Elizabeth Bennet characterisation

• Elizabeth is a intelligent, quick witted and complex character
• She brings into sharp focus women's dependence on marriage for economic security and social standing in Regency England
• she does not think highly of her aloof father or her hypochondriac mother and she thinks both are poor role models for the Bennet girls. This is made explicit when Elizabeth criticises her father for not instilling in the younger daughters the importance of good character
• The reader can infer that Elizabeth is a humble, sympathetic character who compared to Jane, is livelier and more spirited. Jane conforms to the eighteenth century stereotype of women as demure and passive. Elizabeth wants to break through that stereotype to create a new, bolder idea of what it means to be a woman