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Hi I'm John Green, this is Crash Course Literature.
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And today we'll continue our discussion of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, a
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book that reads like it was written by your funny and mean best friend, who also happens
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to be a brilliant novelist and a pretty interesting moral philosopher.
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I mean, I love my best friend, but I REALLY
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wish Jane Austen was my best friend.
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But let's face it, she wouldn't have been that into me.
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Last time we talked about the political context of the novel, and how to choose between your
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personal fulfillment and the good of your family.
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Today we'll look at whether it's an endorsement of materialism or a rejection of it.
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We'll also consider the novel's politics--whether it's liberal or conservative in its outlook.
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And we'll enjoy some sexy, sexy landscape description.
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But first let's consider the epistemological problems of the novel.
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Because here at Crash Course we know how to party.
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And also we just learned the meaning of the word epistemological.
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Let's go.
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INTRO So, epistomology is the study of knowledge--it's
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knowing how we know, and what it means to know.
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And knowledge is a real problem in Pride and Prejudice--much of the plot hinges on what
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people know and when they know it, and how they can be sure of knowledge.
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Remember this is Regency England.
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If you like someone you can't immediately Google them or snapchat them or, I have no idea what
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people do.
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Compared to today's young people, I basically grew up in Regency England.
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At the beginning of the novel, Jane and Mr. Bingley meet, Jane has no way to let him
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know that she likes him.
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She can't just swipe right, or left--I really, I don't know.
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I don't know any of this stuff..
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I'm trying to sound young, and hip, and relatable, and I should just give up because
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I'm one year younger than Jane Austen was when she DIED.
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I'm sorry, what were we talking about?
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Right.
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Jane has no way of discovering just how available he is.
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Characters have to rely on gossip, subtle
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inquiries sometimes in the form of letters, and what they can see with their own eyes.
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But Austen is skeptical about whether or not you can trust the evidence of your own eyes.
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When Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy see each other they hate each other.
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And months go by before they learn enough
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about each other to readjust those initial impressions.
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Mr. Darcy's pride flourishes because he doesn't know or understand the people around
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him.
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The same goes for Elizabeth's prejudice.
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In addition to constantly reminding us how little we know about other people, Austen
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also questions how little we know of ourselves.
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Elizabeth is the character that most of us will identify with in this novel.
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Austen wrote in a letter, “I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in
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print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her at least, I do not
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know.”
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But even clever Elizabeth has to admit that she has been mistaken in most of her beliefs,
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particularly ones about herself.
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Once she learns the truth of the bad feelings
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between Darcy and Wickham, she has to acknowledge her own prejudices and even says, “Till
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this moment, I never knew myself.”
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One of the most fascinating things Austen does in this book is to put the reader into
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the place of not knowing.
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Take the scene in which Elizabeth watches Wickham, whom she likes, and Mr. Darcy, whom
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she hates, run into each other.
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At this point, she believes that Mr. Darcy
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has cheated Wickham of his inheritance, but when she sees them, she doesn't know what
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to believe: “Elizabeth happening to see the countenance
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of both as they looked at each other, was all astonishment at the effect of the meeting.
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Both changed colour, one looked white, the other red.
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Mr. Wickham after a few moments, touched his hat -- a salutation which Mr. Darcy just deigned
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to return.
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What could be the meaning of it?”
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Not only do we not know why one turned white and one turned red, we don't even know who
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turned which color.
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Elizabeth presumably knows that, of course, but by calling attention to what we as readers
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don't know, Austen is also reminding us of all that Elizabeth doesn't know--just
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how often she has to wonder, What could be the meaning of it?.
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Speaking of meaning, Pride and Prejudice spends a lot of time examining the meaning of money.
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Austen lets us know how much everyone has, where it comes from, how much they stand to
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inherit, and so on.
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Let's check everyone's accounts in the Thoughtbubble.
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Mr. Bennet has 2,000 pounds per year, which just about puts him into the upper middle
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class.
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But because his estate is entailed and will be inherited by the nearest male relative
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when he and his wife die, his daughters will only have a share of what their mother brought
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into the marriage.
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Each daughter will get about forty pounds
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a year.
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It's hard to estimate how much this is in today's money; it could mean as little as
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a few thousand dollars though, so definitely not enough to live comfortably.
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Mr. Bingley has at least 5,000 pounds per year, which is very nice.
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But Darcy has at least double that every year from rents on his land.
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He might make even more on the interest from his investments, so it's safe to think of
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him as kind of a multimillionaire.
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His sister Georgiana has an inheritance of 30,000, so even assuming a conservative investment,
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she'll be fine.
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Wickham inherited 1,000 pounds from Mr. Darcy's father and then Mr. Darcy gave him 3,000 more
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when Wickham decided to quit the clergy.
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But he spent it all, so he'll need to marry rich.
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Obviously Lydia isn't rich, but between paying his debts and buying his commission,
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Mr. Darcy gives Wickham another 1,500 pounds.
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Plus, he may even have given him 10,000 more in order to convince him to marry Lydia and
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avoid scandal.
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Thanks, Thoughtbubble.
