Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is an excellent example of the early/Romantic novel and it is the purpose of this paper to discuss two or three of the characteristics that link the novel with the Romantic form. The Romantic Movement was a result of a revolt against the Neo-Classic tradition. Instead of portraying great or typical characters, writers would seek out lowly and eccentric ones.

Eccentricity is certainly a mark of Pride and Prejudice, a portrait of the Bennet family with their five young women all eligible for marriage. It should be noted that Jane Austen was a contemporary of the Romantics though she is a child of the l8th century, particularly in its Neo-Classical aspect. So the novel might be considered as being influenced by both traditions. How-ever, because Pride and Prejudice has an essential realistic (and therefore modern) style to it, she will be considered as a Romantic. Austen has more in common with Flaubert and Hawthorne than she does with Neo-Classicists like Moliere and Swift.

Austen immediately shows her wit and eccentricity in the novel when she describes one of the Bennet sisters Mary, "a young lady of deep reflection" (Austen 4). Her father, Mr. Bennet allows Mary to drift off into her own world by saying: "'While Mary is adjusting her thoughts, let us return to Mr. Bingley'" (Austen 4).

The Romantic tradition also placed an emphasis on cultivat-ing the everyday speech of actual people as opposed to using an established type of lofty poe

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The humor with which these characters are portrayed brings the book to life: the Romantic tradition for eccentricity is always close to the surface. As a comedy of manners, Pride and Prejudice roots itself in character and lets the plot flow from there. The love story between Elizabeth and Darcy is counterpointed with Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley: Austen keeps many different story lines going on, and each one comments on the other by a comparison of the manners of the times. The novel can be seen as a Romantic exponent when one realizes how often Austen is evoked in discussing contemporary literature. As the books of English novelist Barbara Pym were rediscovered over the last few years, critics would point to her in relationship to Jane Austen. The fact that Pym's books were written 150 years after Austen's was not considered, as Austen's classics are works to be read and not stored in a museum. Austen deals with the flaws in her characters with a comedic style as opposed to a tragic one. So the pride that pre-vents Elizabeth and Darcy from coming together until the novel's end is not a trait that threatens to destroy the world. These flaws are social failings that are to be viewed in perspective and admired with moderation

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