Kimberly Hallows
Professor Karen Dodwell
English 3113
10 April 2011
Pride and Prejudice: A Fairy Tale
In Daryl Jones’s critical essay on Pride and Prejudice, he asserts claims that the novel is in fact a fairy tale,
in which opposites attract, and in which a feisty, intelligent heroine in financially strained circumstances overcomes the opposition of a backward-looking tradition and authority, as well as the preconceptions about class and money to which her own skeptical intelligence has initially predisposed her, to win the hand of a man who is effectively the richest man in England. (Jones 149)
Other critics however, such as Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, claim that the women in Austen’s novels are simply submitting to authority, allowing themselves to began marriages that lack any free will or emotional involvement. I have to argue with Jones that while the aforementioned is sometimes true in Austen’s novels, there are exceptions in Pride and Prejudice; The women in this novel, for the most part, are hoping to not only marry for security, but also hope to be swooned by a respectable suitor, making Pride and Prejudice a fairy tale.


A fairy tale is defined in the Webster Dictionary as  “a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending” (“fairy tale”). It is improbable, for several reasons, throughout Pride and Prejudice that the Benet women would end up in “marriages which are, by any standards, spectacularly lucrative”, rescuing them from poverty and their dysfunctional family (Jones153).
At the time that this novel was written, the laws of inheritance were changing, stating that an estate was to be left for a male heir. “Collateral male relatives-such as the brothers of a woman’s father, or even a nephew-were often placed in the inheritance line before the woman, if there were no male offspring in a family” (Perry 119). This was done so that the family name could stay attached to the estate being inherited (this was called entailment). It is because of this law that Mr. Bennet’s cousin, Mr. Collins, inherits Longbourn, rather than his wife or daughters.
Had Mr. Bennet saved money for the family, it would not be so important for the girls to be married, but he failed to do so, believing that he and Mrs. Bennet would give birth to a son.“This son was to join in cutting off the entail, as soon as he should be of age, and the widow and younger children would by that means be provided for” (Austen 200). Without a son, and without any of their daughters marrying men with suitable incomes, the Bennet women face homelessness, poverty and starvation. This leaves Mrs. Bennet to worry, so the majority of her time is spent looking for eligible men for her girls.
“Mrs. Bennet’s obsession with marrying off her daughters at all costs stems from real practical parental concern- if they do not marry, they may starve, especially given that Mr. Bennet himself has made no provision for his daughters’ futures” (Jones 152). Mrs. Bennet is a hysteric woman whom believes that the likelihood of the girls actually falling in love with someone should be the least of their worries, mostly due to the fact that Mr. Bennet is so careless.
The situation of the women in Pride and Prejudice is very similar to the well-known fairy tale Cinderella, where the heroine is in a home providing little comfort, and her only chance to escape comes in the form of marriage. While the Bennet women are not treated as badly as Cinderella, they are left in a predicament in which they face poverty, yet finding their true love, whom happens to be wealthy, rescues them from the uncertainty they face at home. Also like Cinderella, Jane and Elizabeth find marriages that fulfill their romantic needs, rather than just their financial needs, which Elizabeth proves by rejecting marriage proposals throughout the novel.
From the beginning of the novel the Benet sisters are waiting on their father to go talk to the new bachelor in town, Mr. Bingley, and when Mr. Bennet fails to show any sense of urgency, their mother is distraught. Mrs. Bennet knows that if one of her daughters is lucky enough to marry Bingley, they will all be safe from poverty when Mr.Bennet passes away. Bingley is a man of a higher class than they, who has bought land and gains a lot of wealth in doing so. Bingley could then be compared to the prince in Cinderella. All the women in town hope that he will choose them and rescue them from their boring lives they lead at home. In the critical essay, “Waiting Together: Pride and Prejudice,” Nina Auerbach argues that the women in Pride and Prejudice are constantly waiting for men to appear before anything truly important or exciting can happen to them, just as the women do in both of these fairytales.
Auerbach also claims that without the presence of men in the novel, Austen withholds any description of comfort, such as food and description of the surroundings in an estate. It is not until Mr. Bingley visits that food is described in the Bennet home. “Mrs. Bennet is perpetually begging any and all eligible males to come to a dinner we have never seen the family at Longbourn eat, as if only in their presence  can nourishment present itself” (Auerbach 331).
