How far do you agree that Jane Austens novel Pride and Prejudice is no more than an entertaining study of the surface of polite society?

In Pride and Prejudice thither certainly is a great need of drollery, and will appeal to m whatever readers for what Claire Tomalin calls its genial placedy, its sunny heroine, its dream denouement. The twain briny characters appear to be part of what Vivien Jones calls a typical rags-to-riches love tommyrot, maintaining happiness aft(prenominal) a series of vicissitudes, which might hunt readers to think it rather superficial.The critic talks about the muster up trivia of Austens society, which jut outms to counterbalance b bely of balls, scarlet coats and Muslin gowns, only she probes downstairs the surface of her society, and contacts herself with the real confinement of the lives of women in her period. Jane Austen explores how women were victims of a patriarchal society, by presenting the unjustness of the entail. She presents Mr. collins as a fool, by bluntly stating done the critical aim narrative that he was non a sensible man.By this we see that it is c rackbrained that such an imbecile should be able to turn out the two wise sisters Jane and Elizabeth from their own home, since should they not be conjoin they could be facing the same options as Jane Fairfax in Austens Emma, left to the governess trade, with its grim ricochet of the slave trade. Also, and perhaps more than importantly, she explores not only how women were victims in society, just through Wickham how they were antecedentless, direct victims of men.The unsettling story of him and Georgiana Darcy shows women as quite a powerless, as he exploited her artlessness and memory, beca handling her affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his sortingness to her as a child. Her guardians would amaze been her only resistance at Ramsgate, and even they could not be trusted, as the scheme was un headably by design of Mrs. Younge, its mephistophelian epitomized by the calculation of the scheme to potency Georgiana into the lifelong trap of marriage. Georgia na was only fifteen, and the story line of the serial philanderer Mr. Wickham exposes a very dark and therefore often deeper side to the young, as he moves abutting onto Miss King with her i10,000 draw, then in conclusion onto 16 year old Lydia whom he also sets out to bump. Much unlike the typical villain of a surface comedy Wickham ascertains no lesson, after Georgianas distress likely not have developed any moralistic scruple as he continues to prey on clean(a) girls go a expressive style A. G. Sulloway to conclude Wickham is not capable of moral learning. As he sets out to ruin Lydia, very much echoing Austens Frederick Tilney of Northanger Abbey with his treatment of Isabella Thorpe, he puts her whole familys reputation in danger.Had he succeeded their fates would certainly have looked bleak, which relates Pride and Prejudice to David Diaches musing that Austens novels ar usually described as social comedies, but the situation is that more or less come close to tragedy , and in fact, though it did end with the best reason scenario for Lydia, she was left to spend her life detain in a loveless marriage, as his affection for her soon sunk into indifference. Mr Collins proves there are much more to even the preposterous characters than their surface politeness.His actors line in his letter go baded him to be pompous, all the way vein and a snob as he boasts of his connection to Lady Catherine, proudly declaring it shall be my earnest endeavour to humiliate myself with grateful respect towards her ladyship, and his platitudes of wishing to regain the breach, offer an olive branch and establish the goodwill of peace in all families reveal his vanity. His roe as a unmatched figure come through as Austen treats him with scathing irony, especially when exposing his sycophancy as the first thing he is report of saying in the novel is that he had heard much of their the Bennet sisters beauty, but ame had fallen short of the truth. Aust en tells us this valor was not much to the taste of close to of his readers, set offing his obsequiency with the objective narrative. However, his proposal to Elizabeth reveals something much crueler and darker beneath this facade. He knows of the magnificence of specie in a narrow, desperate, feminine existence of financial constraint (Robert Polhemous), he and plays on this by ex apparent(a)ing that he would not ask for any money from Mr Bennet, reminding her I am come up aware that it could not be complied with.In the same way Charlotte finds herself in a position of little choice, and because of her little fortune she finds herself forced to marry the fool, as it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune. Jane Austen points out the cruelty of this home with a scathing tone of unfavorable judgment of her society, using move up evaluative wrangle to emphasise her point that however indeterminate of giving happiness, marriage moldi ness be their pleasantest protective from want.Once more Collins ceases an hazard to exploit financial dependency, and Robert Polhemus states that Charlottes cast must concern anyone who thinks seriously about the biography of women, summarising her situation as a kind of socially respectable prostitution. Mr Bennets jokes against his wife highlight him also as a comic figure, as from the beginning of the novel we learn that he frequently teases her with amused contempt, as he asks What sens be the consequence of that emphatic exclamation? of her distress, knowing perfectly well what is troubling her. There is a dry whit in his characteristically sarcastic tone, and his weapon against her is irony, which on the surface amuses the reader, but there seems something more to him. later on Elizabeth reflects on this, and imbedded within the objective narrative, in the free indirect style offers a careful analysis of Mr Bennets faults, using abstract nouns to emphasise the rational ity of her disapproval of his continuous breach of conjugal obligation and decorum.The fibber suggests that where he exposes his wife to ridicule, he should have at least preserved the respectability of his daughters, even if incapable of enlarging the mind of his wife. here(predicate) Austen points to the importance of education, and her serious tone points to the importance of ethics in her novel, show by parents who set no example for their children, leadership A. G. Sulloway to go so far as to call them parents who are morally supreme towards daughters. Mrs. Bennet tidy sum also ca-ca us laugh with her illogical, trivial mind, which Austen reveals to us with her characteristically ironic coloured narrative, as she was more alive to the disgrace, which the want of new clothes must reflect on her daughters nuptials, than to any sense of shame at her eloping and living with Wickham, a fortnight earlier they took place.This also misleads her daughters, as there can be no s urprise Lydia ends up, as Robert Polhemus observed a shallow materialist, but her character is worth more to the novel than just a silly char or bad parent, in fact she also illustrates more serious aspects of the novel, as the situation with the entail leave her struggle to get five daughters married as soon as possible.We almost intent pathos for her with this stress, as immediately we are told the business of her life was to get her daughters married, with the use of the word business underlining its necessity. Jane Austen does not only concern herself with marriages which entrap poor or plain girls, but also explores how an individual can receive personal fulfillment. As our protagonist, Vivien Jones sees that Elizabeth believes n individual happiness as a legitimate goal in marriage, and this leads her to refuse two proposals before obtaining enough evidence that it is proper(a) for her to settle with one man. Henry Tilney of Jane Austens Northanger Abbey say Man has the advantage of choice, women only the power of refusal, and exerting this power came completely unexpectedly to Mr. Collins, whom believed she did on the Q.T. mean to accept, Mr Darcy, who we are told had no doubt of a favourable answer.Elizabeth insists in both cases this because of a lack of desire, proving her search for a husband also one for rational happiness, an idea which Austen presents as the only way for Claire Tomalins dream denouement. To gain happiness he also demonstrated a eveloement throughout the novel, as he was educated from dress and prejudice to his own rational happiness. This is demonstrated as he goes from seeing her family connections as a degradation to allowing Mr Gardiner, the Uncle in trade, to become unceasingly on the most intimate terms come the end of the novel.So, through development of morals and search that delves below surface trivialities our protagonists are allowed their happy ending, which is much in strain to those characters with little choice of few morals. We see that through the use of her comic characters Austen very demonstrates a much more sinister side to her society, and the constraint felt by women of the time is evidence that she is reporting on much more than just a polite society.