Elizabeth: A Flawed, Human Character

Elizabeth: A Flawed, Human Character

Elizabeth: A Flawed, Human Character
Pride and Prejudice is easily one of Austen’s most recognizable novels. The same is true about the story’s heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, and for many good reasons. She is witty, well-read, charming, and is described as having “fine eyes.” Thirteen year old girls the world round desire a romantic love like the one shared between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy. Literary enthusiasts applaud the independence of her character and regard her as an early feminist in the face of an oppressive, male dominated era. Hollywood constantly produces younger and increasingly more attractive Lizzys who still manage to entertain and captivate their audiences. Aside from all these outstanding qualities of an apparently perfect woman, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is subtly anything but perfection. Her character can be charged as stubborn, prideful, and judgmental. It is these qualities that makes Elizabeth real, relatable, and an attribute to the success of Austen’s classic novel.
The majority of what is known about Elizabeth Bennet’s unfavorable qualities stems from her first encounter with Mr. Darcy. The two were introduced by Mrs. Bennet who inquired that they take part in a dance. Darcy remarked that Elizabeth was “not handsome enough to tempt” him. Offended by this comment, Elizabeth later remarks about her pride by saying "I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” Her first apparent flaw is that she allows her hurt feelings at his prideful manner to dictate her behavior towards him. She refuses to consider that he might have good qualities as well as bad. It is because of this initial prejudice that Elizabeth is stubborn and unwilling to change her opinion of Mr. Darcy through most of the novel.
The second instance of Elizabeth’s pride is shown when she and fellow Bennets visit the Bingleys for dinner shortly after Jane stayed the night at the residence. Elizabeth did not have a favorable opinion of most of the Bingleys, especially for...