The Theme Of Wealth And Class In Pride And Prejudice

Having wealth seems to give you a sense of privilege and from an outsider's point of view, rich people seem to live in a perfect, blissful world. Pride and Prejudice analyzes the idea of the important of wealth and class to many people in society, but what if wealth and high class wasn't all the it was cut out to be? What if being a part of the upper class actually didn't make you any different than someone else? Analyzing Mr. Collins' arrogant tone compared to Elizabeth's candid tone and direct dialogue reveals the false sense of entitlement that upper-class society members assume they have over others and Elizabeth's progressive character that is able to firmly challenge these expectations of her, demonstrating how the novel was able to challenge …show more content…
Collins' arrogant tone towards Elizabeth, Elizabeth is still able to maintain a candid tone and remain direct with Mr. Collins in order to try and convince Mr. Collins that she doesn't want to marry him, demonstrating her defiance of upper class' sense of privilege. Even though Mr. Collins is wealthier than Elizabeth and their engagement would be beneficial to both Elizabeth and the rest of her family, Elizabeth still refuses to marry Mr. Collins. This passage portrays the important theme of marriage, but this passage portrays Elizabeth's different viewpoint of marriage compared to most of the other characters of the novel. By repeating the word "happy" and "happiness," Elizabeth is able to emphasize her beliefs on marriage. Instead of marrying for financial stability and security, she has a firm belief on marrying for love and happiness and by emphasizing the importance her own happiness means to her, Elizabeth is giving herself the rights and freedom of choice that upper class' members have tried to strip from her. While Mr. Collins gave a long, exasperated marriage proposal to Elizabeth, gave her valid reasons as to why she should marry him, she went straight to the point and directly told him that she doesn't want to marry him and stating that she is "perfectly serious in my refusal". She doesn't believe that she would be happy with him nor does she believe she could make him happy, so for these reasons, she refuses to marry him. Also, Elizabeth's question of "if such ladies there are," illustrates Mr. Collins and Elizabeth's contrasting viewpoints of society. Mr. Collins has created and believes in a false idea of women and Elizabeth is able to go against this imagined