Pride and Prejudice help?

Question

I had to do about 8 questions for english so dont say "do your own homework" becuase this is the last one. How is property represented in the novel and why is it so important? Please help :( Thank you!

Answer 1

Property equals wealth and prestige. Whether the characters are rich or poor or how well kept (or well taken care of) their property is. Some characters take great pride in their property such as Mr. Collins who is so proud of himself for practically everything. For having such a grand, elitist neighbor, to fixing up his place, to having an attractive, well-mannered wife, etc. Mr. Darcy on the other hand has a very nice estate but he doesn't brag about his property, his wealth, his possessions. But in a way it is when Elizabeth views Mr. Darcy's home, his estate, that she begins to see him in a different light. She falls in love with his home and the man it represents.

Answer 2

Okay, so what's one of the first things you find out about the Bennet family? Their home, their property, is entailed on a distant relation because there are only daughters in the family. For the Bennets, property is a difficulty, because they don't have any to give to their daughters as a dowry. When Mr. Collins comes to visit, the excuse of property gives him a reason to court the Bennet girls, because he will be inheriting the property. When Collins marries Elizabeth's friend, she marries him for the property--her family has no money, and Collins will inherit the Bennet home. She certainly doesn't marry for love, so property is a very important aspect of her choice.

Think about Elizabeth's reaction when she visits Darcy's home. She hates him, but when she arrives, she sees what a beautiful place it is and starts feeling a little regretful that she turned him down. Then she meets his housekeeper, and then sees Darcy at home, where he can be himself. It's Darcy's home that brings them together, finally.

You could also talk about the importance of property to Bingley. He's "new money", meaning that he doesn't have a family estate like Darcy does, so when he considers buying the house near the Bennets, he's not just buying a house--he's buying an estate, he's buying credibility, and he's buying a step up in society. This is why he rents the house first, because buying property is such an important choice.

Think about what other houses you see or hear about in the story. Darcy's aunt's house, for example, and how it's so ostentatious, and what does that say about her personality?

I don't know how long your essay has to be, but I hope I gave you some things to think about! Start out with the Bennet house and Mr. Collins, that'll be the first thing your teacher is looking for, and then consider some other points. Good luck!

Answer 3

Good posts here. Another thought is that how they handle their property is an important contrast between Wickham and Darcy. It's not just that Darcy has property, it's how he handles it. Elizabeth admires not just the beauty of the property, but how well regulated and managed it is. Darcy's housekeeper praises him to the skies for handling his property with wisdom and generosity. Wickham, on the other hand, can't keep a cent in his pocket to save his life. The way a man manages his property is used as an indication of his character.

Answer 4

You have a reference to it at the beginning of the novel: "It is a truth universally acknowledged...." and you meet the Bennett girls. Had even one of them been a boy everything would have been well in the Bennett family, as the house would have passed to him: as it was, everything was entailed to pass to that odious Mr Collins. The latter did make himself available as a suitor to Elizabeth partly in order to right the wrong, but she wouldn't have him, and quite rightly too. So, the girls had to find husbands elsewhere. In those times, many men had lost their lives in the Napoleonic Wars and there were three women for every man. Hence the desperate fight over every eligible bachelor in sight -- and it was not necessarily for his charm or delightful manners that women would set their caps at him. Mrs Bennett is resolved to marry each of her daughters well. She likes the idea of Mr Bingley before she's ever set eyes on him. She forgives Mr Collins his unpleasantness because of his expectations and the only reason why she can't get over her odium of Mr Darcy is that he is far above the Bennetts socially.
Meanwhile, the fight rages elsewhere. Miss Bingley fancies Mr Darcy for herself and Lady Catherine De Burgh is determined to see her nephew married well. Again, it is not so much the nature of any prospective bride as her wealth and social position.
Wickham too needs to marry money. Having attempted to seduce Georgiana Darcy, he must look elsewhere. He trifles with Lydia and would never have done the right thing by her following the elopement had Mr Darcy not invested a great deal of money in making it worth his while.

All the matches in "Pride and Prejudice" are very much arranged with money and property in mind and it is by sheer good luck that the two heroines marry happily for love and with a sizeable fortune added into the equation. The question of whether they would have married poor men for love mercifully isn't raised in this book. The message is, that one must remain hard headed in such matters. Love is an extraordinary bonus!

Answer 5

In the sense that Property is the thing that adds Value to each of the characters situations, the book reveals this in most of the interactions between them. Property is where the power is and the book is about these girls not having control in their lives due to the fact that they dont have much power, and how each of them deals with it, or doesn't deal with it. And how their family is viewed. hope this is clear, I LOVE this book! ! ! actually and working on a similar peice.

Answer 6

Think od what Darcy has - everything if we think of money... But as we know, it means nothing if you don't share it with anybody... So - falling in love he realises that property means nothing.....
Eliza's property is her wittness and knowledge.

Answer 7

Property can be knowledge...and knowledge may be attained best when all questions are interpreted by the one who's asked. Never read the Novel...Maybe I should!