Reading Response 4: Moral

I know, cheesy, right? But I honestly think there is a moral to Pride and Prejudice! Possibly, when Jane Austen wrote this book, she was not expecting it to become famous, let alone a 'classic novel' (whatever that may be). Because she didn't expect it to reach many people, Austen probably didn't mean to have a moral of the story. I think the moral of Pride and Prejudice was written completely accidently... Kind of like the invention/discovery of cheese. It may not have been intended, but it all ended well anyway.

I believe that the moral of the story could be the slightly obvious cliche "love conquers all", but it could also be something more modern. Something like, it may be unexpected, unwanted, the worst thing that ever happened to you, but something good will come out of it.

This, more modern, moral is shown in several places in Pride and Prejudice, such as when Mrs. Bennet sends Jane to see Mr. Bingley in the middle of a storm, in the hopes of her getting a cold. To this suggestion, Jane says "I had much rather go in the coach" (30). This shows that, though this unwanted horseback ride in the rain gave her a terrible cold, Mr. Bingley and Jane became much closer as a result.

Another example could be when Mr. Collins asks for Elizabeth's hand in marriage. This unexpected and certainly unwanted experience gave Elizabeth the experience to respond properly to other (Mr. Darcy's) proposals. When Mr. Darcy proposes to her, she is more than a little bit shocked, "Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent." (196). I believe, though Austen did not say it in the novel, that Elizabeth may have thought of her prior decline, and used that experience to help the current one go more smoothly. This, of course, didn't really work.

Although I do think that my moral is applicable, the cliche works very well. 'Love conquers all' covers almost all of the relationships in the novel, excepting only Mary Bennet and Mr. Wickham's. In Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's relationship, it is prominent. Mr. Bennet thinks his wife is a silly fool who needs to consider the world more seriously. Mrs. Bennet a rather similar opinion about her husband, she believes he takes life too quietly and doesn't delve into the lives of others enough. Despite their different views of life, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet love each-other.

A more obvious example of this cliche moral is Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy themselves. In the beginning of the novel, "His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped he would never come there again." (9). This is an opinion that Elizabeth strongly agrees with. We don't hear much of Darcy's initial opinion of Elizabeth, except for "Elizabeth could not help observing how frequently Mr. Darcy's eyes were fixed on her." (52). Anyway, no matter what Darcy's original opinion of Elizabeth was, they fell in love, conquering their mutual hate (which was made quite apparent).

Finally, in my opinion, both morals make sense for the story of Pride and Prejudice. But was Jane Austen trying to create a moral for her story? I don't think so, but who really knows?