The main message of Pride and Prejudice is that one should not make hasty judgments based on appearances, a message emphasized both in the current title and an earlier one Austen considered, First Impressions. This message is clear in the case of the two protagonists. Darcy judges Elizabeth based on her family background, while she (with some reason) thinks him proud and haughty and later believes that he has treated Wickham unfairly. However, there is some element of judgment by appearances in many of the relationships in the novel.
The author mentions, for instance, that Mr. Bennet chose his wife based on her physical attractions, not taking the trouble to find out whether she had any sense, and he has regretted his choice ever since. Lydia makes a similarly superficial judgment when she runs away with Wickham.
The tendency to judge based on appearances also extends to assumptions that other people must have the same values and requirements as one has oneself. Elizabeth is correct to reject Mr. Collins, who could never have made her happy, but unfair to reproach Charlotte Lucas for accepting him. It appears to her at first that no woman could endure marriage to Mr. Collins, but she later finds that this is not true: Charlotte seems to have made the right decision for herself. The Collins' pragmatic marriage of compromise shows that human relations are more complex than they first appear, which is one of the main reasons why judging by appearances is a mistake.
Pride and Prejudice is a rich and meaningful work, and there are multiple messages conveyed through the character development and conflicts in the text. The most important message each individual reader takes away will depend on their own background and what they personally bring into the reading experience. Below are some of the primary messages and key ideas of the novel:
First impressions can be misleading: Throughout the novel, we see evidence that first impressions are often incorrect—in fact, the original title of Pride and Prejudice actually was First Impressions. The danger of relying on a first impression is made clear through the development of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy's relationship. Darcy casually dismisses Elizabeth when he first meets her, claiming that he doesn't find her all that remarkable; likewise, Elizabeth believes Darcy to be an arrogant, heartless snob. It isn't until much later that each of them recognizes that they have incorrectly judged one another. Many of the central conflicts of the novel are driven by misunderstandings or misjudgments of character: Elizabeth refuses Darcy's initial proposal because she is mistaken about his motives and character. Darcy separates Jane and Bingley because he misinterprets Jane's reserved nature as indifference toward his friend. Elizabeth and the rest of her family are so charmed by Wickham's friendly personality that they assume he is a good man, realizing too late they were mistaken, when he elopes with Lydia.
The value of love and mutual respect: Though multiple marriages are depicted in Pride...
See This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
and Prejudice, the two couples best suited for each other are the ones that find the most happiness in the end, with Bingley marrying Jane and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy coming to realize their true feelings for one another. These love matches—which, for Elizabeth and Jane, also represent the most financially advantageous marriages of the book—suggest that those who prioritize love and respect in a partner will be rewarded.
These successful partnerships are contrasted against several unsuccessful partnerships, including Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham, and even Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Through these other matches, readers see the negative consequences of marrying without love: Lydia is stuck with an immoral man who had to be bribed into marrying her, Charlotte spends much of her time deliberately avoiding her odious husband, and Mr. Bennet has spent decades with a woman he finds foolish. Near the novel's end, Mr. Bennet explicitly cautions Elizabeth against marrying someone she cannot respect, suggesting that he does not wish her to repeat his own mistake.
Rigid gender roles disadvantage women: The gender roles of the Regency era prove very limiting for the female characters in Pride and Prejudice. Unable to achieve financial independence, the women in this novel are largely at the mercy of the men in their lives, including their fathers, cousins, and husbands. Mrs. Bennet is a ridiculous woman who comes across as obsessed with her finding rich husbands for her daughters. Underneath her embarrassing antics, however, lies a very real and practical concern: she is desperate to see all of her daughters marry well because she doesn't want them to be penniless and homeless when their father dies. The Bennet estate is entailed and must pass to a male heir. Since the Bennets have five daughters and no sons, Mr. Collins (Mr. Bennet's closest male relative) will inherit their home when Mr. Bennet dies.
The Bennet daughters all feel the pressure to marry well, and their situation is grave enough that Mrs. Bennet fully expects Elizabeth to marry the obnoxious Mr. Collins so that she may keep the estate. Though Lizzie ultimately refuses to marry Mr. Collins, her good friend Charlotte Lucas does agree to marry him—not out of love but out of pragmatism. With neither good looks nor fortune, Charlotte is well aware that at twenty-eight, she is unlikely to receive a better offer. When Elizabeth expresses her shock at Charlotte's choice, Charlotte chastises her, claiming that she's simply being practical and trying to secure her financial future. Unlike Elizabeth, who holds out hope for a love match, Charlotte has made peace with the idea that love is not a prerequisite for marriage. Elizabeth is ultimately rewarded for her romantic inclinations, but Charlotte's sad choice to settle perhaps more realistically reflects the pressures women faced in this era.
