ELIZABETH BENNETT
In Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen creates five sisters with ver y different characters. The eldest, Jane, is beautiful, kind and placid, womanly per fection in the eyes of Regency society.
Middle sister Mar y is plain, serious and inclined to moralising. Kitty and Lydia are described as silly girls, with
Lydia the wilder of the two and caringaring nothing for society’s rules. But the sister Jane Austen puts at the centre of the stor y is Elizabeth; strong-willed, opinionated, intelligent, witty and a bit cynical. It’s clear that the author finds these qualities more attractive. Indeed, she wrote in a letter in 1813, “I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least I do not know.” More than 200 years later, society has come round to her way of thinking and Elizabeth’s qualities are definitely ones we all aspire to.