Marriage and Social Customs
This is described as "the business of [Mrs. Bennet's] life."
What is seeing her daughters married?
This character's warmth and openness initially highlight Mr. Darcy's reserve.
Who is Mr. Bingley?
Volume 1 ends with this event, subverting expectations and setting the terms by which our heroine will find a happy ending.
What is an engagement?
Elizabeth's initial reaction to Mr. Darcy can be best described as this emotional progression.
What is anger to self-awareness and repentance?
This is the primary reason it is important for the Bennet sisters to marry.
What is financial security and social status?
This character's goodness serves as a foil to Elizabeth's cynicism.
Who is Jane?
Elizabeth's visiting Jane on her way to Hunsford structurally contrasts Jane's disappointment in love with this event.
What is Charlotte's marriage?
Pemberley reflects Darcy's character by demonstrating this quality.
What is taste, refinement, and balance as opposed to ostentation?
Charlotte Lucas's marriage to Mr. Collins reflects this view of marriage.
What is a practical view, that economic security is more important than romantic fulfillment?
This character's vanity and obsequiousness satirizes an overdrawn attention to wealth, social status, and appearances of morality.
Who is Mr. Collins?
Elizabeth's warning to her father about Lydia going to Brighton serves this narrative purpose.
What is foreshadowing future scandal?
Darcy's first proposal is inconsistent with his character as established because it reveals this quality.
What is an inability to control his emotions?
Elizabeth rejects this view of marriage, prioritizing this instead.
What is a practical view of marriage, instead prioritizing respect, compatibility, and mutual affection?
This character serves as a foil to Mr. Darcy, emphasizing his discomfort in conversing with strangers.
Who is Col. Fitzwilliam?
Darcy's letter serves this purpose in Elizabeth's characterization.
What is a moment of self-reflection and a shift in perspective?
What is character over wealth and status?
This character has no economic need to marry, in contrast to the novel's heroines.
Who is Lady Catherine/her daughter?
Darcy's first proposal emphasizes these previously established character traits.
What is pride in his social status?
Bingley's return to Netherfield at the end mirrors the beginning in order to emphasize this idea.
What is the progression of resolution through marriage?
Lydia's behavior threatens the Bennet family by endangering this.
What is their reputation/marriage prospects?