Essay/Term paper: Essay on pride and prejudice: theme

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Essay on Pride and Prejudice: Theme


In this novel, the title describes the underlying theme to the book.
Pride and prejudice were both influences on the characters and their
relationships. Darcy alienated himself from the others at first because of his
intense pride. His prejudice against the Bennet's because of their poverty was
also something that he would have to overcome. For Elizabeth, her prejudice
against Darcy came from his snobbery. It caused her to not see his feelings for
her and to believe whatever Wickman said.
Darcy's fierce pride often alienated him from others. For example, he
acted so snobby and superior at the first ball with the Bennet's that they were
all turned off by him. His eventual love, Elizabeth, was disgusted at his
behavior and formed a prejudice against him. Even after he fell in love with her
and proposed to Elizabeth, he completely debased her family. Darcy realized
eventually that he was going to have to change. He tried to look at his behavior
and analyze why he acted as he did. In the end, he fought his intense pride so
that he and Elizabeth could be happy together.
Prejudice was also an issue for Darcy in that he disliked Elizabeth in
the beginning because of her low social status, poverty, and socially inept
family. Darcy was forced to deal with his prejudice when he fell in love with
Elizabeth. This was not easy for him to do but it was necessary. His snobbery
was countered by his love for Elizabeth. In the end, he overcame his pride and
gave in to his feelings by marrying her in spite of her and her family's
shortcomings.
Elizabeth had her own issues with prejudice with which to deal. Darcy's
cold arrogance and snobbery prejudiced her from him from the beginning and it
took Elizabeth a lot longer time to overcome her prejudices than it did Darcy.
This was because Elizabeth was a very caring person and did not like the things
that Darcy had said about her and her family. When given the chance, Elizabeth
loved to hear about how awful Darcy was, such as when she met Wickman, who was
eager to slander Darcy. However, Elizabeth gradually came around and began to
fall in love with Darcy, but it was difficult for her to overcome the prejudices
that had been imposed on her by both herself and Darcy.
This novel's theme was tied up in the title of the book, Pride and
Prejudice. The pride that Darcy felt and his initial prejudice against all of
the Bennet family was eventually overwhelmed by his love for Elizabeth. For
Elizabeth, she needed to overcome her prejudices about Darcy and see through his
snobbery. In the end, all the pride and prejudice was dealt with and Darcy and
Elizabeth were left in love.