Longbourn, the Bennet estate, is also never described in full detail, yet Darcy’s Pemberly estate is. In fact, it is when Elizabeth visits Pemberly that we first get a description of an estate where, “from every window there were beauties to be seen” (Austen 159).
The grounds are described in detail and Elizabeth expresses a delight that contrasts with the boredom felt at Longbourn. “Every disposition of the ground was good; and she looked on the whole scene, the river, the trees scattered on its banks, and the winding of the valley, as far as she could trace it with delight” (Austen 159). In Cinderella, the bachelor is a prince whom lives in a castle full of expensive things and all the comforts that could be offered. In both Pride and Prejudice and Cinderella, the women are not in uncomfortable homes in a literal sense but rather a metaphorical sense; Cinderella is not treated as an equal in her home and the Bennet women are just left to worry about their futures. The presentation of comfort through a male suitor suggests that there is no comfort without the man, or rather, the provider.
There is no description of the home of Mr. Bennet, I believe, because he has failed to provide the financial means necessary for the women to survive when he is gone. This leaves them with a lack of comfort, food and home, so there is no need for Longbourn to be described when he provides none of these things for the novels main family. Bingley’s visit, however, brings about the opportunity for the women to have these things, and this is why comfort is provided textually during his visit.
Despite the sense of comfort provided only by the men of wealth in fairy tales, Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr. Collins proposal convinces me to disagree with the idea that the women are waiting for just any bachelor to come along and rescue them. The fact that Mr. Collins can provide for Elizabeth and rescue her family does not overshadow her lack of feelings for him, so she rejects him. Elizabeth refuses to marry without any real desire to do so because she hopes for complete happiness.
 I do assure you, sir, that I have no pretensions whatever to that kind of elegance which consists in tormenting a respectable man. I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere. I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposals, but to accept them is absolutely impossible. My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female, intending to plague you, but as a rational creature, speaking the truth from her heart. (Austen 74-75)
It could be interpreted that the desire to marry someone for love and not only security in this time period, would be an unlikely extension of imagination, not something to be taken seriously by a woman who is facing poverty and starvation.
Austen’s self-division—her fascination with the imagination and her anxiety that it is unfeminine—is part of her consciousness of the unique dilemma of all women, who must acquiesce in their status as objects after an adolescence in which they experience themselves as free agents. (Gilbert and Gubar 161)
Elizabeth, in my opinion, allows herself to be a free agent throughout the novel. She rejects two very lucrative marriage proposals and walks long distances in damp weather, in which “her appearance created a great deal of surprise. -That she would have walked three miles so early in the day, in such dirty weather and by herself, was almost incredible to Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley; and Elizabeth was convinced that they held her in contempt for it” (Austen 23).These are things that women, whom saw themselves as objects in this time period, would not dare to do. Elizabeth does not alter her ideals and desires in order to fit the mold of the common women on the marriage market. She is strong willed and refuses to be held down by the social standards of her time; therefore she is a female character who disproves the idea of the female proposed by Gilbert and Gubar.
If anyone in this novel is an “object,” it is Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s good friend and neighbor, who does not believe in refusing security in order to find love. Her belief is one just opposite of Elizabeth’s, saying that if you choose a man whom is able to support you, you will have your whole lives to grow to actually like each other. She proposes that, “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance” Austen 16). With this mindset, she accepts a proposal from Mr. Collins after Elizabeth has rejected him, thus she ends up married to a man whom she never wants to be anywhere near, yet who provides for her financially. “Charlotte is interested in neither the man nor the relationship, only the marriage,” which makes her the exception to the fairy tale aspect in this novel. She does not marry at all for romantic feelings (Tave 33).
Mr. Collins initial role in this novel is to marry one of the Bennet girls because of his entitlement to their estate, which is enforced by the rules of inheritance I described earlier. If he married one of the daughters, all the Bennet women would be able to stay at Longbourn in the event of Mr. Bennet’s death. He chose Elizabeth to propose to and she unfortunately turns him down, shocking her mother. This was their only chance of remaining at the Bennet estate and Elizabeth denied it, ruining not only her own, but all the Bennett women’s chances of survival. This is Liz’s first denial of marriage due to the lack of emotional attachment she feels for the suitor and our first example of a women whom will not subject herself to unhappiness in order to survive.
