mannerism in the victorian novels

lecture Four

Class Distinction and the main characters

·        Elizabeth Bennet is the main character and protagonist. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint.^[4]The second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old, she is intelligent, lively, attractive, and witty, but with a tendency to judge on first impressions and perhaps to be a little selective of the evidence upon which she bases her judgments. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt Mrs Gardiner, and her best friend Charlotte Lucas.

·        Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy is the main male character. Twenty-eight years old and unmarried, Darcy is the wealthy owner of the famous family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire. Handsome, tall, and intelligent, but not convivial, his aloof decorum and moral rectitude are seen by many as an excessive pride and concern for social status. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the landed gentry of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well.

·        Mr Bennet has a wife and five daughters, and seems to have inured himself to his fate. A bookish and intelligent gentleman somewhat withdrawn from society, he dislikes the indecorous behaviours of his wife and three younger daughters; but he offers little beyond mockery by way of correcting them. Rather than guiding these daughters to more sensible understanding, he is instead content to laugh at them. He relates very well with his two elder daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, showing them much more love and respect than his wife and younger daughters.

·        Mrs Bennet is the wife of her social superior Mr Bennet, and mother of Elizabeth and her sisters. She is frivolous, excitable, and narrow-minded, and is susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations. Her public manners and social climbing are embarrassing to Jane and Elizabeth. Her favourite daughter is the youngest, Lydia.

Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth about Darcy, on the title page of the first illustrated edition. This is the other of the first two illustrations of the novel.

·        Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-two years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth s as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. Jane is closest to Elizabeth, and her character is often contrasted with that of Elizabeth.

·        Mary Bennet is the only plain Bennet sister, and rather than join in some of the family activities, she reads, although she is often impatient for display. She works hard for knowledge and accomplishment, but has neither genius nor taste. At the ball at Netherfield she shows her lack genius and she embarrasses her family by singing badly.

·        Catherine "Kitty" Bennet is the fourth Bennet sister, aged seventeen. She is portrayed as a less headstrong but equally silly shadow of Lydia.

·        Lydia Bennetis the youngest Bennet sister, aged fifteen when the novel begins. She is repeatedly described as frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socialising, especially flirting with the military officers stationed in the nearby town of Meryton. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. After she elopes with Wickham and he is paid to marry her, she shows no remorse for the embarrassment and possible harm (as this could have hurt the other sister s chances of marrying) that her actions caused for her family, but acts as if she has made a wonderful match of which her sisters should be jealous.

·        Charles Bingley is a young gentleman without an estate. His wealth was recent, and he is seeking a permanent home. He rents the Netherfield estate near Longbourn when the novel opens. Twenty-two years old at the start of the novel, handsome, good-natured, and wealthy, he is contrasted with his friend Darcy as being less clever but kinder and more charming and hence more popular in Meryton. He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others.

·        Caroline Bingley is the snobbish sister of Charles Bingley. Clearly harbouring romantic intentions on Darcy herself, she views his growing attachment to Elizabeth Bennet with some jealousy, resulting in disdain and frequent verbal attempts to undermine Elizabeth and her society.

·        George Wickham is an old acquaintance of Darcy from childhood, and an officer in the militia unit stationed near Meryton. Superficially charming, he rapidly forms a friendship with Elizabeth Bennet, prompting remarks upon his suitability as a potential husband. He spreads numerous tales about the wrongs Darcy has done to him, colouring the popular perception of the other man in local society. It is eventually revealed that these tales are distortions, and that Darcy was the wronged man in their acquaintance.

·        William Collins, aged twenty-five, is Mr Bennet s clergyman cousin and, as Mr Bennet has no son, heir to his estate. Austen described him as "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society." Collins boasts of his acquaintance with and advantageous patronage from Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr Bennet, Jane, and Elizabeth consider him pompous and lacking in common sense. Elizabeth s rejection of Collins marriage proposal is welcomed by her father, regardless of the financial benefit to the family of such a match. Elizabeth is later somewhat distressed, although understanding, when her closest friend, Charlotte Lucas, consents to marry Collins out of her need for a settled position and to avoid the low status and lack of autonomy of an old maid.

·        Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who possesses wealth and social standing, is haughty, domineering and condescending. Mr Collins, among others, enables these characteristics by deferring to her opinions and desires. Elizabeth, however, is duly respectful but not intimidated. Darcy, whilst respectful of their shared family connection, is offended by her lack of manners, especially towards Elizabeth, and later, when pressed by her demand that he not marry Elizabeth, is quick to assert his intentions to marry whom he wishes.

·        Aunt and Uncle Gardiner: he is Mrs Bennet s brother, and a successful businessman in London—quite sensible and gentleman-like. His wife is close with—a mentor to—both Elizabeth and Jane, and she proves vital in assisting Elizabeth and in interpreting Darcy. Jane stays with the Gardiners in London for a while, and Elizabeth travels with them to Derbyshire, where she again meets Darcy. They both support the Bennets by trying to help Lydia when she elopes with Wickham.

·        Georgiana Darcy is Mr Darcy s quiet and amiable younger sister, aged sixteen when the story begins. In a letter to Elizabeth, Darcy describes events of the previous year, when Wickham tried to persuade Georgiana to elope with him, so that he could inherit her £30,000. Later, Elizabeth meets her at Pemberley, where she is amiable and sweet. She is very happy with her brother s choosing of Elizabeth and maintains a close relationship with them both.

Interrelationships

A comprehensive web showing the relationships between the main characters in Pride and Prejudice

Major themes

Many critics take the novel s title as a starting point when analysing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much into the title since commercial factors may have played a role in its selection. "After the success of Sense and Sensibility, nothing would have seemed more natural than to bring out another novel of the same author using again the formula of antithesis and alliteration for the title. It should be pointed out that the qualities of the title are not exclusively assigned to one or the other of the protagonists; both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and prejudice."^[5]

A major theme in much of Austen s work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people s character and morality.^[6]Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen s work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr and Mrs Bennet (particularly the latter) as parents is blamed for Lydia s lack of moral judgment; Darcy, on the other hand, has been taught to be principled and scrupulously honourable, but is also proud and overbearing.^[6]Kitty, rescued from Lydia s bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society.^[7]

Style

Pride and Prejudice, like most of Jane Austen s works, employs the narrative technique of free indirect speech. This has been defined as "the free representation of a character s speech, by which one means, not words actually spoken by a character, but the words that typify the character s thoughts, or the way the character would think or speak, if she thought or spoke".^[4]By using narrative which adopts the tone and vocabulary of a particular character (in this case, that of Elizabeth), Austen invites the reader to follow events from Elizabeth s viewpoint, sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions. "The learning curve, while undergone by both protagonists, is disclosed to us solely through Elizabeth s point of view and her free indirect speech is essential ... for it is through it that we remain caught, if not stuck, within Elizabeth s misprisions."^[4]