Minding Other Peoples Business in Pride and Prejudice by...

Minding Other Peoples Business in Pride and Prejudice In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen prominently presents interference in many guises. In fact, meddling is the dominant action that propels the plot. Incidents of meddling starkly portray many of the social and economic realities in Austens world, realities quite different from our own. Yet, in portraying motivations from the selfish to the altruistic, Austen also uses interference as a litmus test of the intelligence and integrity of her characters - qualities valued equally in her time and our own. Mrs. Bennets role as an interfering mother is established from the opening scene. She declares that she is thinking of their new neighbor, Mr. Bingley,†¦show more content†¦At Netherfield to attend to Jane, Elizabeth is forced to socialize with the Bingleys and their friend Mr. Darcy. Here Caroline Bingley first perceives Elizabeth as an interloper in her campaign for Mr. Darcys attentions and mercilessly ridicules her and her family.Miss Bingley is motivated by self-interest and continues her campaign even as it compels Mr. Darcy to come to Elizabeths defense.All of this plot development evolves from Mrs. Bennets insistence on Janes horseback ride to Netherfield.Her pushy interference has the overall effect of establishing the desired acquaintance, while Miss Bingleys more subtle meddling is enlightening to Mr. Darcy. Though he may be appalled by Mrs. Bennets behavior and bemused by Miss Bingleys, Mr. Darcy is not averse to meddling.His quiet but firm interference in the relationship of Mr. Bingley and Jane is significant and instrumental to the plot. Along with Bingleys sisters, Darcy is not in favor of a match between Jane and Bingley. The sisters want their brother to marry Darcys younger sister, Georgiana.For his part, Darcy objects to the inferior social status of the Bennet family, but he is even more disturbed by the behavior of Mrs. Bennet and her younger daughters. If that were not enough, he sees Janes quiet and restrained love for Bingley as mere indifference.He plots with the Bingley sisters to keep their brother in London for the winter, far away fromShow MoreRelatedMwds3090 Words   |  13 PagesName: Biography of author: Jane Austen was born in 1775 in England where she lived for the first 25 years of her life. She began to write while as a teen and finished Pride and Prejudice in 1796. The manuscript was first rejected and it wasn’t until 1809 that Austen made revision to it. During her life however, only her immediate family knew that she was an authoress. She never married and published six novels before her death. Title: Pride and Prejudice Author: Jane Austen Genre: Comedy of Manners