What is the central theme of Pride and Prejudice?
One could reasonably argue that the central theme of Pride and Prejudice is that appearances can be deceiving and first impressions can be difficult to shake off. The two main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, eventually come to understand this well-worn truism, but not before they go through an awful lot of mutual incomprehension due to their seemingly invincible misconceptions.
For much of the story, appearances (though not physical ones) determine how Lizzie and Darcy see each other. When Lizzie looks at Darcy, she sees a cold, arrogant, unapproachable man, who looks down on her because she a lower rung on the social ladder than he. As such, she'd rather not have anything to do with him, especially when he hears—and believes—the tall tales told about him by the scheming George Wickham (who is another example of how appearances can be deceiving).
As for Darcy, he too is initially unable to go beyond surface conceptions. His pride, the pride of the book's title, is such that he cannot appreciate Lizzie for who and what she is. To a large extent, he judges her by her family, which, as well as being socially inferior, has a reputation for vulgarity due to the behavior and general comportment of Lizzie's mother.
Highly intelligent though they may be, but Lizzie and Darcy allow themselves to be deceived for so long by appearances and first impressions. Thankfully, however, they eventually see beneath the surface and in doing so are able to lay the foundations of a potentially long and happy marriage.
Further Reading
What is the central theme of Pride and Prejudice?
As the title indicates, this is a novel about perception. Until Darcy and Elizabeth can get beyond their pride and their prejudice, both of which distort perception, they can't find happiness. It also must be noted that this theme plays out in the context of a novel that is a satire of the marriage market. The intense pressure women are under to marry at any cost amplifies the misperceptions of the main characters.
Darcy's pride at first distorts his vision so that he can't see the value of asking Elizabeth to dance at the Meryton assembly, saying she is not pretty enough to tempt him. He also says "any savage can dance," sneering at the assembly as a whole. Elizabeth overhears his comments and develops a prejudice against him. All her perceptions of him are now tainted by the fact he insulted her, and she is looking to believe the worst about him.
Darcy is traditionally pointed to as the "pride" in the title: he is an entitled lord who thinks he is better than others. Elizabeth is traditionally "prejudice": she develops an antipathy to Darcy as a jerk based on one comment. However, Darcy is also prejudiced: he is prejudiced, for example, against the society of the Bennets, thinking it not worthy of his notice. Elizabeth is likewise very prideful: it is her injured pride that sets her against Darcy, and when he insults her family, her pride leads her to tell him, in essence, that she wouldn't marry him if he were the last man on earth.
The two mature and become wiser through the course of the novel until they are able to see clearly enough get over themselves and get together.
What is the central theme of Pride and Prejudice?
The central theme of the novel Pride and Prejudice is basically the consistent search of true love despite every obstacle that comes our way.
The main character of the story, Elizabeth Bennet, embodies the central theme by being a woman way ahead of her peers in terms of what she wants in life. In a time where women could only aspire to be wives and mothers just to be able to fit in society, Elizabeth insists in finding the love of her life. She is far from the ideals of a prosperous and rich marriage. She just wants to love someone who would love her for who she is.
Along the way, she meets Mr. Darcy: A man who is proud, elitist, and instilled in her every possible feeling of anger and hatred. However, this man falls in love with her. This, he considers a "hindrance" for his family's good name. A big surprise comes his way when he realizes that Elizabeth is more than capable to reject him- money and everything.
Once Darcy and Elizabeth come to a happy medium, and some truths become known, they are on their way to the path to love until social ruin looms over the Bennets as a result of Lydia's elopement with Mr. Wickham. Additionally, the resistance from Darcy's family to mingle with the Bennets create another obstacle to overcome.
However, love ruled in the end, all problems were resolved, and Darcy and Elizabeth were able to overcome every odd to become a couple. Therefore, the theme of "a love that conquers all" is the essence of the story, and serves as its central theme.
What is the main theme in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?
The main theme of the novel is that perception is not reality. Elizabeth's prejudice and Darcy's pride are both forms of blindness.
