For two hundred old ages Jane Austen’s novels have been read. reread. dog-eared and bookmarked. They have been opened with smilings and closed with loath suspirations. picked up and non set down once more until every word has been read. cherished. and safely secreted off within the reader. Austen’s novels are each a rich corsage of subjects. motives. and imagination. Possibly most outstanding of these subjects is Austen’s word picture of love in the face of possible lovers’ pride. bias. and amour propre.

In Pride and Prejudice. one of the most important illustrations of these subjects can be found in the love affairs between the Bennet misss and their suers. as wooings are wrought with snap judgements. sturdy ideals. and utmost concern with frivolousness such as visual aspect and societal standing ; no relationship in the fresh exemplifies this more than that of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.

In Pride and Prejudice. love and properness harmonized with wit and sarcasm. as Austen displayed her particular endowment for making interesting people. topographic points. and things ; through dry wit. cynicism. and rapier-like wordplaies. the techniques employed by Austen to call points in her novels provide important penetration into the characters. function as a elusive agency for societal unfavorable judgment. and turn out a successful comedic device. making wit out of the mundane and exposing love in the most improbable topographic points.

Her rubric for Pride and Prejudice ab initio appears that she abandoned much of the similar humor for a straightforward description of her text. though upon reading. one is forced to oppugn the rightness of the novel’s “prejudice. ” While it can said to be in Darcy’s general disdain for the lower societal categories. it is truly more his ain amour propre that makes him hunger position so. Similarly. the Bennets are besides prevailing with pride and predetermined “facts” of life. as Elizabeth has tends to judge upon first feelings and is frequently extremely critical of others.

However. the rubric speaks to something greater than the words themselves. and truly speaks of the defects of most worlds: “The significances that ‘pride’ and ‘prejudice’ get are related to the cardinal subject of all of Jane Austen’s novels—the restrictions of human vision” ( Zimmerman 65 ) . This restriction of human vision. the inability to see moral and existent being clearly. non merely leads to plume. bias. but besides amour propre. Through the less-than-clever Mary Bennet. Austen gives her word picture of amour propre and pride: “Vanity and pride are different things. though the words are frequently used synonymously. A individual may be proud without being vain.

Pride relates to our sentiment of ourselves. amour propre to what we would hold others think of us” ( Austen ) . The love affair between Lizzy and Darcy is non unlike Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley’s in that the lovers portion similar personalities and finally happen great joy in being together. although it does differ in the class it takes. hindered by the pride and amour propre of each. While Jane and Bingley were instantly enamored with each other. Lizzy and Darcy begin the novel as finally. Lizzy and Darcy’s love epitomizes ardour and devotedness in malice of pride and amour propre of each. nevertheless bias may be a misnomer.

Lizzy really has ample grounds to dislike Darcy after she meets him: “1 ) his clannish and contemptuous comments about her at the ball ; 2 ) his effort to interrupt up the love affair between Jane and Bingley ; and 3 ) his alleged unfairness to Wickham” ( Fox 186 ) . However. her temperament exemplifies her amour propre. non prejudice. and her amour propre is evident throughout the novel. When Lizzy writes to Mrs. Gardiner to inform her of the battle she writes. “I am happier even than Jane ; she merely smiles. I laugh” ( 250 ) .

Though Lizzy is happy. her amour propre lies at the root of what she says. and: “It is clear that amour propre here applies. non to the feeling Elizabeth wants to do on others. but to her ain sentiment of herself” ( Dooley 188 ) . She is happy. after abandoning her initial judgements of Darcy. nevertheless she still compares her felicity to that of her sister. Through the two love affairs of Jane and Lizzy. Austen has painted a portrayal of the good and of the great and how amour propre frequently leads to greater significance in relationships.

While the love between Jane and Bingley is sweet and honest. the love between Lizzy and Darcy is existent. splanchnic. and passionate ; one produces a smiling. the other a ecstatic laughter that merely fills the nothingness where words prove missing. This is due greatly to the pride and the amour propre of both Lizzy and Darcy. who each create higher ideals for them to populate by. and the lone existent bias that exists in the novel is that which exists in every homo.