Jane Austen describes several friendships in "Pride and
Prejudice," each of a different sort. Friendship is represented as fickle, deep and abiding and as allowing for love and respect,
so long as the other is living by your standards. In other words, friendship in "Pride and Prejudice" is represented much as it is in real life.
One of the first friendships a reader comes across in "Pride
and Prejudice" is that of Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas. The two women get together
frequently to gossip. However, Mrs. Bennet seems much more inclined to petty
gossip than Lady Lucas. Lady Lucas appears to be a much more levelheaded
individual than Mrs. Bennet is, though Mrs. Bennet does frequently express
suspicion that Lady Lucas is trying to one up her in some way or another. This
is a sort of fickle and petty, yet constant friendship. All of the negative
aspects of this friendship come from Mrs. Bennet's behavior, from the reader's
perspective.
The next friendship to be mentioned in "Pride and Prejudice" is that of Elizabeth Bennet and Lady Lucas' daughter, Charlotte. The two young
women are like-minded confidantes. However, their standing in life and their
take on love and marriage is quite different. The friendship appears to be
based on a degree of love and respect. Unfortunately, one of Elizabeth's only
truly blameworthy actions in the novel is directed at Charlotte. She feels as
if her friendship with Charlotte must be over when Charlotte marries a man of
whom she disapproves. It is a shallow and selfish feeling and Elizabeth
eventually overcomes it.
The third, and last, of the main friendships in "Pride and
Prejudice" is the most influential of all of them. This is the friendship
between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley. The roots and reasons for their relationship
are not discussed in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." However, the nature of
their friendship is discussed on several occasions. These two men are of
different, but complementary, temperaments. Mr. Darcy is proud, assertive,
calculating and judgmental. Mr. Bingley is carefree, kind, giving and
understanding. Mr. Darcy takes it upon himself to 'look out for' Mr. Bingley
and winds up endangering Mr. Bingley's relationship. However, these issues are
ironed out in the end and the pair's friendship does not suffer for it.
There are few other friendships mentioned in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." For the most part, everyone is 'friendly' with everyone
else, but this seems to take place due to societal expectations of the day.
There is no indication that Jane was attempting to present any of these passing
'friendships' as anything deeper than that. In fact, some were laced with underlying scorn or ignorance.
Shelly Barclay
No comments:
Post a Comment