29 Caroline Bingley, as the part of bourgeoisie society, takes any means to oppress
Jane Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet, so that they will not distract bourgeoisie class system.
However, Jane Bennet struggles and finally she can live with Mr. Bingley. Although Caroline Bingley oppresses Jane Bennet to get away from Mr. Bingley,
Jane’s struggle and effort are not useless. The true meaning of Jane’s struggle is Jane’s social action which involves harmony and conflict, love and hatred, and
struggles over the oppression to maintain her feeling to the man that she loves.
2. The Struggle of Elizabeth Bennet
After discussing the meaning of struggle fr om Jane Bennet’s life problem,
the writer would like to continue discussing the meanings of the Bennets’ struggle
from Elizabeth Bennet. This section would tell the meanings of the Bennets’
struggles from Elizabeth Bennet’s conflicts between Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickham,
Lady de Bourgh, and herself. The meanings of struggles are divided into two parts. The first meaning is literal meaning of struggle and the second is true
meaning of struggle.
a. The Literal Meaning of Elizabeth’s Struggle
In this part, the writer explains the literal meaning of struggle from Elizabeth Bennet’s conflicts. In the novel, Elizabeth Bennet is the main character.
She has a role in solving every problem that her family faced. She also helps Jane when Jane has to face the conflict between Mr. Bingley, Caroline Bingley, and
30 herself. However, Elizabeth also has to face some conflicts that include her and
some people in the society. From the conflicts she faced, she struggles to fight the society that gives
her oppression. The first struggle of Elizabeth Bennet is when she wants to meet Jane Bennet in Mr.
Bingley’s mansion. She meets Caroline Bingley in an untidy dress and Caroline Bingley sums up that Bennet family belongs to low class
family because of Elizabeth’s appearance. It continues when Elizabeth wants to help Jane to meet Mr. Bingley. Caroline Bingley threatens her badly because of
the social class between them, but she does not give up and she does not want Caroline Bingley to underestimate her.
Furthermore, the other conflicts start to come up when she meets Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickham, and Lady de Bourgh. Elizabeth gets a wrong perception of
Mr. Darcy since the first time they meet, and it is getting worse when Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham and he tells a fake story about Mr. Darcy and himself.
Elizabeth also has to face the conflict between her and Lady de Bourgh. Lady de Bourgh cannot accept the fact that Mr. Darcy proposes Elizabeth and she wants
Elizabeth to refuse it. From those conflicts, Elizabeth survives and she can solve her conflicts.
The meaning of struggle that the writer gets from Elizabeth Bennet is that she has to stay strong when the society threatens her badly and she needs to keep
seeking the truth until she finds the right answers to solve her conflicts. She cannot give up though her conflicts are not easy to be solved. Though it looks like
31 a dead end way, but if she does not want to try to face and to solve her conflicts,
she will never know the end of that way. Elizabeth convinces herself to find the answer to solve her conflicts. When
she is threatened badly by Caroline Bingley, she keeps staying strong and shows Caroline Bingley that she is not easily “defeated”. Defeated here means that
Elizabeth cannot defense herself and accept the way Caroline Bingley threatens her. However, Elizabeth shows her struggle, she stays strong though she is
threatened badly. Furthermore, she really wants to help her sister, Jane Bennet, to meet Mr. Bingley and to solve the conflict between them.
Elizabeth Bennet also keeps seeking the right answer to solve the conflict between herself and Mr. Darcy. When Mr. Wickham tells Elizabeth the fake story
about himself and Mr. Darcy, at first Elizabeth believes it. Until she meets Caroline Bingley. Caroline Bingley warns Elizabeth not to trust every word that
Mr. Wickham tells about Mr. Darcy. After that, she becomes curious about the truth between Darcy and Wickham. She starts seeking for time to meet Mr. Darcy.
When they finally meet up, Elizabeth is shocked because Mr. Darcy suddenly proposes her. However, Elizabeth refuses it and she confronts Mr. Darcy with
many harsh arguments and questions. Elizabeth starts feeling regretful when she knows the truth from the letter
that is written by Mr. Darcy. She feels regretful because she lacks of seeking the truth from Mr. Darcy. She admits how her pride has blinded herself from the
truth, even she admits that she makes herself humiliated by her own actions towards Mr. Darcy since the first time they met.
32 “How despicably have I acted” she cried. – “I, who have prided myself on
my discernment – I, who have valued myself on my abilities Who have
often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity, in useless or blameable distrust.
– How humiliating is this discovery – Yet, how just a humiliation
– Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly.
– Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the
very beginning of our acquintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either was concerned. Till this
moment, I never knew myself.” Pride and Prejudice, p. 170.
The peak of her regret is when Mr. Darcy helps her family to find Mr. Wickham and Lydia Bennet.
Mr. Darcy’s action impresses her so much. Hence, she starts falling in love with Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth has shown how she keeps
looking the right answer though at first she admits that she has wrong perception about Mr. Darcy. This is a struggle that Elizabeth Bennet has shown. She keeps
looking the right answers to solve her conflicts. Elizabeth also has to face another conflict between herself and Lady de
Bourgh. Elizabe th is oppressed to refuse Mr. Darcy’s proposal because Lady de
Bourgh wants Mr. Darcy to marry her daughter. However, Elizabeth stays strong and she confronts against Lady de Bourgh that she will accept Mr. Darcy’s
proposal when Mr. Darcy really proposes her. Thus, the literal meaning of Elizabeth’s struggle is that she has to stay strong when high class people threaten
her badly and she needs to keep seeking the truth until she finds the right answers to solve her conflicts.
33
b. The True Meaning of Elizabeth’s Struggle
