Critical Analysis of Pride And Prejudice
Critical Analysis of Pride And Prejudice
When crafting a piece of art, the creator must go through the long and strenuous process of molding his or her artwork to form a masterpiece; writers struggle with creating the perfect plot for a novel while musical composers tirelessly try to put together a random assortment of notes to concoct one well-balanced sound. Although the most difficult part of creating a masterpiece is the actual process of writing or composing it, one highly overlooked difficulty of the job of the creator is the development of a suitable title. In just a few words, an effective title gives the audience a basic idea of what they are about to get involved with. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an example of a novel with such a title that is very significant in the development of the story. As the reader proceeds through the book, the significance of the title becomes more obvious. Using only three words, Austen is able to tie together the main components of the novel, such as character descriptions and a basic plot summary.
The title Pride and Prejudice is effective in narrowing down all words used to describe any of the characters to two traits. Pride and Prejudice is such an appropriate title because a majority of the characters display pride, prejudice, or both. Early in the novel, the character Mary Bennet gives Jane Austen’s explanation of pride when she says, “Pride…is a very common failing…human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other”(19). What Austen is saying is that pride is a feeling of self-respect, sometimes reasonable or justified; although pride can be justified, she gives it an overall negative connotation when she refers to it is a “failing” or fault. Her definition of pride is displayed constantly throughout the book in the nature of her characters. The most obviously proud character is Mr. Darcy, who, understandably, shows pride in his high status in society. Although it is reasonable that he is proud of his wealth, he verifies the truth in Austen’s negative connotation of pride by looking down upon others. If Mr. Darcy had not used his pride in condescending others, he would have been more...