Elizabeth forms an implacable prejudice against Darcy the first time she encounters him. She overhears him saying she is not pretty enough to tempt him to dance. This, coupled with his other standoffish behavior at the assembly, causes her to decide he is an arrogant, insufferable jerk. Elizabeth's initial dislike then motivates her to be more than willing to believe the worst about him. Rather than weigh the evidence rationally, when the charming and attractive Wickham tells a sob story about being cheated out of a comfortable job promised to him by Mr. Darcy, she is quick to believe Darcy behaved badly. This is an example, well ahead of the term being coined, of confirmation bias: Elizabeth has decided, on scanty evidence, that Darcy is a jerk, so she readily jumps on whatever confirms her bias.
Darcy's pride likewise blinds her to the reality that Elizabeth and her family might be equal to him as human beings, even if they have less money and, in the case of some of her family members, less polished manners. He wounds and completely infuriates her in his marriage proposal, which assumes that a lowly person like her will naturally want to marry a great man like him. He more or less tells her he will deign to take her despite her lack of money and her embarrassing relatives. This throws her into such a fury that she tells him she, in effect, wouldn't marry him if he was the last person on earth.
It is not until Elizabeth learns to become less prejudiced against Darcy that she can see his true worth. Likewise, Darcy has to get off his high horse to be able to see that Elizabeth and her family are owed greater respect. When this happens, the two, now more mature, can happily wed.
What is the main theme in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?
As the title suggests, the main themes in Pride and Prejudice really are pride and prejudice. Elizabeth is shown to be guilty of prejudicially judging Darcy to be prideful. In addition, it turns out that improper pride is actually the reason behind Elizabeth's prejudice. Finally, while Darcy is recognized as feeling above his company, the reality is that he really is the most noble character in the book and found to actually not have any improper pride. We know that pride and prejudice are the most dominant themes in the book because it is these two themes that create the main conflict in the story, which is Elizabeth's dislike of Darcy and Darcy's unrequited love for Elizabeth, also expressed as character vs. character.Elizabeth first realizes the error of her judgements after reading Darcy's letter explaining his thoughts on her family's behavior and his history with Wickham. It is after this that she realizes she foolishly judged Wickham to be the most amiable man she's met simply because he is conversational and friendly. Likewise, she realizes that she judged Darcy to be a despicable man partially because he is reserved and standoffish and partially because of what Whickham told her about Darcy's treatment of him, which turned out to be all lies. As Elizabeth herself expresses it:
How despicably have I acted ... I, who have prided myself on my discernment ... Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. (Ch. 36)
Hence we see that it is truly Elizabeth who has had the wrongful pride and that her pride has caused her to prejudicially misjudge both Darcy and Wickham.Darcy expresses a very central point towards the beginning of the book. He argues that "pride--where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation" (Ch. 11). His point is that people who genuinely do have a greater, more intelligent understanding than others and who act upon principles and morals while others fail to do so really should feel genuine pride. And he is shown to be right. All throughout the novel Austen shows us that there really are people who have limited sense and understanding, such as Mrs. Bennet, and who act in immoral, imprudent ways, such as the rest of the entire Bennet household, especially Lydia, and Wickham. Darcy, on the other hand, always acts upon morals and principles and even rescues Lydia and the whole Bennet household from disgrace. Hence, Darcy really is shown to be superior in both sense and morals to other characters in the book, which is why Elizabeth says towards the end of the novel, "Indeed he has no improper pride" (Ch. 59). However, Darcy is also proven to have felt himself to be above his company and to have looked down on others simply because of their connection with the merchant class. Darcy makes this realization by the end of the novel and repents having acted upon his principles with "pride and conceit" (Ch. 58). Hence we see that Darcy had genuine reason to appreciate, or take pride in, his sense and morals, but was also guilty of acting in a way that judged and criticized others.
What is a central question raised in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen?
The central question of Pride and Prejudice is: What does a person need to be happy?
A central question is a thematically-driven idea that the author of a book is writing the book to answer. It is the driving force in the meaning of the story. There can be more than one central question, but if you are asked to identify one you should start by looking for the answer. Is an answer to life given?
Even so long after this novel was written, people are still asking themselves what will make them happy. Do you marry for love? Do you marry for money? Do you marry for friendship? The fundamental question is what makes a person happy. For example, we are told by Charlotte that, “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance” (ch 6).
“….If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation..." (ch. 6)
All of the young men and women (and the older ones) are trying to navigate the channels of pride and personality to determine what will make them happiest in the end. Is it possible to be happy in marriage?
Darcy also claims that, “a lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment” (ch 6). Elizabeth refuses to fall in love with someone she deems proud. Ultimately, both Elizabeth and Darcy realize that people are not always what they seem, and that a person’s actions can mask different motives. Faith in another person is hard to find, but ultimately that is what our happiness-seeking characters are looking for.