Jane Austen's picture of humanity did include virtue,
sense, and taste. If she is a portrait of her writings, she held high standards on
morality, sense, and good taste. Through her writings, women were virtuous. One virtuous
character would be that of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth was a good
person with good sense. Elizabeth knew exactly who she was and did not pretend to be
anything other. She had very little patience with those who were pompous. The fact
that she had fallen in love with the proud Mr. Darcy is only knowing that Elizabeth was
attracted to his upfront nature. He did not hide anything. Likewise, Mr. Darcy fell in
love with Lizzy's lack of pretense.
Clearly, Lizzy knew she
was not in Mr. Darcy's circle of friends, as categorized by society's views of what
is prestigous and honorable, and she never pretended to be of any interest to him
whatsoever. The fact that Austen wrote these two characters into one another's hearts is
to simply confirm her good taste. Darcy and Elizabeth were both sensible, strong-willed
characters who cared little about the pomp and circumstance in life. Both Darcy and
Lizzy are real characters who have a sense of duty and honor to their family's heritage.
Both characters believe in doing what is right in a society which placed great emphasis
on good morals and values, even to the point of denying one's own happiness if
necessary to maintain a sense honor to one's self. Austen definitely has great taste
when it comes to bringing two characters such as Darcy and Elizabeth
together. Each character represents a sense of nobleness in that each character is
solely atrracted to one another based on a deep down quality of respect and admiration
for simple honesty--a quality that is so lacking in the 21st century by many.
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