Essay on Pride and Prejudice as Romantic Novel and Romantic Criticism

self-esteem and Prejudice as Romantic Novel and Romantic Criticism To a great extent, Jane Austen satirizes stately romanticistic novels by inverting the expectations of love at first sight and the celebration of passion and physical attractiveness, and criticizing their want of sense. However, there are also elements of conventional romance in the novel, notably, in the success of Jane and Bingleys love. The first indication of Austens inversion of accepted romantic conventions is Elizabeth and Darcys mutual dislike on first sight. However, Jane and Bingley fall in love almost immediately, and the development of their romance follows conventional romantic-novel wisdom, down to the obstacles in the form of Darcys and Bingleys sisters disapprobation (the typical disapproval of the Family) and the attraction between the rich new-made man and the middle class maid. Their Cinderella story ends in happily-ever-after, as does Elizabeths and Darcys. Elizabeths defiance of Lady Cat herine recalls Megs defiance of her aunt in Little Women, and Darcys willingness to accept Elizabeth despite the inferiority of her connections is a triumph of conventional romantic-novel expectations. One of the most striking examples of Austens satire is her emphasis on reason, as opposed to the wanton passion lauded into the bulk of romantic novels. Lydia and Wickhams marriage is seen as a triumph of their passions over their virtue, and she is certain that little permanent happiness can arise from such a union. This is exemplified by Wickhams continuance of his extravagant habits, and the degeneracy of any feelings between them to indifference. The indifference Mr Bennet has for his wife, and the unsatisfactorine... ...Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1983. Jane Austen Info Page. Henry Churchyard. U of Texas, Austin. 23 Nov. 2000. <http//www.pemberly.com/janeinfo/janeinfo/html>. Kaplan, Deborah. Structures of Status Eighteenth-Century Social aim as Form in Courtesy Books and Jane Austens Novels. Diss. University of Michigan, 1979. Monaghan, David. Jane Austen Structure and Social Vision. New York Barnes & Noble Books, 1980. Poplawski, Paul. A Jane Austen Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 1998. Reidhead, Julia, ed. Norton Anthology of English Literature vol. 7, 2nd ed. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 2000. Ward, David Allen. Pride and Prejudice. Explicator. 51.1 (1992). Wright, Andrew H. Feeling and Complexity in Pride and Prejudice. Ed. Donald Gray. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 1966. 410-420.