Essay on the Metamorphosis in Pride and Prejudice -- Pride and Prejudi

Metamorphosis in feel and Prejudice As the story develops in Jane Austens novel, Pride and Prejudice, the reader is witness to a shift in attitude between the principle characters. The chapter in which Elizabeth Bennetts reactions to Mr. Darcys letter are explored provides valuable insights into this metamorphosis. The first verbal description of Elizabeths state upon perusing Fitzwilliam Darcys revelatory missive is characteristic of Austen when relating heavy emotion she doesnt. Her feelings as she read were scarcely to be defined, she tells us (Austen 233). Of course, all this negation of representational skills is purely for dramatic effect, and Miss Austen goes on to provide a full account of every aspect of Elizabeths emotional upheaval per her reading of the letter, but not, however, without using the gizmo again in the second paragraph, in treating the subject of the truth about Mr. Wickham. Elizabeths feelings are conveyed as having been ...yet more acutely pa inful and more difficult of definition. give tongue to difficulty is indeed short lived, as the next sentence reads, Astonishment, apprehension, and even horror, oppressed her (Austen 233). The Wickham segment of the chapter, spanning pages 234, 235, and the better part of 236, is signifi preemptt not so practically in its development of Wickhams character, as in what it does to Elizabeth. After the aforementioned astonishment et. al., Elizabeth momentarily engages in denial (This must be false This cannot be This is the grossest craft (Austen 233)) but eventually her intellectual faculties regain their footing and she settles down to a second mortifying perusal of all that related to Wickham, and commands herself ... ... character about whom we can care, in the midst of a narrative which is not a chore to read. Works Cited Auerbach, Nina. Waiting Together Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. modernistic York Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 33 6-348. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Ed. Donald Gray. New York Norton and Co., 1993. Harding, D. W. Regulated Hatred An Aspect in the Work of Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 291-295. Johnson, Claudia L. Pride and Prejudice and the Pursuit of Happiness. Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 367-376. Mudrick, Marvin.Irony as Discovery in Pride and Prejudice. Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 295-303.