Wednesday, September 4, 2019

I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appear

I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print – Jane Austen on Elizabeth. To what extent do you believe Elizabeth Bennet to be delightful? You should consider her words and actions throughout the novel. â€Å"I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print† – Jane Austen on Elizabeth. To what extent do you believe Elizabeth Bennet to be â€Å"delightful†? You should consider her words and actions throughout the novel. Jane Austen mentions in a letter that Elizabeth Bennet is â€Å"as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.† This quotation shows that Jane Austen clearly likes the character of Elizabeth and she thinks that Elizabeth is better than any heroine in a work of literature. The definition of delightful is â€Å"greatly pleasing or entertaining†. Therefore Jane Austen creates delight in her readers of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. Elizabeth Bennet could be considered delightful for many reasons. She is funny, clever, and witty so she brings delight to the reader of the novel. Elizabeth delights in anything ridiculous which also makes her a delightful character. â€Å"She had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.† (Vol. 1, chapter 3, p. 8.6) She also enjoys teasing Mr Darcy and Mr Collins. Elizabeth’s playful character can be seen when Elizabeth delights in mocking Mr Collins about the ball. Elizabeth’s spirits were so high on the occasion, that though she did not often speak unnecessarily to Mr Collins, she could not help asking him whether he intended to accept Mr Bingley’s invitation, and if he did, whether he would think it proper to join in the evening’s amusements. (Vol. 1, chapter 17, p.72... ...e to her character because she has flaws and of course no one is perfect. Elizabeth is delightful because she can acknowledge her flaws and she is also willing to change. These are both attractive qualities. Throughout the whole novel, we can see that Elizabeth is real and ordinary. She is not blindingly beautiful and she is not extremely intelligent. This makes us relate to her even more. Heroines which are too good to be true come across in some novels as dull because they should not be perfect. Elizabeth however is a flawed heroine just like ordinary people. One could argue that she is not delightful because of her prejudice to Mr Darcy which was wrong, but at least she realised her mistake and was willing to change her attitude towards him. Elizabeth creates delight in the readers of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† and so therefore she is a delightful character.

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