The Five Seasons of Pride and Prejudice by Sara Wingard - Dissertation Example

Upon the entrance of winter, gloomy moods have shadowed the characters - the novel shows that Charlotte Lucas’s marriage to Rev. Collins was during this season. Their marriage was described as infertile and cold. This then conforms with the literary depiction of the said season. Spring and Summer were both gloomy, especially for Jane and for Elizabeth. This reversion of supposed events in these seasons then made Austen’s work unique. Here, we see that she satirizes not only with her characters‘ actions but also with the season to further allow the complementation of the events in her characters‘ lives with those of the changing seasons.

For example, many authors would have allowed Elizabeth to accept Mr. Darcy’s proposal in late spring and early summer, but still, to provide a strong contrast to this, Austen made Elizabeth reject Mr. Darcy’s proposal. Finally, in order for the cycle of the seasons to be completed, Austen lands in autumn again where the birth of a new beginning arises. Here, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley were back at Meryton where they were not only going to hunt but they were also about to propose to Jane and Elizabeth.

Jane gladly accepts Mr. Bingley while Elizabeth finally accepts Mr. Darcy’s proposal. From the first gash of autumn, we were introduced to the change in the Bennet family, particularly in Elizabeth’s and in Jane’s lives, in this conclusion, their lives, after being changed, was entering a new beginning, just like autumn. Wingard’s analysis of the various settings of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice very much captured my interest. This is because instead of dealing with the usual setting analysis of the places that Elizabeth and Jane had traveled, she delved deeper in her analysis and I pretty much agreed with her points since they did help in shaping the readers‘ view of the characters and in maximizing the effects of the events.