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• Three of the main themes in Pride and Prejudice are love, status, and prejudice.

• The author, Jane Austen, creates the theme of love by exploring ideas about marriage and different types of relationships, such as friendships and sisterhood.

• The theme of status is used to explore ideas about class in Georgian society and the power dynamics between men and women.

• Prejudice is a central theme of the novel and drives the main part of the plot about Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship. It also explains the actions of several characters.

Remember

All the themes explored in Pride and Prejudice are very closely linked to its 19th century Georgian context.

This was a time when wealth and status were important, society was clearly divided along class lines, and men and women were not equal.

The ideas expressed by Austen throughout the text reflect this era.

The plot of Pride and Prejudice is centred around the potential relationships and marriages of the Bennet sisters. As a result, there is a lot of discussion in the novel about what love is or means.

In the upper-class Georgian setting of the novel, marriage was often about securing wealth or status, rather than romance. For example:

• The courtship between Jane and Bingley begins because Mrs Bennet sees him as an eligible batchelor. Mrs Bennet’s obsession with her daughters getting married is described as “the business of her life”, which reflects her transactional attitude towards marriage.

• Collins’ marriage proposals to Elizabeth and Charlotte in quick succession happen because it occurs to him that it will be “convenient” to have a wife if he inherits Mr Bennet’s money.

• Mr Darcy assumes that Elizabeth will accept his first marriage proposal because of his wealth and status.

• There is pressure on young women to get married and within the right social class, as seen with Charlotte's desire for a stable life, the panic over Lydia’s elopement, and Lady Catherine’s attempt to stop Elizabeth from marrying Darcy.

• Elizabeth considers marriage carefully: she knows that she should choose a wealthy man, but she is determined to also marry for love.

Through the many examples of marriage in the novel, Austen allows her readers to evaluate the success of different romantic partnerships.

• Mr and Mrs Bennet are ill-suited: Mr Bennet treats his wife with disdain, often ignoring her, and he is worried about Elizabeth entering a similar marriage.

• Jane and Bingley are apparently made for each other, but Austen suggests that their marriage lacks the excitement of Darcy and Elizabeth’s pairing.

• Elizabeth and Darcy have a successful marriage with passion, love and respect – as well as financial security.

There are strong familial and platonic ties between many of the characters, often alongside a sense of loyalty.

• Elizabeth defends her mother against Darcy and has a good relationship with her father.

• Darcy is protective of Georgiana after Wickham’s attempted elopement with her when she is just 15 years old.

• Darcy is also willing to make sacrifices for his friends: he pays off Wickham’s debts to help the Bennet family and it is clear that he has supported Bingley throughout their friendship, despite their different personalities.

• Jane and Elizabeth complement each other in their sisterhood. Elizabeth is angry on Elizabeth’s behalf when Caroline implies that Bingley might marry Georgiana, while Jane gently suggests that Elizabeth should be kinder and more patient towards Darcy.

The novel’s presentation of marriage reflects the conventions of upper-class Georgian society in the early 1800s.

The main characters in Pride and Prejudice are much more powerful than working-class Georgians, but amongst themselves there is conflict about levels of power and influence.

One exploration of status is through the class hierarchies in the novel.

The Bennet family are seen by others as being at the lower end of their social class because they are dependent on their daughters getting married for their future wealth. Both Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine treat the Bennet sisters with disdain for this reason.

The Bennet family’s slightly lower status also means that they don’t have the same range of social connections – all of which explains Mrs Bennet’s anxiety about getting her daughters married off and her push to get Mr Bennet in contact with Bingley at the first possible opportunity.

Despite the start of a women’s rights movement in the late 18th century, the Georgian era did not provide equal opportunities for men and women. This power imbalance is seen throughout the novel.

Property and wealth are closely linked to status in the novel. Several of the families have made a fortune from trade and buying stocks in shipping companies. This allows them to purchase increasingly large plots of land which provide a yearly income.

Bingley’s rumoured income is celebrated and gossiped about, as is Darcy’s even larger wealth. Lady Catherine’s enormous wealth gives her power and respect, even more than the men in the novel, and ensures that her rudeness is tolerated by many characters.

On the other hand, Wickham is used as an example of how status can be lost when wealth is lost: his gambling debts are seen as shameful and they prompt him to attempt to elope with Georgiana.

The title of the novel also suggests that many characters take pride in their status. Mr Collins is an example of this: he invites himself to Longbourn and is boastful about his close friendship with Lady Catherine, labelling it a “triumph”.

Even Lydia believes that her marriage to the handsome Wickham elevates her status, and she smugly shows him off when they return to Longbourn.

Despite knowing that she does not have the social status of Darcy or Lady Catherine, Elizabeth has pride in herself and her family and refuses to be treated as lesser.

Finally, Darcy and Elizabeth are also too proud to admit their changing feelings towards each other.

Austen uses the title of her novel to foreshadow that prejudice is behind the actions of several of her characters.

From the opening chapter, Austen provides examples of prejudice based on first impressions.

• Darcy and Elizabeth judge each other harshly when they first meet at the Meryton ball: Darcy because he has overheard Mrs Bennet’s clumsy attempts at matchmaking, and Elizabeth because Darcy snubs her and sounds arrogant.
• Mrs Bennet has made a prior judgement about Bingley’s suitability for her daughters through what she has heard about his wealth and family. She says he is “a fine thing for our girls”.
• Elizabeth is also swayed by Wickham’s good looks and makes a judgement that he must be a good person.
• Caroline’s letter to Jane about Bingley’s romantic intentions creates prejudice against Georgiana, and Elizabeth sees how wrongly Georgiana has been judged when she first meets her in person.

Darcy and Elizabeth are the clearest examples of long-lasting prejudice, as a series of misunderstandings deepens their prejudice and causes them to mistrust each other. It takes most of the novel for their feelings to change.

Mr Collins is asked to read something aloud to his cousins for entertainment and when he is given a novel to read from he refuses as ‘he never reads novels’. His prejudice against novels and ‘stories’ forces the cousins to find a book of prayer for him to read from instead.

As well as the individual forms of prejudice explored above, there are examples of social prejudice throughout the novel. This is expressed explicitly by Caroline Bingley, Lady Catherine and Mr Collins at various points in the novel when they treat others differently because of their class or status. Lady Catherine cruelly mocks Elizabeth’s lower status by saying:

“You are a gentleman’s daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.”

Test your knowledge of the themes in Pride and Prejudice by taking this multiple-choice quiz.