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Whether the amount of money someone indicates moral worth?
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Which may seem like a answer question in 21 century investment banker America.
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But in 19 century England things were a little different.
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For instance, Darcy is certainly richer than Wickham, and morally superior.
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But in a couple of places the novel seems to make the point that money isn't everything.
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Mr. Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine has plenty of money, but that doesn't stop her from
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being portrayed as a killjoy and a snob.
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Austen satirizes her materialism, like the way Lady Catherine pays attention to how nice
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people's carriages are or how Mr. Collins fawns over Lady Catherine and her daughter
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just because they're rich.
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But Austen satirizes materialism in people
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who have less money, too, like Wickham with his debts.
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The book is also pretty hard on Lydia who can't afford to buy lunch for her sisters
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because she's spent all her money on a disgusting hat, saying, “Look here, I have bought this
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bonnet.
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I do not think it is very pretty; but I thought I might as well buy it as not.”
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Here, Austen seems to be suggesting that how
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you spend money probably matters as much or more than how much of it you have.
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Quick side note: The growing industrialization
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of England meant that more artifacts were available to the average person.
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And when I say artifacts, I mean everything from, you know, pots and pans to clothing.
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Even a generation or two before, the middle class had been vastly smaller, and there weren't
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as many, like, materials to be materialistic about.
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So almost all people, almost all of the time would have been buying lunch, rather than
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buying bonnets.
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Maybe, then money can actually chip away at personal happiness and moral character?
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Again, not exactly.
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Austen doesn't come out and say that you should marry for money, but the novel does
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seem to endorse the idea that the characters who acquire the most money will be the happiest.
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Clearly Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy will live happily ever after and so will Jane and Mr.
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Bingley.
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Charlotte and Mr. Collins are only a little happy, because Mr. Collins is almost as horrible
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as Mary, but they'll probably be happier once Mr. Collins inherits.
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And it doesn't seem like Lydia and Wickham, who have the least, won't be happy at all.
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They don't even like each other by the time the book ends.
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And it's only Mr. Darcy's money that saved Lydia from total disgrace.
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And also, we need to remember how and why Elizabeth falls in love with Mr. Darcy.
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Part of it is the letter he sends and part of it has to do with how he rescues her sister,
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but a lot of it has to do with his estate, Pemberley.
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When Elizabeth first sees Pemberley, we get a rare passage of description in the book:
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“It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed
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by a ridge of high woody hills;—and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled
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into greater, but without any artificial appearance… and at that moment she felt that to be mistress
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of Pemberley might be something!”
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Now, obviously this is a stand-in for Mr. Darcy himself, who is also large and handsome
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and not artificial.
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But it's the revelation of his beautiful estate that really wins Elizabeth's heart,
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which suggests that even Pemberley isn't just a metaphor for Darcy; Darcy is also a
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metaphor for Pemberley.
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Now, it's easy to argue that this is a conservative book.
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Everyone gets married in the end.
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Elizabeth gets to be both happy and rich.
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Mr. Darcy, an authoritarian figure who holds power over a lot of people, turns out to be
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the hero.
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And Wickham, the upstart who comes from the servant class, is the villain.
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So the established social hierarchy gets reaffirmed in terms of class, and also in terms of gender.
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Elizabeth seemed so free-thinking and independent-minded, but her reward is to subjugate herself to
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the wealthy aristocrat who said that her looks were tolerable.
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On the other hand, you could argue that the book is a lot more radical than that.
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Yes, Mr. Darcy makes Elizabeth happy, but arguing for her own individual happiness is
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really progressive stance.
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Like, when Lady Catherine tries to get Elizabeth to say that she will never marry Mr. Darcy,
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Elizabeth replies, “I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own
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opinion, constitute my happiness.''
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My own opinion.
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My happiness.
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Maybe that doesn't sound revolutionary, but it is.
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This book was written in a time when individual happiness was not privileged over family status
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and security, And that was especially true for the individual
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happiness of women.
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So Elizabeth saying that she would only act in a manner that would constitute her happiness
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is a claiming of full personhood, with certain inalienable rights, including liberty
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and the pursuit of happiness. She's saying not only that her opinion matters,
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but that she gets to make the final decisionin what she does independent of what
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her family wants for her, which was another radical idea for women in Regency England.
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The novel also suggests that Elizabeth's vivacity will have a beneficial effect on
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Mr. Darcy, hinting that it might be possible to work from within to change some of the
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older, more authoritarian systems.
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She's not wild or flighty or always buying terrible bonnets like Lydia, but she is independent-minded.
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The fact that Mr. Darcy falls for her suggests that maybe he, and men like him, are capable
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of change.
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Now this would be a darker novel or a more radical one if it actually made Elizabeth
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choose between happiness and financial security, instead of presenting all of that—and Pemberley,
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too—courtesy of Mr. Darcy.
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But it is no sin for a book to have a happy ending, and Pride and Prejudice is still a
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vindication of Elizabeth's character and temperament and it makes a really persuasive
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argument for personal happiness as a moral category worth celebrating.
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So go forth and pursue some happiness yourself.
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And thanks for watching.