James Pilkington
Question 4: “Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination, and the heart. – Salman Rushdie.”
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Evaluate how a novel you have studied presents a particular perspective about humanity.
Pride and Prejudice, on the surface, presents a scathing perspective of humanity by satirizing and ridiculing the lows of the human spirit. Jane Austen aims humanity’s proclivity to be proud of the superficial such as class, beauty, and wealth, our selfishness and barbaric willingness to harm others for personal gain, and also the desire to conform and have the same values and attitudes as our peers. However, Austen also adds some positives to her perspective of humanity by showing characters overcome their flaws and proclivities thus exploring the highs of the human spirit and giving hope to the reader. She does this through characterization, plot, and irony. Such proclivities are demonstrated by a variety of characters, some demonstrating it to a fuller extent than others. Interestingly, those characters who do rise above their flaws are in the minority. This would indicate that it is rare for individuals to be able to see their flaws and then improve on them but the novel also shows the reward that doing so brings.
Pride in the superficial is distinctly represented by Mr Collins and Lady Catherine, some of the proudest characters in the book but also among those possessing little meaningful reason to be proud, namely good personal qualities. Mr Collins is openly proud of his position and Lady Catherine is undoubtedly proud of her status and wealth. However, both have huge character flaws. Mr Collins values himself much more than the third-person narrator says he should. This characterization is shown when Austen writes, “Mr. Collins is not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society;”. This is not really how anyone would be proud of being described, nor is spending most of his life idolizing and almost worshipping Lady Catherine. An example of his character flaws is shown when he is visiting the Bennetts for the first time, he spends much of his time talking about and praising Lady Catherine second only to talking about himself. His pride also makes him quick to assume that he will be granted a wife from among the Miss Bennetts. Other than maybe his occupation, he has no meaningful attributes to match his ego. Lady Catherine is likewise very meaninglessly proud. Though having been born into a wealthy and influential family, which is not her handiwork, she is represented as very snobbish and haughty. Mr Collins tells Elizabeth, “Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.” Elizabeth also notices that she gives her opinion so decisively that is clear she has never been challenged. Again, this is not a description anyone would be proud of, but Lady Catherine is still remarkably proud of her fortunate birth while not having any qualities to match her ego.
The willingness to harm others for personal gain is demonstrated by George Wickham and Caroline Bingley. Both of those two characters harmed Elizabeth in their quest for wealth. George Bingley quickly left Elizabeth in pursuit of Miss King after Miss King had suddenly inherited her grandfather’s fortune. Mr Wickham and Elizabeth had been starting a courtship but then George Wickham had left without warning; this left Elizabeth deserted and injured her emotional wellbeing. He had paid little attention to Miss King before but as soon as he thought he might benefit he focused only on his needs. This is supported when Austen says “His attentions to Miss King were now the consequence of views solely and hatefully mercenary;”. This selfishness is not a positive perspective on humanity. Miss Caroline Bingley is another example of humanity’s willingness to harm others. She is overly competitive in trying to win Mr. Darcy’s affection and does everything in her power to slander and disgrace Elizabeth so that she can retain her class status and wealth by being by marrying Mr. Darcy. An example of this is when Jane is at Netherfield Park and Elizabeth is there for an evening. She leaves the room and Miss Bingley immediately remarks, “Eliza Bennett … is one of those ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex, by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I dare say, it succeeds. But, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.” This attempt to besmirch Elizabeth’s reputation in front of an eligible man for her gain, ironically exactly what she is doing, is a deliberate attack on Elizabeth. Although Elizabeth does not care about Mr Darcy’s perception of her at this time, Miss Bingley is alarmingly willing to sabotage her reputation to keep open her prospects.
The proclivity to value what others value and to conform is demonstrated by Charlotte Lucas and Jane. Charlotte marries Mr Collins so that she can have a husband and be respectable but she values a respectable marriage because that is what is expected by society. She does not truly believe it, as shown by the dialogue between Elizabeth and Charlotte where Charlotte says “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. … it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life”. Elizabeth’s reply indicates that this is not her true inner feeling but a value based on the values of others. Elizabeth says “You know it is not sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself.”. Charlotte does not agree or disagree indicating that it could be true but not something she would want to admit. Despite not entirely agreeing with those values, she acts according to them and marries Mr Collins without knowing him well and then leaving the happiness up to chance. Jane also demonstrates conforming despite not entirely agreeing with society’s values. She is limited by her society’s expectations of women to show affection to Mr Bingley which she then later wishes she did. This is evident early on in the novel when Elizabeth describes her as being guarded in showing her feelings to Mr Bingley so as not to reflect poorly on herself. However, on Mr. Bingley's side of the relationship, Darcy can convince him that she did not return his affection and that doing so was “no very difficult point”. She undoubtedly would wish to let Mr Bingley know her feelings more easily but she is limited so it is only by coincidence at the intervention of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth’s communication that Mr Bingley and Jane find out about their mutual feelings. This shows that the proclivity to conform is powerful and can lead to unhappy outcomes if it limits one’s ability to get what one wants. This presents humanity negatively because they conform to conformity despite knowing it will not be good for them or others.
Austen also shows that humans can overcome their inner flaws, such as those above, by showing the main couple, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth overcome their flaws. Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice when she sees, through Mr Darcy’s letter that she is prejudiced. When she first realize thiss, she is ashamed of herself, saying, “Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think without feeling she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd.”. She overcomes this flaw and later when talking to Mr Darcy about the effect his letter had on him the novel says, “She explained what its effect on her had been, and how gradually all her former prejudices had been removed.” thus showing how Elizabeth started to overcome this prejudice after being aware of the issue. Austen shows that only when humans become aware of their flaws can they start to work on them. Mr Darcy overcomes his pride. At the start of the novel, he is described as “He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world,”, and this is demonstrated throughout the novel. Later when talking to Elizabeth, he explains that he was brought up to be proud because he was an only child, then only son, and his family “almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own.” However, then he says “You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled.” This shows that despite being brought up with values that became deeply rooted, even from childhood, a human can overcome their flaws. This is a positive perspective on humanity because it shows a fundamental ability to improve one’s self.
Pride and Prejudice presents humanity as deeply flawed and very low “lowest places” even in everyday life. Austen satirizes humanity’s nature, particularly their proclivity to frivolous pride, as demonstrated by Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine, their primitive willingness to hurt others for their gains, such as with Mr. Wickham and Miss Bingley, and their reverence of conformity despite their personal loses. This presents a very disturbing picture of humanity but there is hope. Austen shows that despite, deep-seated flaws, humans can overcome them and improve for the betterment of themselves and society. Austen allows us to explore “the highest and lowest places in human society and the human spirit” through the characterization, plot, and irony she uses. personal voice…..
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