23 Meanwhile, the conflict between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy is
solved when Elizabeth reads the letter from Mr. Darcy after her confrontation. He explains everything about the problems that Elizabeth has mentioned.
Mr. Darcy’s letter reminds Elizabeth the moment when she met Mr. Darcy for the first time.
The letter m akes Elizabeth’s opinion about Mr. Darcy change. Suddenly, she feels
ashamed of herself. “She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. – Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial,
prejudiced, absurd ” Pride and Prejudice, p. 170.
Mr. Darcy’s letter leads Elizabeth Bennet to reveal the solution of her conflict with Mr. Darcy. This conflict is one of the conflicts that the Bennets have
to face, especially for Elizabeth, who really dislikes Mr. Darcy. Meanwhile, Elizabeth also has to face the harsh rejection from Lady de Bourgh. Lady de
Bourgh warns Elizabeth not to marry Darcy, as her daughter is supposed to marry him
. “Let me be rightly understood. This match, to whom you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to
my daughter. Now what have you to say?” Pride and Prejudice, p.284. She uses
her “power” as high class people to oppress Elizabeth and to make Elizabeth obey her words.
3. Conflict between the Bennet family and Mr. Wickham
The biggest conflict faced by the Bennet family is when Lydia Bennet is running away with Wickham when she is in Brighton. It is described by
Jane’s letter to Elizabeth. Jane writes the letter to Elizabeth to inform that Lydia is
24 running away with Wickham. Then, Elizabeth also tells the news to Mr. Darcy
when they meet in Mr. Gardiner’s house. “I have just had a letter from Jane, with such dreadful news. It cannot be
concealed from anyone. My youngest sister has left all her friends – has
eloped; - has thrown herself into the power of – of Mr. Wickham. They are
gone off together from Brighton. You know him too well to doubt the rest. She has no money, no connections, nothing that can tempt him to
– she is lost forever.” Pride and Prejudice, p.222
Mr. Bennet has looked for Lydia and Wickham in London, but he cannot find them anywhere. The conflict makes the name of the Bennet family becomes
worse because the neighbors think that they cannot educate Lydia due to unacceptable and shameful behaviors. Jane Austen lifts up the conflict with a
great plot, because she includes all the Bennet family to take part in the conflict. The Bennets, especially Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner, has looked for Lydia and
Wickham in London. At first, they think there is a possibility that Wickham and Lydia has run away to Scotland. The Bennet family is getting more desperate
when Mr. Bennet comes back home without any news of those two people. The Bennet family must face the condition that they will be ashamed because of Lydia
and Wickham’s incident. It will show how the Bennet family cannot take care of each other and their status in society will be getting lower. Thus, it takes a social
action to solve the conflict. Conflict and love are involved in the Bennet’s social
action to overcome the conflict. The conflict is between the Bennet family and Mr. Wickham, while the love is
Lydia’s love to Mr. Wickham. The conflict arises because of Lydia’s love to Wickham and he uses it to get money from the Bennet
family.
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B. The Meanings of The Bennets’ Struggles
