Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - Book Report/Review Example

The protagonist in the story is Elizabeth Bennet. She is the second daughter of the Bennett’s. She is often portrayed as a brilliant character that is honest and virtuous in a society where such values are rare. She however has a major weakness in that she is very proud and often makes hasty judgments about other people and does not hesitate to speak her mind. Elizabeth’s source of prejudice is her pride and quick judgment of others. She however learns to act with humility and caution and therefore overcomes her prejudice against Darcy.

The book can be seen to tell the love story between Elizabeth and Darcy, and the obstacles that they have to encounter before they can be together. Most of these obstacles can be attributed to be as a result of wrong perception that is brought about by the prejudice that the characters have. Elizabeth’s pride as a source of prejudice is seen when she first meets Darcy. She quickly judges him based on her first impression of him and this causes her to have a poor opinion of him. According to her, Darcy is an arrogant and proud man and she does not want to interact with him.

Her opinion of him is based on their first encounter at the ball where Darcy expresses his displeasure about the evening. He also haughtily declines to dance with Elizabeth as according to him, she is not attractive enough to tempt him. She perceives him as being a snob, and as a result of this perception, she is unable to see his feelings for her. Her initial opinion of him is that he is “proud, above his company, and above being pleased,” (ch. 3) Elizabeth often lets her hasty first impression of a person influence how she will relate with the person, and she often does not want to hear any opinion that contradicts that of her own.

In her haste, she does not allow herself to get the whole picture or the whole story. The opinions that she has formed of people usually causes her not to listen to them. This can be seen when she disregards what Miss Bingley has to tell her. She says “I have heard you accuse him of nothing worse than being the son of Mr. Darcy’s steward” (127). She believes that Wickham is the only one that can be trusted and disregards Miss Bingley. The truths that Miss Bingley has to tell her are muted by her pride and her prejudice towards Miss Bingley.

If Elizabeth had taken time to listen to the ideas and opinions of others, she would have been able to realize that Wickham is not a person that she should trust, and that Darcy is the best man for her. One can also see that if Elizabeth had been more thoughtful and insightful into the characters of others, if only she was able to see beyond her first impressions of people, then she would have found her happiness with Darcy sooner than she did. Elizabeth’s pride also causes her to impose her ideas and opinions on others, which further reinforces her prejudice.

She for example tries to convince Jane that Darcy is an arrogant and vain man. She says “Do but consider in what a disgraceful light it places Mr. Darcy, to be treating his father’s favourite in such a manner, -one, whom his father had promised to provide for. -It is impossible. No man of common humanity, no man who had any value for his character, could be capable of it. Can his most intimate friends be so excessively deceived in him?”