URGENT!!!!! LITERATURE QUESTION LESS THAN 2 HRS

Akia Carter

Prof Deborah Ketchum

LITR221 Fall 14

18 January 2015

Pride and Prejudice:  What makes Elizabeth Benet such a compelling character and Uniquely American

Elizabeth Benet

Elizabeth Benet is the second daughter of Benet Family. She is the most quick-witted and intelligent. She is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the characters in literature that is well known. She has admirable qualities; she is lovely in that in the novel she converses brilliantly in the dialog. The qualities are uniquely American and possess American spirit. In addition, she is lively, honest, and has the virtue that enables her to rise above the nonsense and the bad behavior coupling her class bound and the spiteful society. However, her sharp tongue and the prerequisite to make a hasty judgment often lead her astray. The pride and prejudice are apparently how she and her true love Darcy overcome the obstacles that are inclusive of personal failings in a bid to find romantic happiness. This essay aims to explore her character traits which further present the American spirit in her (Austen 15).

She not only have to cope with a hopeless mother badly behaved siblings, distant father, antagonizing females, and several snobbish, she must overcome the mistaken impression of Darcy that leads her to reject the proposal for marriage initially. She has sufficient charms to keep Darcy interested while she navigates the social and familial turmoil. She then realizes the error of the initial prejudice that she had for Darcy; she recognizes the nobility of Darcy character. She is compelling in large part since she has the modern sensibility of Austen Heroin. In addition, she uniquely identifies with the American character that is highly relatable for most women reading pride and prejudice in America today (Austen 17).

An interesting character she is as she presents romance. Her fierce determination, to marry for love, collides with her fierce loyalty to the family the moment Collins proposed to her. She could have ensured that her family is never turned out of a long burn by marrying him. Nevertheless, she never hesitates. In fact, she does not love him or like him. Apparently she has to respect much in that she cannot accept him as her friend does less than a day later. She is firm in her principles, and she figures out eventually that she had misjudged Darcy and that the fact remains that she loves him. She then marries for love having chosen a man so wealthy that her family will often provide for (Austen 19).

Though Elizabeth is caught up in societal structures that force her way in the world, she does on her terms. Even though she marries a very wealthy man, one cannot accuse her of avarice or excessive practicality since if she were marrying for money; she would have accepted him the first time. Elizabeth is a compelling character: she is witty and clever and has a strong sense of wrong and right. She shines like a diamond in the family context. Her mother is horrifying whereas her father seems to be a nice guy though ineffectual. Her sister is a sweet girl but not that smart. The younger ones are the silliest in England in regard to their father. Thus, Elizabeth is by far the interesting Benet, which attracts Darcy and alienates Caroline and engages the reader (Austen 21).

She acknowledges structure of place and time where she lives. She understands that a good marriage is the only path to a comfortable life. Nevertheless, she is determined that she will only marry for love. As much as she is in love with her sister Jane, she understands that Jane is easier to please than she is. As a result, she backs up her plan to rely on Jane to marry well and take her as an old maid. She is romantic at heart as much as she is sensible, and that is the reason that she turns down Collins and is horrified when Charlotte accepts him (Austen 25).

Human Flaws and Failings

Elizabeth is notably smart, downright incisive at times. Nevertheless, since she trusts her judgment, she ends up making mistakes in judging men that she does not know well. This is one of the errors that are known to the human race: influence or absence of flattery. She says that she is tolerable woman, but Darcy is not handsome enough to tempt her. She further states that she is in no humor to give consequences to ladies who are younger slighted by other men. In telling story, she said of Great Spirit for she had a lively playful disposition that delighted anything ridiculous but at the same time, begins to nurse a grudge. When she met George Wickham, he flirts and flatters her and learning that she already disliked Darcy he spins the tale to inflame her against the better man (Austen 31).

She is just a human and so smart and yet gullible and dumb at the same time. It never occurs to her until later after reading the letter from Darcy that it was improper for Wickham to tell her a and that such an impropriety on his part should have called his veracity and character into question. However, she has to learn all that in a hard way just the way most people do. When she was barely 20 years she created a character so universally appealing so relatable and vividly alive in that year to come, all women from all walks of life could see them in her. As a matter of fact, this is true in an American character (Austen 34).

Austen understood that Elizabeth had something special since she is a delightful creature who appeared in print. Clever, passionate, witty loyalty and the prerequisite of enormous error judgment is evident in her and also can be evident in the contemporary American society where ladies make judgment based on the information from the face value. Yet, it is obvious that she is too wise to acknowledge what was wrong and feels the pain in it then discover that then find that the man, that she had devalued, has learned to appreciate her even more than she refused to be near him.

What perhaps makes her identifiable to many people is Darcy. This man is a big part of Elizabeth's appeal. He is intelligent, handsome, honorable, profoundly decent and even generous. It is evident that as the book begins; he so loves towards her perhaps out of the mere attraction. She has pleasing figure and beautiful eyes. When Elizabeth refuses to marry him, he loves her more for the deeper sound qualities such as loyalty to her sister, kindness, poise and grace when under attack (Bohlin 8)

Relating Elizabeth to American qualities, she is compelling since she is not emblematic of women at her time. She is not the character who does not care if the society approves her or not. Women in literature are supposed to be differently made out to be mannish in a way; smoking, occupations that are mainly or those considered to be performed by men, they are portrayed with an attitude or as being uncouth or loud or being downright unattractive (Bohlin 9).

Nevertheless, it is not so with Elizabeth. She may be outspoken and has her quirks that are not acceptable behaviors and attitude among the well-bred women of her time, and beautiful. Austen presents Elizabeth as a woman who is beautiful and at the same time desirable, a woman who is smart and knows what she wants. While the woman within the confines of her social circles was scheming and racing trying to get married to the richest, Elizabeth can resist the pressure to marry someone for the sake of security and comfort. She wound up with eligible bachelor in the circles without compromise (Bohlin 10).

The women can identify with her. Women, who are smart and attractive, are well known but those who swim against the tide and don't act as the society would expect especially in matters to do with equality, she appears to be a lady who can go beyond the expectation. She goes beyond cracking the glass ceiling that has always held women. Her characters cannot only be identified by an American woman but also men alike. In this sense, Elizabeth transcends time as far as being able to identify with her is concerned. Thus, Elizabeth Benet is a character presents an American Spirit (Bohlin 11).

Work Cited

Bohlin, Karen E. Teaching Character Education Through Literature: Awakening the Moral Imagination in Secondary Classrooms. Psychology Press, 2005. Print

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Plain Label Books, 2008.