Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, and pride is often seen in tragedy as the fatal flaw of a character. Such is the case for Achilles or Oedipus, pride prevents them from behaving as they should and leads to downfall. Pride is often a critical element in fiction, with characters committing the sin of pride and with pride being one of the social sins criticized by the author. This is apparent in both Daisy Miller by Henry James and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. In the first, pride causes a group of people to make assumptions about a young woman and to treat her as inferior because she does not measure up to their elevated and false view of themselves. In the second, pride is shown to keep two people apart who have feelings for one another and who have more in common than otherwise.
The social comedy of Jane Austen, as seen in Pride and Prejudice, is infused with a moral purpose. The reality of the characters is heightened by their foibles and by the foolishness in which they indulge. This is presented against the backdrop of the accepted norms of society, and there is irony in the difference between the social norms the characters think they uphold and their real behavior, often at odds with what society requires. These differences are not great: Austen's characters do not stray far from the acceptable social path. Indeed, it is often that they seem to adhere to it too closely, making the social graces into a fetish. There is a level at which these social prescriptions should be kept, a certain perspective that should be maintained. As an author, Austen also maintains a perspective in terms of distancing herself from the characters. She does not delve too deeply into their psychology but instead, as noted, allows their character to be manifest in their behavior and conversation. The words they use reveal their social background and more vitally the social customs and ideas they hold dear. This is seen both ...