[Update 4/10: Just finished Pride and Prejudice in its beautiful entirety. Am feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I think I have a tear in my eye...what a beautiful ending. *sniff
No, just kidding. So maybe my initial reaction may have been too rough. When I told someone that Pride and Prejudice was similar to Gossip Girl, I was received by a glaring scowl.]
Nevertheless, of the interesting cast of characters in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth, Darcy, Mr. Bennet, and the Gardingers are characters who would be interesting to meet in real-life.
Elizabeth, as the protagonist, is a remarkably dynamic individual operating within a very static society. For instance, recall the one scene where she trudges through muddied paths and over stone walls to visit her sick sister Jane. By climbing over walls and finding the shortcuts to the Bingley's place, Elizabeth asserts her ability to transcend preconceived societal norms. She travels alone, and arrives at the Bringley residence disheveled and dirty--but she does not seem to mind at all. While the other ladies comment on her appearances, Elizabeth immediately tends to her sick sister.
There are two notable implications of this scene: Elizabeth's complete and utter disregard for social and gender norms and her ability to see past the superficial. That's why, as readers, we are generally inclined to side with Elizabeth.
Perhaps a better way of stating the issue presented in Pride and Prejudice is that social norms are superficial. The norm is to consider all things that concern surfaces; that is, there is tremendous weight placed on the appearance of clothing, apparent wealth, apparent relation to big names, and so on. Like Elizabeth, Mr. Bennett doesn't take such superficial matters so seriously. In response, he talks very little, makes fun of the women of his family, and retreats to his library. And speaking of library, the concept of books and reading is a recurring motif throughout the book. There is one scene where the Bennets, Bringleys, and Darcy retire to the living room after a massive banquet. Both Darcy and Elizabeth separately decide to while the time away by reading (while Miss Bringley, trying to flirt with Darcy, eventually gives up pretending to read).
Elizabeth, Darcy, and Mr. Bennett are all portrayed as avid readers, which attests to why they are such interesting individuals. They are critical readers, as well as critical thinkers. In a way, Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship represents that of individuals who see too much beyond surfaces. In light of the outright shallowness of their social norms, Elizabeth and Darcy struggle to figure out what aspects of their relationship are shallow (i.e. the marriage of Charlotte and Mr. Collins) and actually not shallow (i.e. not being attracted to the social stature of a person, but to personal, intrinsic attributes).
Really, I think Mr. Bennett is the most modern character of the novel. I really like him because he really doesn't give a flying hoot about anything. But that also makes him less interesting and less relevant in terms of what this book intends to do. He is cool, but is too far out. So, in terms of highlighting the major issues raised by the text, Elizabeth appropriately plays the protagonist because she can see through the superficial, but cannot quite extract herself from it. She is limited in so many respects: as a woman, a daughter, as a marriageable woman, and so on. Thus, these different roles she must cater to create a multiplicity of tensions that stretch Elizabeth in all dimensions.
And so after writing this post, I suppose that if I could look beyond the superficial--just like Elizabeth--then things start to become very interesting.
[Here's a clip we watched in class. Elizabeth explicitly asserts herself an equal to Darcy, effectively enraging Lady Catherine.]
No comments:
Post a Comment