, he states that Elizabeth will be found most attractive if she remains silent. These ideas emphasize the difficult double standard that encouraged women to become “accomplished” in certain sanctioned activities in order to attract a well-to-do husband, but never to go beyond that. Mary’s very characterization embodies this conundrum; she constantly studies, even when her family is in chaos during Lydia’s elopement, and strives to exhibit her skills, yet she is never able to reach a true level of intellectual achievement. At the end of the end of the novel, Mary is inevitably “drawn from her pursuit of accomplishment” (373) to perform caretaking duties for her aging mother, a task largely reserved for daughters who do not