In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the subject of class is repeatedly brought up in regards to the Bennets. They are a part of the gentry, as the rest of the characters are, but have a relatively small amount of money for their station. This affects the Bennets’ social situation but has no overarching effect on the individual manners of the Bennets. This difference between the Bennet family and the other two families in the novel is often discussed as a problem for the family. However, in the comparisons between the individual Bennets and between the other two families, the Bingleys and the Darcys, the novel suggests that class is a less meaningful distinction between people than manners are.
Though the Bingleys and Darcys have more money and are therefore higher in class, they repeatedly lack manners, distinguishing them from others in the same class that does. This is seen best through the characters of Caroline Bingley and Catherine de Bourgh. Caroline is a flirt, often putting Elizabeth down to make herself seem better in the eyes of Darcy. For example, when Elizabeth and Darcy disagree on what makes a gentlewoman, Caroline says “Elizabeth ...is one of those young 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." At this moment, she shames Elizabeth for this perceived behavior while engaging in it herself, proving herself to be rude and false. Catherine is haughty and a snob, often putting Elizabeth down because of her class. In the novel, Lady de Bourgh upholds class distinction, even going so far as to confront Elizabeth on her rumored engagement to Darcy, scolding her and asking “Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?” (Austen 346). These two characters are regarded as higher in class than the Bennets but repeatedly prove themselves to be lesser in manners. The novel, rather than giving them regard for their class, puts a higher weight to their lack of manners and propriety, suggesting that class is the less meaningful of the two.
The Bennet family itself is separated by manners, suggesting that good manners can elevate those in the same class. The protagonist, Elizabeth, and her sister Jane are the two Bennets the novel focuses on the most. The two sisters have the best manners in the family. Mrs. Bennet is too forward and eager, and the other three sisters are less than intelligent. This lack of propriety is an obstacle for Darcy, and he describes their manners as “defect” (Austen 197), but assures Elizabeth that she and Jane have “conducted yourselves so as to avoid any share of the like censure is praise no less generally bestowed on you and your eldest sister than it is honorable to the sense and disposition of both” (Asten 197).
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ReplyDeleteI would agree that manners are a more important distinction in Pride and Prejudice than class is. It is almost ironic that some of the richer characters have worse manners than the ones they look down on. During the dinner with Lady Catherine, her air is described as “not conciliating, nor was her manner of receiving them such as to make her visitors forget their inferior rank” (119). Throughout dinner, Lady Catherine berates Elizabeth’s upbringing and is nothing but judgmental. Despite Elizabeth’s supposed horrible upbringing, she handles the verbal abuse well. In Lady Catherine’s mind there is no way that someone from a lower rank than her could ever be well behaved and yet Elizabeth manages it. This plays into the idea of not making hasty conclusions about a person from the first impression that shows up throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree that the whole Bennet family distinguishes itself through manners since Mrs. Bennet and the younger girls do not behave as well and Elizabeth and Jane. The two older sisters are the only ones in the family that reach beyond their class with their manners. As you said, Mrs. Bennet is too forward, and she is occasionally rude to others. Lydia does not act as mannerly as her sisters, since she almost shamed the them all with her escapade with Mr. Wickham. Either way, despite their rowdy family, Jane and Elizabeth overcame their monetary class and join higher society based on their excellent manners.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that possessing manners is important to the characters in the novel. For example, the Bingleys judge Elizabeth for showing up to their house muddy after walking to their house. Miss. Bingley says “’Why must she be scampering about the country, because her sister has a cold’” (Austen, 38). Instead of saying this to Elizabeth’s face, however, she conceals her belief until Elizabeth is no longer in the room, instead sharing this with Miss. Hurst. It would have been improper to say such a thing directly to their face and gone against the ideals of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe perception of having manners and being a good person is more important to some of the characters than actually being a good person. Mary says that “pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us” (Austen, 25). This vanity that Mary speaks of can be seen in the above example with the Bingleys. Elizabeth is concerned about her sister’s health more than she is concerned about how the Bingleys view her, but Miss. Bingley finds Elizabeth’s appearance unacceptable.
Overall, I agree that Austen uses manners to show the character of the characters. Despite the class differences in the novel, the good characters are shown to have proper manners, while the not so good and moral characters show vanity in their use of manners.