My View on Elizabeth of Pride and Prejudice

I feel Elizabeth is naive when it comes to judging people as she shouldn't read a book by it's cover as this is prejudiced. It could be seen that Elizabeth's sudden change of heart is influenced by Charlotte's success is securing a rich man. Perhaps Elizabeth's prejudiced view towards men and seemed hatred for them suggests sexual confusion. Elizabeth may be seduced by Darcy's money and status which overides her actual opinion of him. However Elizabeth shows she is intelligent and witty throughout the novel and puts forward ideas which could be seen as outragous in her time. This shows her feminist views as she believes men and women should have equal rights.

Her close relationship with her father suggests she is still attached in a childish way which prevents her from maturing socially and she doesn't want to leave him as she feels he is the most important person in her life. The way Elizabeth ridicules others suggest she has low self confidence and tries to put down others down to make herself feel better about herself as she is not seen as the prettiest. She tries to contradict other peoples opinion which shows she domineering and self centered and doesn't ever think there may even be slight chance she is wrong. Overall Elizabeth is intelligent but naive.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born on 16 December, 1775, at the rectory in the village of Steventon, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire. The seventh of eight children of the Reverend George Austen and his wife, Cassandra, she was educated mainly at home and never lived apart from her family. She had a happy childhood amongst all her brothers and the other boys who lodged with the family and whom Mr Austen tutored. From her older sister, Cassandra, she was inseparable. To amuse themselves, the children wrote and performed plays and charades, and even as a little girl Jane was encouraged to write. The reading that she did of the books in her father's extensive library provided material for the short satirical sketches she wrote as a girl.

english8

We discussed the different viewpoints in Pride and Prejudice, and in Rossetti's poems. Rossetti has a very negative view of men and thinks they are worthless, whereas Jane Austen gives men a purpose, to marry, be it for love or for security. There are different viewpoints from each character in Pride and Prejudice. For example Catherine believes you should marry for security and comfort, however Jane and Mr Bennet think marriage should be based around love and affection. Elizabeth and Mr Darcy are undecided and are not even sure love exsists until they fall for each other and their opinion changes.

Pride and Prejudice timeline

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/pride-and-prejudice--2

english8

In the previous two lessons we began studying the Covent Threshold. This poem by Christina Rossetti is based on the idea of someone who is trying to repent and go to heaven but is trying to convince their lover to join her. However they are unsure of the decision as they believe Earth is like a heaven to them. There is a theme of desperation from the narrator as they are persisting in trying to make someone who is unlikely to join them, which makes the reader feel sympathy for the speaker. Aswell as this there is a sin that has been comitted by the pair, which is suggested to be something like murder, which the speaker is constantly trying to repent for.

english7

This lesson was interesting as we discussed to what extent women are portrayed as heroic in Cousin Kate. Overall they are made to look vulnerable and at mercy of men. Both cousin Kate and the narrator fell into a trap, however the speaker got out of the trap and now has something over the man, which makes her heroic.

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We continued to discuss the way in which the narrator is portrayed and how Rossetti makes the reader feel sympathy towards her. The poem is chronological which shows how she was innocent and pure before she was lured by the man and became an 'unclean thing.' Rossetti also uses repetition of the word 'he' to suggest that all the problems were caused by the man by describing all the things he did. The reader is led to believe that the narrator truly felt she was in love which increases sympathy for her as she was used and then cast aside for a newer, purer woman. By only letting the reader know at the end she has a child from the lord it allows the reader to build up sympathy, before they know she has more power than first thought.