Austen's Use of Environment in Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen's use of Environment in Pride and Prejudice
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen places characters in environments that reveal important details about the characters. It would have been easy to communicate Elizabeth's prejudice or Darcy's pride using the voice of a narrator, but Austen chooses a more subtle and interesting method of enlightening her readers. Whether using physical surroundings or social contexts, Austen repeatedly coordinates both time and place together to create situations in which her characters can conveniently show off the assets and/or flaws of their personalities. Once placed in Austen's well-chosen environments, her characters go into action. This action is more convincing than a narrator telling us in a few sentences that Darcy is proud and Elizabeth unfairly judges others.
One important social context is the Meryton ball. Then, a key scene that exemplifies Austen's use of physical surroundings is when Lizzy travels by foot to Netherfield. Later, we see Austen using the Bennets' home to reveal things about characters. Austen also uses the Bennet's home to enlighten the reader about Mr. Bennet. Then when Lizzy visits Pemberly, Austen combines social context with physical surroundings to reveal things about Lizzy and Darcy.
One obvious issue Austen addresses is self-importance, arrogance, conceit, or simply, pride. Within the first few pages we see Darcy in a social context where he easily convinces Lizzy that he is "the proudest most disagreeable man in the world" (Austen 8). Austen places Lizzy and Darcy at the Meryton ball for their first meeting place for several reasons. One reason is so that Darcy can establish a faulty reputation with Lizzy's friends and familymainly, Mrs. Bennet. What more suitable an event than a ball? When Bingley suggests that Darcy ask Lizzy to dance, Darcy replies, "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me" (9). In this refusal, Darcy shows his arrogance not only by
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen places characters in environments that reveal important details about the characters. It would have been easy to communicate Elizabeth's prejudice or Darcy's pride using the voice of a narrator, but Austen chooses a more subtle and interesting method of enlightening her readers. Whether using physical surroundings or social contexts, Austen repeatedly coordinates both time and place together to create situations in which her characters can conveniently show off the assets and/or flaws of their personalities. Once placed in Austen's well-chosen environments, her characters go into action. This action is more convincing than a narrator telling us in a few sentences that Darcy is proud and Elizabeth unfairly judges others.
One important social context is the Meryton ball. Then, a key scene that exemplifies Austen's use of physical surroundings is when Lizzy travels by foot to Netherfield. Later, we see Austen using the Bennets' home to reveal things about characters. Austen also uses the Bennet's home to enlighten the reader about Mr. Bennet. Then when Lizzy visits Pemberly, Austen combines social context with physical surroundings to reveal things about Lizzy and Darcy.
One obvious issue Austen addresses is self-importance, arrogance, conceit, or simply, pride. Within the first few pages we see Darcy in a social context where he easily convinces Lizzy that he is "the proudest most disagreeable man in the world" (Austen 8). Austen places Lizzy and Darcy at the Meryton ball for their first meeting place for several reasons. One reason is so that Darcy can establish a faulty reputation with Lizzy's friends and familymainly, Mrs. Bennet. What more suitable an event than a ball? When Bingley suggests that Darcy ask Lizzy to dance, Darcy replies, "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me" (9). In this refusal, Darcy shows his arrogance not only by
Cited: Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Gray, 2001