Pride and Prejudice Task 2 - Charlotte Lucas

How important a character is Charlotte Lucas?

Write a paragraph in response, clearly arguing your point of view. In developing your thesis, compare her with Elizabeth and Jane. How is the reader positioned through this comparison? Consider ideas, attitudes and values in your response. Post to your blog by Wednesday.

In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, the character of Charlotte Lucas is very important as she representative of society’s view on love and marriage during the Victorian era, and thus provides a counterpoint for readers on Elizabeth and Jane’s approaches to marriage. Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s best friend, is introduced as a "sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven" (p. 19). She does not consider herself romantic, and thus, when she is presented with the opportunity to finally marry, Charlotte accepts without hesitation – despite her being married to the unpleasant Mr Collins – because it would provide her with security. This is made clear when Charlotte is said to have accepted Mr Collins ‘solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment’ (p. 120). Through her decision to marry Mr Collins, Charlotte provides readers with the reasons why many women married – which included financial security rather than love or affection. Thus, Charlotte’s views on love and marriage contrast with those of Elizabeth, highlighting the fact that Elizabeth’s belief that marriage should be based on love, was not a view held by society during the Victorian era. Charlotte also provides a corollary to Jane's approach to marriage. Where Jane is quiet and shy, Charlotte sets out to find herself a husband by securing Lizzy ‘from any return of Mr. Collins's addresses, by engaging them towards herself’ (p. 119). It is Charlotte’s view that women should make their feelings and intentions clear, rather than allowing love to dictate a relationship – as Elizabeth suggests throughout the novel. Charlotte’s character is crucial in allowing readers to understand society’s expectations at the time of Pride and Prejudice, and thus enables readers to understand that Elizabeth and Jane had very unconventional views on, and approaches to marriage.

Pride and Prejudice - Task 1

"Elizabeth Bennet is a character to whom today's young women can relate very easily because of her attitudes to love and marriage."

Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most read, taught, and adapted novels in our culture, and has been popular continuously since its publication over 200 years ago. However, it is the character of Elizabeth Bennet to whom today’s young women can relate very easily because of her attitudes to love and marriage. Readers are inclined to agree with Elizabeth’s views, because her views are often ones that women today share. During Jane Austen’s era, society’s view towards love and marriage were extremely different to those of the 21^st century. Women were expected to marry as soon as possible, in order to obtain financial security for oneself and one’s family. A woman may find love after marriage, but it is not an important aspect of such a relationship, as indicated by Charlotte Lucas’s comment to Elizabeth Bennet, ‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance’ (p.24). While most women of the Victorian era were expected to hold such views on love and marriage, Elizabeth Bennet did not. Elizabeth believed, similar to women of today, that women should have a choice in who they marry, and that this choice should be based on love, not social class, wealth or family connections. Mr Bennet recognizes his daughter’s view on marriage when he states, ‘I know that you could neither be happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband’ (p. 356). Women today are likely to relate very easily to Elizabeth’s attitudes to love and marriage, because the freedom Elizabeth wished for the women of her time, is enjoy by the women of the 21^st century, and thus contemporary women are able to appreciate Lizzy’s views more so than those of Victorian society. However, the characterization of Mrs Bennet as stupid, foolish and annoying further positions readers to view Mrs Bennet’s attitudes – which are also those of society – as incorrect, and Elizabeth’s attitudes as correct. Thus, through characterization and shared views on love and marriage, women of the 21^st century are able to relate very easily to the character of Elizabeth Bennet.