On Social Classes in Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, life for the upper-middle class and the aristocracy was simple and comfortable, at least on the surface. Strict manners and “morals,” that often prevented them from asserting or protecting themselves, bound these two classes of people. Such lifestyles are illustrated quite honestly in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. The characters in this novel have comfortable lives on the surface; however, internally they are victims of …

…ruins Bingley’s most promising marriage conquest by breaking Bingley and Jane Bennet up. These characters, though wealthy, and well entertained, became obvious victims of their social class, and its “code of ethics.” The more wealth one had, the tougher their rules of etiquette became, often forcing these people to forfeit their roles as thinking human beings. This fact rings true not only in Pride and Prejudice, but also in life during that time period.