Family Ties In Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, she created a
realistic family image, by introducing some of the imperfections that many
families encounter. The Bennet family, consisting of five daughters, a marriage
obsessed mother, and an unhappily married father, contain many of these
difficulties. Throughout the love, joy, heartache and pain, which evolved from
the series of events the Bennet family encountered, one character in particular,
Miss Elizabeth Bennet, viewed her family from another perspective. Elizabeth
Bennet, though a very loving and respectable woman, had developed a rather poor
opinion of her family: Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own
family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity
or domestic comfort(Pg. 209). As the second daughter of her family, Elizabeth
had to deal with the many discomforts of being a daughter of five. Though
Elizabeth loved her sisters dearly, she found it difficult not to see the
differences between them, and in turn, each of their actions contributed to her
perspective of her family. One sister in particular, Miss Lydia Bennet, caused
Elizabeth the greatest concern. Lydia was a self-willed and careless(Pg.189)
individual that cared only about men and marriage. As one of the youngest
sisters, Lydia felt neglected from the opportunities her eldest sisters
received. In turn, Lydia became the flirt of the family, causing embarrassment
not only to herself, but as well to her family. When Lydia eloped to London,
Elizabeth feared that the source of her behavior was derived from the negative
behavior of her parents. Not only did Elizabeth fear for Lydia's sake, she
feared as well for her other sister, Catherine, who was under the direct
influence of Lydia: Catherine, weak-spirited, irritable, and completely under
Lydia's guidance(Pg.189). While supported by their mother's indulgence(Pg.189),
the two ignorant, idle, and vain(Pg189) sisters, was a subject that Jane and
Elizabeth often united to check the imprudence of Catherine and Lydia.(Pg.189).
Besides the poorly thought out actions of Catherine and Lydia, Elizabeth had no
problems with her other sister Mary, who mainly kept to herself, and Jane, the
eldest sister, whom she shared a very close friendship with. Besides the faults
of some of Elizabeth's sisters, one of the biggest faults of their family was
the relationship between her father, Mr. Bennet, and her mother, Mrs. Bennet:
she had never felt so strongly as now, the disadvantages which must attend the
children of so unsuitable a marriage(Pg.210). Though Elizabeth loved her father
dearly, she was unable to be blind to the impropriety of her father's behaviour
as a husband(Pg.209).
Though made up of an odd mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve,
and caprice(Pg.3), he was a man of few words and was clearly unable to make his
wife understand his character(Pg.3). In the decade of the Bennets, marriage was
clearly seen through beauty and fortune. It became evident, after resentment had
settled in, that Mr. Bennet had married for other reasons besides love: Her
father captivated by youth and beauty/ had married a woman whose weak
understandings and illiberal mind, had very early in their marriage put an end
to all real affection for her(Pg.209). Mr. Bennet's poor decision making had
indeed hurt Elizabeth and impacted her opinion of her family, but by respecting
his abilities(Pg.209), and being grateful for his affectionate treatment of
herself(Pg.209), Elizabeth knew that her father was a man of good intentions.
Besides the impression Mr. Bennet's faults had on Elizabeth, her mother's faults
as well, contributed much to Elizabeth's poor opinion. Mrs. Bennet had not made
marriage between her and Mr. Bennet any easier as her ignorance and folly had
contributed to his amusement(Pg.3). She was a woman of mean understanding,
little information, and uncertain temper(Pg.3). Elizabeth found it difficult to
deal with her mother's improper judgement and nervous behaviour. Mrs. Bennet
often over exaggerated small incidents and was very demanding in her ways. As a
mother of five daughters, it was acceptable for her to be concerned for her
daughters' future. But Mrs. Bennet 's entire business of her life was to get her
daughters married(Pg.3). Elizabeth loved her mother and was appreciative of her
mother's concerns, but Elizabeth was also not blind to her mother's intentions.
After Mrs. Bennet's desperate attempt to get her to marry Mr. Collins, Elizabeth
became fully aware of her mother's self indulgent intentions, fore Mrs. Bennet
was seeking a man who would either allow her to remain at Longbourn or would
bring fortune into the Bennet family. Elizabeth on the other hand was nothing
like her mother; fore Elizabeth sought love and romance as her basis of
marriage. Therefore, through her and her mother's differences, Elizabeth was
left with disappointment. Through the series of events the Bennet family
encountered, Elizabeth began to perceive each member of her family from a
different angle, and in turn, began to accept her family's faults. After this
realization, she was not only able to start accepting the faults of her family,
but she was able to start accepting her own faults as well.
