Because she knows her own mind and she’s not afraid to act on it.
There’s also another reason…
I’m going to quote now from the introduction to Jane Austen’s letters which were discovered and edited by her great nephew (who has a truly fantastic name) Edward Hugessen Knatchbull Hugessen, the first Lord Brabourne. He was a big fan of Elizabeth Bennet because “…she is far more like a personal acquaintance…one enters into her feelings, understands her thoughts, her hopes and her fears, and cannot help taking the same sort of interest in her proceedings as if she was one’s own relation.” I am going to add to this – or as if she was a close friend.
Elizabeth Bennet has qualities which we would all want in a friend (and, I suspect would like for our friends to say about us). She is moral, honourable, trustworthy, kind and caring. Yes she may be prejudiced at the beginning of the story by D’Arcy’s behaviour but I doubt you’ll be able to find anyone (I’m guessing yourself included) who at some point or another wouldn’t respond in the same way. Especially considering that D’Arcy snubs her at the Meryton Assembly – a large social event – not a situation which Elizabeth is about to forgive and forget.
When I was a teenager if anyone was going to say which Jane Austen heroine was their favourite it was Emma Woodhouse. Due to her flaws we have an entertaining story – Emma was always the heroine that people chose. Then came that adaptation: autumn 1995, Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth amongst a superb cast working with a very well adapted script amidst a strong BBC production. Since then, no one has looked back. Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet (and yes, D’Arcy) have become the favourites due to their deeply human qualities. Poor Emma Woodhouse has been left at the side-lines, still at Highgrove, waiting for Mr Knightly to advise her how to claim her once top position.
So what was is it about Pride and Prejudice? About that adaptation that resonated so strongly with it’s audience? Yes the adaptation may not be 100% faithful to the book, but equally, it doesn’t veer off like many adaptations tend to and it does keep the story’s core qualities. In fact, it’s those very core qualities which appeal so strongly to us now that were not, oh so correct, for a lady in the 1810s, or even the 1790s when the first drafts of Pride and Prejudice were written…
There is Elizabeth Bennet’s highly unladylike trek through the countryside to see her sick sister Jane. Jane’s visit to Mr Bingley has resulted in an impromptu stay at his house with his family after she falls ill there. Elizabeth is concerned about her favourite sister’s health and she willingly walks through the muddy countryside to see her. When she arrives she is not in the perfect state of attire. Her shoes and the bottom of her dress is covered in mud and her hair, I suspect, would be somewhat windswept. Usually the author would be pointing out to the reader the consequences of such unwomanly behaviour, but Jane Austen has Elizabeth arriving like this so D’Arcy can comment later on her ‘fine eyes’. She gives us Elizabeth Bennet being disarrayed so we understand why D’Arcy sees the affect that exercise has had on Elizabeth Bennet (subtext for sex) and something begins to subconsciously stir within him.
For us, at the beginning of the twenty first century we’re hardly going to fall off our chair at such raunchy thoughts. Yet Jane Austen was being daring. She has made Elizabeth Bennet independent. She has appeared unexpectedly at the Bingley’s home looking dishevelled, which is not what society would expect from a young lady. This, accompanied by the subtext of her being a bit flushed and D’Arcy thinking hang on a minute, she’s rather attractive after all…this was most definitely not what polite society ladies should have been reading. Or thinking!
Secondly, Elizabeth does not do what is expected of her to help her family. Jane Austen shows us this by contrasting Elizabeth with her best friend Charlotte Lucas. The highly sensible Charlotte Lucas goes on to marry the obsequious Mr Collins after Elizabeth has (in her family’s eyes) unwisely turned him down. Mr Collins is everything that Elizabeth isn’t. He would drain the life out of Elizabeth – she is too quick witted and lively and would have ended up a deranged husk of herself had she married him. Duty to her family says she is supposed to marry him due to the fact that she has no brothers and as Mr Collins is her cousin, he will ultimately inherit their family home. Therefore if Elizabeth doesn’t accept Mr Collins proposal it is no exaggeration of Mrs Bennet’s when she says that after Mr Bennet has died they will quite literally have nowhere to live. Jane Austen knew what she was doing here and is gently ramping up the pressure for our heroine. Yet Elizabeth cannot lie and sell herself. And we admire her for. She cannot stand Mr Collins’s proposal and we are left, like her sensing what she has escaped.
Her strong mindedness is something which as a reader we enjoy as well as admire. When the book was written this was not an admirable quality. She should be more like Fanny Price in Mansfield Park and she should accept the demands of duty and family. Elizabeth knows that to be true to herself she has to be in love before she can marry and she has to know that the man she is loving is as strong and shares her values. These are not value’s for Jane Austen’s times though they are for today. Thus Elizabeth rejects D’Arcy’s first proposal, giving up a level of financial security unheard of for her and her family. Yet D’Arcy proposes against his will, still having to discover Elizabeth’s qualities for himself. He may sense them or be drawn to her via sheer animal magnetism, but he doesn’t know the true Elizabeth yet. It is correct for her to reject him at this time and it takes a strong woman to contain herself and control her emotions as she does.
Another moment of fantastic strength of character (and frankly one of my favourite moments in any of Austen’s novels) is when Lady Catherine de Bourgh visits Elizabeth Bennet near the end of the novel. By now Elizabeth has fallen in love with D’Arcy but she doesn’t know that her feelings are reciprocated. Lady Catherine de Bourgh tries to browbeat and manipulate Elizabeth and fails.
Who wouldn’t want a friend like that? One loyal, so trustworthy and so discreet. Yet she will not compromise herself or lie. Following her journey is compelling. I’ve never been able to read the end of the story slowly. It’s hardly surprising that Elizabeth Bennet is such a popular heroine.
