Ethical Dilemmas In Pride And Prejudice

Despite its main focus on the celebrated protagonist Elizabeth , Pride and Prejudice shines an influential light on minor characters to engage the audience. When analyzing our responses to these characters, readers take their own ethical viewpoints into account and also consider the morals and values of the Regency period. Characters such as Lydia Bennet and Mr. Collins represent their attitudes in a way which are contradictory to the criteria of the Regency Period’s stereotypes. While Charlotte Lucas contrasts both and instead, is portrayed as an ideal role model of her era. I, however, see a different perspective on the morals and values of the century then, as my ethics are wholly based on a modern viewpoint. Jane Austen achieves the sense …show more content…
Which explains Lydia’s varying attitudes towards men compared to her sisters since she was heavily influenced by her mother’s caprice perspectives in life while her other sisters sought their father for guidance as they did not quite appeal to the extroverted character of Ms. Bennet but she would have felt jealous of the constant attraction her other sisters received. Due to this reason, I, as a reader refute the fact that Lydia is a fool for marrying Wickham. Apart from many reasons, my strongest argument is that she yearned for infatuation and belonging- having lived with a family with only one man which neglected her because of her natural characteristics; encouraged her to include a significant man in her life. Lydia lacked the key relationship between her father which heavily strained her perspectives in love; simply, she felt as if she did not belong in her own father’s eyes because their characteristics were significantly different. So when Wickham, an attractive yet secretly deceptive character pays attention to her, she …show more content…
Collins. “He was a tall, heavy-looking young man...His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal” Despite his negative introduction in the novel, he boasts of a decent livelihood as a clergyman and he intends to get married to one of the Bennet sisters. Which is a common practice in the Regency Period and most importantly, a set basis of Pride and Prejudice’s themes as the first line states that “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”. Marriage plays a significant role in the Regency’s era as it is the main component of social status. However, marriage is not successful without courtship and the way Mr. Collins attempts to do so, is humorously embarrassing to his society and cringe worthy in my perspective. Not long after taking interest in Jane Bennet and realizing that she was taken by Mr. Bingley, he quickly moved to Elizabeth as he believed that she was “equally next to Jane in birth and beauty” which provokes the reader to realize, that this character has no sense of determination in winning a woman’s attention without resisting hardship. Which suggests his tendency to avoid challenges- a cringe-worthy characteristic a man should acquire in that era (and even to this day). In other words, he only settled for Elizabeth because his greatest intention was not