Jane Austen s Pride And Prejudice - 1915 Words

â€Å"I wish someone would have told me that, just because I’m a girl, doesn’t mean I have to get married.† (Marlo Thomas). Standards were set during the 1700’s that women must get married to live up to their expectations set by society. In Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice that is set in the 1700’s, there are many different personalities between the characters. Mary has knowledge, Jane has kindness, Elizabeth has self confidence, Mr. Bennet has the laid back personality, Lydia has the sporadic attitude, ect. Most characters seem to bicker throughout the novel causing a lot of conflicts. For example, Mary and Lydia contradict each other at Netherfield when first bringing up the idea about a ball being held there. Lydia is very eager to†¦show more content†¦To begin, Lydia has a very childish, and crazy attitude. Her actions reflect poorly on her family even though she tends to think that they are smart choices. These choices de monstrate the values of the novel as a whole. For example, Lydia makes a wild decision while she is in Brighton. She decides to elope with Wickham at the age of 16. What Lydia does not know is that Wickham is only in it for the money and he does not intend to marry her. Even though he forces her to stay mostly inside her room in London, she is perfectly okay with it because she believes that he loves her. When Lydia returns home, she begins to make it known to her sisters that she believes she is now better than them due to the fact that she is the only daughter married. This scene provides an example of how women were treated back in these days, including women thinking that they were nothing until they were married, which allowed girls to get fooled by fortune-hunting men. Jane Austen attempts to point out the problems with feminism within society, thus clarifying a theme of the book. Next, Lydia’s uncivilized actions also represent the other prominent idea of the novel: p ower. Lydia mentions â€Å"And we mean to treat you all, but you must lend us the money, for we have just spent ours at the shop out there.† to Elizabeth and Jane as they return from Rosings Park and London. (Austen 184) Lydia’s persistence that she is to be paid back for doing a good deed exemplifies how she is was only looking to