Family Present—Pride and Prejudice Writing Assignment Part 1

Character Pride Analysis

The characters in Pride and Prejudice illustrate the many faces of pride. Mrs. Bennet often demonstrates the pride of those who are of lower social status looking up at those of high social status and criticizing them for being so prideful. Mr. Bennet shows the pride of those who believe themselves more intelligent than others and above the human weaknesses which they find so humorous in others. Mr. Collins demonstrates the pride of those who boast of their humility through superfluous, insincere compliments and apologies. And so on.

For Part 1 of your family assignment, you are to examine the faces of pride illustrated by each of the following characters. Identify the aspect of pride each demonstrates and use a four-part quotation analysis to provide support for your identification. You do NOT need to connect these paragraphs to one another in an essay format. You should simply include a paragraph for each character under a subheading with the name of the corresponding character.

1)      Mr. Bennet
2)      Mrs. Bennet
3)      Elizabeth
4)      Mr. Darcy
5)      Caroline Bingley
6)      Mr. Collins
7)      Lydia
8)      Mary

Personal Reflection

After examining the pride of each character. Write a personal reflection on which of the faces of pride you have noticed in yourself as you interact with your current family and friends. Which of the behaviors of the characters do you see in yourself? Give specific examples from your own life. (Please don’t be concerned that I will judge you for your honest self-examination. I recognize that we all struggle with pride, often on a daily basis. You have already proven to me what wonderful individuals you are and will not change my opinion of you by honestly reflecting on yourself!) What have you learned about pride from this exercise?  Your personal reflection should be 300 words in length.

Other Considerations

1)      Your intended audience is someone who is LDS and has read Pride and Prejudice.
2)      As with all assignments, MLA formatting and careful proofreading are expected. Failure to do either will lower your grade one full letter.
3)      Value: 150 points