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Theme In Pride And Prejudice

2026 Words9 Pages
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice
Apart from love, which is a recurring and obvious theme in romance novels, the themes that strike me as most important in Pride & Prejudice, are reputation, connected to marriage and social standing, as well as pride and prejudice. At the time when the action of Pride & Prejudice takes place, an early and good marriage was very important to parents of daughters. In the novel, above all Mrs. Bennett wants a good match for her daughters and does everything in her power to find wealthy husbands with a good reputation, which was often almost unbearable for me to read about. Linked to that is the general motive of marriage. Jane wants to marry Bingley, and Elizabeth is not really sure throughout the whole story, but is proposed to by Darcy and Mr. Collins, whom she both rejects at first. Only later is she willing to get engaged to Darcy. Compared to today’s times, I found this recurring talk about marriage before a real relationship was even able to develop, very estranging.
Also, the social standing is connected to marriage. Both Bingley and Darcy are considered of a higher standing than the Bennett girls. This again, is linked to pride and prejudice. At first, Darcy acts arrogant towards Elizabeth and is too proud and prejudiced to dance with her. I experienced him to be very rude and unlikeable, which only changes later in the story, for example when he sends the letter explaining his relation to Wickham, which I found a successful device to
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