Elizabeth 1 Lady Catherine 0

I just finished the novel and I swore to myself that I wouldn't make a conclusion about the overall story until I was done and knew the ending. Although this is not my favorite novel, I did enjoy reading it--probably more than some of you--but the end really redeemed my doubts. I always love a happy ending and was pleased with how Pride and Prejudice ended. No cliffhangers, yay! Looking back over the story, I liked the entire arc of Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship from the night of the ball to after Darcy proposed and they (seemingly) lived happily ever after. Austen seemed to devote just enough time to develop these characters, and umm...not leave them in the back of a taxi wondering about their future.

Nevertheless, I figure people will write about Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship, so I decided to focus more on Elizabeth's scene with Lady Catherine. Throughout the novel, I have noticed that Elizabeth has an independent strength in her personality that allows her to stand up her herself and even defend her family's name. In Darcy's initial proposal, we saw her exercise this independence when she became insulted at his request and didn't hold back about it. Now, in her encounter with Lady Catherine, Elizabeth is basically faced with one more challenge that threatens to keep her and Darcy apart. Lady Catherine's demands that Elizabeth know her place in society and reject Darcy's potential marriage proposal speaks volumes of letting the reader know that Lady Catherine's true intentions lie solely with her social status. Elizabeth, on the other hand, chooses her own happiness over everything else and doesn't apologize for it; she knows exactly what she wants, and she's not going to be intimidated to let it go. This alone shows that she is an incredibly self-confident and strong-willed woman, a trait to be admired and respected, and ultimately rewarded with a marriage to Mr. Darcy.