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Pride and Prejudice 62894 Views


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Description:

Elizabeth thinks Darcy's a callous jerk; he thinks she’s a gold-digger. You know these two are just MFEO.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Pride and Prejudice, a la Shmoop: Keeping Up With the Bennets.

00:08

Independence gets a lot of good press. . . . . .as well as some epic celebrations.

00:14

When we go to the movies. . . ...we can't get enough of characters who are

00:17

fearless. . . . . .feisty. . .

00:19

. . .and know how to stand up for themselves. Which pretty much sums up Elizabeth Bennet.

00:24

So, if she was so independent. . . . . .why did she cave and marry Darcy?

00:30

Was it because she was in looovvve? Once she and Darcy got through all that messy

00:36

miscommunication. . . . . .she probably thought they had a good

00:40

shot at a marriage of equals. . . . . .even if he did majorly diss her at that

00:45

party. And if a little romance wasn't reason enough,.

00:49

. . . . .let's not forget her family's situation.

00:52

The Bennets were broke. . . . . .and Darcy had a boatload of cash and

00:55

a sweet place to live. Maybe she was just being a dutiful daughter.

00:59

 Marrying into money and privilege to lift her family out of their financial woes...

01:03

Was it really her fault that marrying Darcy would make her life easier?

01:07

And it was the 19th Century, by the way. Women didn't have a lot of options.

01:12

Internet dating wouldn't come around for another hundred years or so.

01:18

Marriage was something expected of a woman. It wasn't about love so much as forming unions

01:22

between families, and moving up in the world. Even royalty would use marriage as a way to

01:28

form alliances with other kingdoms. After all, a princesses was expected to marry

01:34

a prince... it was her duty. Even if he was a little less than charming.

01:39

So, why did Elizabeth and Darcy get hitched? Was it all about the love. . .

01:45

. . .a great opportunity to help her struggling family. . .

01:48

. . .or was she just doing what a woman was expected to do?

01:52

Shmoop amongst yourselves

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