Elizabeth Bennet is very different from Charlotte Lucas because she believes that whoever she marries should make her happy, rather than just support her. Elizabeth sees no point in marrying someone unless she finds them to be intelligent, of well social standing and charming. Elizabeth is perhaps the most intelligent amongst all the characters in Pride and Prejudice so for her to marry someone who might not understand her would not be acceptable. Darcy has the qualities Elizabeth is looking for, yet he lacks humility, causing Elizabeth to initially dismiss him as a suitor.
On their first meeting Darcy is very prideful, even conceited and Elizabeth does not believe that people should act the way he does, regardless of their social status or their estate.  Charlotte notices his rudeness, commenting, “he is such a disagreeable man that it would be quite a misfortune to be liked by him”(Austen 13). However, his behavior is not the only thing that keeps her from him.
In Cinderella the evil stepmother is the villain; she tries to keep Cinderella away from the prince. In Pride and Prejudice, there are several villains, Mr. Wickham being the first. He convinces Elizabeth that Darcy has treated him terribly and that he is not a good man. It is at this point that the only impression Elizabeth has about Darcy are his rude behavior and his mistreatment of a friend.
Despite the idea that Darcy has no feelings for any of the women in the novel, he proposes to Elizabeth, surprising her and she harshly rejects the first proposal. This is where she shows, just as she did with her rejection of Mr. Collins, that she would not marry without love, regardless of the security she would find being married to some like Darcy. “The narrative route offered by Darcy’s first proposal, if then accepted by the heroine, would doubtlessly have answered her material and perhaps-eventually-her romantic needs. But at this point in her narrative sequence, the proposal is directly against her will” (Tauchert 211). Darcy is very well off with a large estate and a large inheritance but Elizabeth does not have any feelings for him at the time of his first proposal because she has been misled.
            Soon thereafter, the second villain appears. Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt, is an upper class woman who visits Elizabeth with the intent to convince her to stay away from Darcy. She tries convincing Elizabeth that Darcy is too high status for her, especially with her upbringing. Elizabeth defends her family and refuses to promise that she will not marry Darcy.
The following day Darcy gives Elizabeth the letter explaining the truth about lies she had been told and showing her that he is not the terrible person Wickham made him seem to be. This letter is the turning point in which Elizabeth’s feelings towards Darcy begin to change.
When Elizabeth visits Pemberly, her opinion of Darcy is altered even more.  His servants speak highly of him, “I have never heard a cross word from him in my life, and I have known him ever since he was four years old” (Austen 161). Elizabeth cannot deny Darcy’s fine character when the woman that knows him the best speaks so highly of him.
            When Darcy appears at Pemberly unexpectedly, he is extremely nice to Elizabeth and here aunt and uncle, surprising Elizabeth. While talking to Elizabeth’s uncle
The conversation soon turned upon finishing, and she heard Mr. Darcy invite him, with the greatest civility, to fish there as often as he chose, while he continued in the neighborhood, offering at the same time to supply him with fishing tackle, and pointing out those parts of the stream where there was usually most sport. (Austen 165)
Elizabeth did not expect this from Darcy because her family is of much lower social class than he and she thought his prejudices would keep him from sharing his land with lower class people. The longer she spent at Pemberly, admiring the scenery and hearing servants praise Darcy, the more she grew fond of him.
Darcy’s estate strongly influences Liz’s opinion of him also. This is where Auerbach’s assertion comes into play again; the Pemberly estate is very detailed when described, just as she says it will be in the presence of a male. There is a comfort that is non-existent at Longbourn. When Darcy asks Elizabeth to marry again him the second time, she finally agrees. She is then in love with his true character and in awe of the estate, along with Darcy’s ability to provide for her.
            The fairy tale continues to provide unlikely events when Jane and Bingley are reunited. “In the marriage of Jane and Bingley we have the triumph of romantic lover over social obstacles and the removal of the threat which hangs over the Bennet women in the form of irrational law of entail” (Paris 99-100).
