how does Jane Austen show lack of respect for Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice?
I need to write 1200 words review on it and I'd be really grateful if you jot down the points so I can elaborate it easily
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Answer:
Pride and Prejudice and the Problem of Elizabeth, Jane, and Mr. Bennet
Several relationships in Pride and Prejudice deserve primary attention. Elizabeth and Charlotte concern themselves with marriage and whether a romantic view of marriage (esteem, love, and so on) is relevant in a pragmatic world where women marry predominantly to “secure”[1] a husband, as Charlotte often reminds Elizabeth and does so herself when she marries Collins. Elizabeth and Jane each view and treat people differently; Jane tends to look for the good in others, often to the point of naiveté, whereas Elizabeth’s criticism is usually sarcastic and cynical. Then there is Elizabeth and her father, Mr. Bennet. She tends to defend her father’s doings and shares his sarcasm and cynicism. In what follows below, we will look more closely at Elizabeth’s tendency to be like her father; Jane will be assessed to provide an opposite view. A problem for the novel, then, is whether Elizabeth and her father’s sarcastic, cynical approach to life is better than Jane’s benevolence.
Mr. Bennet, in conversation with his wife in chapter one, unreservedly favors Elizabeth over his other four daughters. He says
[my daughters] are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but [Elizabeth] has something more of quickness than her sisters.
Mr. Bennet’s mean, cynical attitude towards his daughters is evident as he holds human intellect highly. “Silly” and “ignorant” both describe what Mr. Bennet believes is the weak, ignorant condition of the average female mind (“like other girls”). His excluding Elizabeth from the female populace—particularly his other daughters, due to her mind’s “quickness”—is a first step to understand why he prefers Elizabeth and how human intellect unites them.
Why emphasize the power of Elizabeth’s mind rather than other qualities (such as female “accomplishments,” which are valued by other characters in the novel, or, in this context, being “good humoured” (sic) and “handsome,” attributes mentioned by Mrs. Bennet)? In the immediate context, the narrator draws our attention to Mr. Bennet’s “quick parts,” which, like Elizabeth, refer to his intellectual abilities. Consequently, his four “silly” daughters, along with Mrs. Bennet’s “mean understanding,” would certainly make them outcasts to those possessing higher intellectual abilities.