Jane Austen proved herself to be the supreme writer of the novel of manners and she was the daughter of a clergyman, and except for an occasional visit to the city, she spent her youth in a country parish. Her acquaintances include country families and clergymen. The chief business of these people was social and domestic duties, and their chief interest was matrimony. This is the world with which Jane Austen deals and she never steps outside of this world. She herself claimed that she worked on a little bit of ivory. She was conscious of her limitations, worked strictly within them, and turned them to her advantage.
Austen’s Her 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice constitutes of vivid and realistic pictures of the author’s time. The conventions, the manners, and the mode of living of the time are depicted in the novel in a most graphic manner. (The classes depicted in the novel are predominantly upper and middle class. Country life is show rather than town life. In Pride and Prejudice, we encounter a number of outstanding characters who belong to the upper middle class. Mr. Darcy who is an extremely rich gentleman owning a large mansion called Pemberley House, and a large estate. His income is nearly ten thousand pounds a year. This man is proud of his high status, and he looks upon middle class families as being beneath his notice. When Darcy attends the assembly, he dances only with Bingley’s two sisters. Most of the girls in the assembly were from middle class and Darcy hardly pays any
attention to them. He begins to feel interested in Elizabeth Bennet, he tries to resist her charms. He feels that she has bewitched him. A pair of beautiful black eyes in a pretty face has made impression on Darcy. Darcy tries with all his strength to subdue his affection for Elizabeth but it culminated in a marriage proposal to Elizabeth. Even when was proposing her, he cannot shed away his caste prejudices: “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
The matter of pride does not stop only with the mention of Mr. Darcy. This pride, avice one of the sins of Christian sevenly deadly sins is present in Lady Catherine de Bourgh. This lady own a large house, called Rosings Park, and she too is the mistress of a large estate. Her attitude towards people her rank is almost arrogant. Even when she invites Mr. and Mrs. Collins, she deals with them in an absolutely disgraceful and arrogant manner. She hurls insolent questions on Elizabeth. She expresses astonishment as well as disgust that the Bennet girls never had a governess to look after them. She orders Elizabeth to play on piano. This shows her extreme pride which is that she can allow orders people below her rank to carry out her orders. To insult Elizabeth she advises that Elizabeth can come to practise piano in the housekeeper’s quarters. She further considers it a matter of disgrace if her nephew Darcy will like to marry a girl like Elizabeth.)
Mr. Bingley can be considered as an exception because he belongs to upper strata of society but does not have pride in him. He possess an easy-going attitude and likes to mix with people freely. However, he has no independence of mind and is greatly under the influence of Mr. Darcy.
The middle class include Bennet family and Lucas family. Their mothers are always on the look out for eligible bachelors to marry their daughters. When the knowledge of a rich bachelor, Mr. Bingley, comes to Mrs. Bennet, she starts dreaming that he may choose one of her daughters. For Mrs. Bennet, the search for suitable sons-in-law is the chief preoccupation and the chief interest of her life. Lady Lucas is also preoccupied with such intention but she does not go to those absurd lengths to which Mrs. Bennet goes. Thus, marriage was the main concern of the mothers of that time; and it was the main concerns of the daughter too.
Assemblies, balls and gossips played a crucial role in the life of these people. These assemblies and balls were attended by the members of upper class families because they were fewer in numbers and could not hold exclusive social functions. Gossip was the staple of life of women-folk; and the gossip centred chiefly around eligible bachelors and possible marriages. Listening to news, collecting news, and communicating news to others were the chief interests of young girls as well as elderly women.
An excellent example of this sort of things is provided by Mrs. Philips who gathers news and then imparts it to her nieces, Lydia and Kitty, who then carry it to home.
The life of a clergyman is also portrayed in Pride and Prejudice. The clergyman, Mr. Collins is a sycophancy, who lavishes massive amount of appreciation and it contributes to its absurdity. He is a pompous and conceited man who thinks that a girl like Elizabeth can never refuse his marriage proposal. He amuses the readers still more by his flexibility in choosing his wife. He ultimately Charlotte Lucas to be his wife. He is always seeking patronage of people above him.
from People of lower classes are also portrayed in the novel. Mrs. Reynolds is the housekeeper at Pemberley House. She is all praise for her master, Mr. Darcy. She tells Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy is a very kind hearted master to his tenants and to his servants. This shows that, while Mr. Darcy is proud and even rude in his social intercourse with people of the middle class, he is very kind and generous to persons of the lower classes. Mrs. Reynolds strikes us a very good woman who can be relied upon by her master. Then there is Mrs. Jenkinson who is the governess to Miss de Bourgh. This woman is always at pains to keep the girl in her charge pleased and happy. She is rather servile; and that is what a grand lady like Lady Catherine etc. expected from a governess working in her pay.
File: 74726f6f-243c-4a70-a23d-734a174cf739 Cazamian opines that the novels of Austen deal almost wholly with the restricted circle of home life, and round it all social interests are gathered. Therefore, in Pride and Prejudice, the readers find themselves in a small world of country gentry, clergymen, and middle class where social intercourse is smooth and simple. David Daiches gives his opinion that Austen was the greatest of all the novelists of manners. Indeed, she raised the class of novels to a new level of art. Her own life had provided her with the opportunity of learning by heart the world of social pretension and ambition, of balls and visits, of speculations about marrying and giving in marriage, of the hopes and fears of genteel people of moderate means