Pride and Prejudice and Relationships - Book Report/Review Example

Pride and Prejudice and Relationships Pride and Prejudice was written by Jane Austen and published in 1813. The novel is about a multitude of relationships and nigh-impossible love matches that begin when Mr. Bingley, a general, moves near the Bennets, along with his friend Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley is a kind, welcoming gentleman, while Mr. Darcy is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, being cold and quite uninviting. All the same, this does not stop Elizabeth Bennet from attracting his attention when she shows open distaste for his personality. There are many muddled relationships similar to this throughout the novel, and the majority of the relationships do not end in the way they originally started out. The first relationship in the novel begins with Mr. Bingley, though this involves nearly the majority of the girls in the town; a rich bachelor who could afford a home was one worth having, especially in the case of the Bennets, who needed someone to take on their house since there were no males in the family aside from the father. Due to the uniqueness and rarity of Mr. Bingley, he quickly became the desire for all of the girls who knew of his arrival. When a dance is thrown in honor of his arrival, though, he becomes immediately attached to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane. Though the other girls are heartbroken by the lack of attention that they received, they cannot deny the fact that Jane was a good find, and she and Mr. Bingley were a fine couple indeed. Regardless of some of the ease that went with accepting this relationship, it still effected others on an individual note. It was rare when a man of his status came to their town, so now some of these women were back to where they started from, being poor and single. However, there were still men from the military in the town, so many of the women went to them as second best. That still did not stop the hurt from the first rejection. At the same party, Elizabeth has her first, rather unattached, run-in with Mr. Darcy. This first meeting is as cold as Mr. Darcy is, who decides that Elizabeth as not nearly as "agreeable" as her sister Jane, whom he finds to be the only agreeable girl in the room. While Elizabeth is not keen to admit it, she is offended and affected by this harsh brush-off. "[...] Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him. She told the story however with great spirit among her friends (12)." She could not help but feel cold towards him, but she did not want her friends to know that it had gotten to her. It was in this moment that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth took bizarre interests into each other. This effected both Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth because all of a sudden their stable relationships without each other were shaken and thrown out of line. Others that were affected by this include Mr. Bingley, who merely wanted to see his friend happy, and Anne de Bourgh, the woman that Mr. Darcy had been intended for. Many relationships were shaken up by the meeting and first sense of dislike between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Another woman, though, whos eye Mr. Darcy had caught was Miss Bingley, Mr. Bingleys sister. Her affection is subdued, yet is made more obvious when she spends time with Elizabeth. Miss Bingley tries to subtly compare herself to Elizabeth when they are both in the presence of Mr. Darcy. "Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a turn around the room. [...] Elizabeth was surprised, but agreed to it immediately. [...] Mr. Darcy looked up (49)". Unless she is able to compare herself with Elizabeth, thinking that she would be the better pick of the two, Miss Bingley likes to put herself and Elizabeth in the spotlight for Mr. Darcy to decide which is the better of the two. Miss Bingley is effected by the subtle growing of the relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth for two reasons: one, she never made the first move to Mr. Darcy, so she never found out if she would have had a chance with him or not and two, she was only increasing how much time Mr. Darcy spent with Elizabeth. In a sense, Miss Bingley allowed the relationship that happened between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth by just not standing in the way, but by displaying the possibility of Elizabeth even more. Mr. Collins is one of the characters in the story who seems to have no other purpose than to cause trouble amongst other possible romantic relationships; he is simply looking for a wife to marry, regardless of who it is. He quickly makes it clear that he will not be picky. When he first makes his appearance in the story, he is seeking a wife amongst his cousins, who happen to be the Bennet sisters. He expresses his interest in Jane, being the most handsome of the group, but Mrs. Bennet explains that she is the one that has the chance with Mr. Bingley; she points his direction towards Elizabeth, the second most agreeable of his cousins, and he immediately attaches on to the idea. "Mr. Collins had only to change from Jane to Elizabeth [...]. Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeeded her of course (61)." It did not matter to him which woman he would take as a bride; he just wanted one. Mrs. Bennet was eager to marry off one of her daughters to Mr. Collins, as it meant keeping the estate in their name. This was not the case, however, when Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth and Elizabeth turns him down. It is by this time that she has already confused the notion of her and Mr. Darcy, and did not take too kindly to Mr. Collins offer. Soon after being turned down, Mr. Collins feasts his eye on Charlotte Lucas, the best friend of Elizabeth Bennet. They become married, though almost grudgingly; all that Charlotte can think about is the fact that she was married before Elizabeth, while all that Mr. Collins can think about is just being married. The rejected proposal upsets Mrs. Bennet, as do most of the bungled relationships throughout the story, since she seems to have no control over them. This one mishap was especially displeasing since she felt that it was the last chance to keep the estate within the family. She is similar to Mr. Collins in the sense that she does not care whom is married to whom, just that they are and that she can benefit from it. Throughout the course of the novel, the three youngest Bennet sisters spend their time each finding a soldier to marry. Unfortunately, the three youngest girls are not as interested at actually falling in love as they are in getting married; they share the same eagerness that their mother shares, only hoping that they could marry rich gentlemen that can take care of all of them - including Mrs. Bennet - when all is said and done. The girls are very immature in their approach and have very little luck. Mrs. Bennet does not seem to mind all too much - her two eldest daughters are having the luck that she hoped for. As the story progresses, so does the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. They begin to grow on each other, surprising everyone, but nobody more than themselves. After a while, even Miss Bingley kind of fades from the picture and from the vague triangle of the three. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are even more wary of each other, as they are still unsure about how they really feel about the other. They seem to have developed an attitude that involves them constantly debating each other or else being snide and sarcastic; at the same time, it seems to be taken in stride, and the reader is able to develop a different opinion in regards to their relationship. The relationship of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy is the one that goes through the most change as the story goes on. In a sense, it sums up the rest of the relationships as whole, showing the difficulty and the strife that came with various degrees of disappointment, strife, and the few moments of happiness. What is does not share with the other relationships in the novel, with the exception of the connection between Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet, is that it is a serious relationship that was approached with caution. This is the one true example of two of the characters taking their time, getting used to each other, and falling in love, as opposed to rushing into things. The effect that this has on others is that they are able to see them falling in love, they are witnessing them pushing aside their differences to find common ground. Especially in regards to Miss Bingley, this becomes devastating for her, as she realizes that the relationship is genuine and could not possibly be broken. Each relationship in the story had the habit of effecting someone else, as it seems that each person was connected to another person at some point in time. They watched as their love interests took interest in someone else, leaving them behind to find someone else to chase after. More often than not, that new catch was also promised to someone else. The relationships became a bit of a chain reaction, with one failing while another one proved promising. Read More