Bingley is a wealthy man whom visits Netherfield, close to Longbourn and forms a bond with Elizabeth’s sister Jane. By marrying a man like Bingley, Jane would not only be moving up in social class and protecting herself from the threat of starvation mentioned earlier, but she would also be in a marriage which was pursued through infatuation, due to the fact that her and Bingley are very fond of one another. “Even Jane and Bingley fall in love very rapidly after only a few evenings together; but in their case a natural sympathy and likeness of temperament and tastes makes the prognostic happier than it might have been” (Brooke 35).
            Throughout the early part of them getting to know each other, Jane is invited to the Bingley home to visit and the chance of them ending up married seems very likely. Jane becomes ill, putting her in a position where she has to remain at his home longer, and allowing the two more time to become enamored with one another. With Jane’s recovery, she returns to Longbourn. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, Bingley leaves for the winter to return home and Jane doesn’t hear from him again, leaving her crushed, because she is infatuated with him. His absence also leaves Mrs. Bennet very distraught; She believes that with Elizabeth turning down Mr. Collins, and Bingley leaving Jane, her daughters will never be married and they will all be left without any financial support. It doesn’t appear, however, that Jane is concerned about her financial well being, she is more concerned that she will not see Bingley again and her heart will not heal. When Jane visits the city and sees Bingley’s sisters but still doesn’t see Bingley, she becomes even more crushed.
            The reader later learns that Darcy was the real cause of Bingley leaving Jane behind and no longer pursuing anything with her because Darcy felt that there were no real feelings between them. Darcy thought he was protecting his friend by keeping him from marrying into a family of lower social class. Darcy must fix his wrong doing though, because he becomes a hypocrite by also falling for a Bennet.  “He is so much in love, however, that he decides to make a social sacrifice for the sake of personal satisfaction” (Paris 105).
The men in this novel fall in love just as the women do. Bingley, like Darcy would gain nothing more than companionship from marrying a Bennet, yet they both chose to do so because the girls charmed them. Jane and Bingley conversed quite a bit after first meeting, which generally leads a man and women to grow fond of one another.
If the women in this novel were not concerned with their personal happiness and finding a partner they had real romantic feelings for, they would all have married in the way that Charlotte Lucas did, for money. Elizabeth would never have rejected Mr. Collins had she not cared about the romance that can be shared between two people, nor would she have rejected a man as wealthy as Mr. Darcy, regardless of her initial impression of his foul mood and condescending attitude towards the classes below him. Jane would not have been as saddened when Bingley left town, she simply would have tried to impress the next suitor that came along. Just as in a fairytale, these women were rescued by men who not only proved to be great providers and could rescue the women from their dull home lives, they also grew fond of the young men, just as the men grew fond of them. These women break social expectations of their time and disprove claims that Jane Austen’s character simply marry for security and are lifeless without men. Pride and Prejudice is a fairy tale romance, providing an exciting story which has it’s share of difficulties, yet the women come out ahead in the end, marrying the men they chose, based on the feelings they acquired for them.

Works Cited
Auerbach, Nina. “Waiting Together.” Criticism. Ed. Donald Gray.
     Editor Donald Gray. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 
     2001. 326-338. Print.
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York and London: W.W. 
     Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. Print.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. 
     New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984. Print.
Jones, Daryl. “Pride and Prejudice.” Bloom’s Modern Critical 
     Interpretations. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Ed. Harold 
     Bloom. Infobase Publishing, 2007. 149-168.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2011. Merriam-Webster Online. 
     Web.  18 April 2011.
Paris, Bernard J. Character and Conflict in Jane Austen’s Novels. 
     Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1978. Print.
Perry, Ruth. “Women in families: the great disinheritance” Women and 
     Literature in Britain 1700-1800. Ed. Jones, Vivien. Cambridge 
     University Press, 2000. 90-125.
Tauchert, Ashley. “Pride and Prejudice: Lydia’s Gape” Bloom’s Modern 
     Critical Interpretations. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Ed. 
     Harold Bloom. Infobase Publishing, 2007.
Tave, Stuart M. “Affection and the Amiable Man” Bloom’s Modern 
     Critical Interpretations. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Ed. 
     Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.