Elizabeth and society

Elizabeth, the main protagonist of the novel, goes against society’s expectations. She lives in a strict society which is full of ties and conventions, but she manages to fight against social norms by upholding her strong sense of pride and respect for herself. There are pressures on young women to find a wealthy husband, but Elizabeth disregards these expectations and wishes to marry for love instead of money. An example is when she refuses to accept Mr Collin’s hand in marriage, although, she is aware that marrying him could help solve her family’s financial problems. Instead of conforming to societies expectations of marrying a man of wealth, she decides to wait for the opportunity to marry for love. Even when she does come across a relatively handsome and wealthy man, she refuses to marry him simply because of his attitude. “From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry.” Mr COllins and ELizabeth are both characters with different views and different ideas on how a woman should behave. Both characters are different in the way we are positioned to view them. But on the other hand, both charcaters are used by the text to help the reader to understand and disaprove of the class system. We are positioned to admire Elizabeth for her wit and intelligence whereas Mr Collins is seen as pompous and rude.