Pride and Prejudice was written in 1813 by Jane Austen and it was a classic regency

novel. In that work, there is a vast variety of themes which are pride, prejudice, love,
society… One of the fundamental themes in the novel Pride and Prejudice is pride, a
characteristic which both characters Lizzy and Darcy own in the whole novel.

As Mary says in. one of the chapters: “human nature is particularly prone to pride”.
Throughout Pride and Prejudice, pride forestalls the characters from seeing the truth
of a situation. Particularly, it is one of the two main barriers in the way of a joining
between Elizabeth and Darcy. Darcy’s pride makes anyone who is not within their
social circle, scorn him or her due to the great social power that Darcy has. Meanwhile,
Elizabeth’s pride in her powers of discernment cloud her judgement.

In addition, there is the intellectual pride which owns Mr. Bennet when he scoffs Mary.
In the novel, Bennet makes a mockery of Mary by talking to her and saying, “what say
you, Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection I know, and read great books,
and makes extracts.” At this point, Mary felt that this was a mockery and felt that she
should say something but held her breath knowing it was not the right time to say it.
Out of his pride, he never let Mary to change her ideas to respond to him, because
unfortunately she has lacked social skills and she does not know how to interact with
the people around her.

On the other hand, Lady Catherine is seen to be so proud of herself due to the social
status that she is in. she bases her pride in the wealth, and in this way, she overvalues
her ability to own more and more riches. Her pride shows that she is skilled of doing
anything. According to the novel, her pride is shown through the statement that she
makes. She says, “there are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true
enjoyment of music than me, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learned, I should
have been a great proficient.” That minor pride is not supported by any aspect of her
life.

To sum up, although both main characters own a huge feeling of pride, these two find
happiness by helping each other overcome his/her pride and to face the great main
barrier which joins them.