入圍決選獎
姓  名 莊麒霖 學  校 新北市立三重商工應外科 年  級 三 年 甲 班

 

 

Pride and Prejudice

“Pride and Prejudice,” entitled with a special name, makes me decide to dive in. The story, originated in late 18th in England, depicts love matters between men and women. It enables me to gauge and explore the implicit truth about love underlying the story. Inside the story, “pride” obviously stands for the protagonist, Fitzwilliam Darcy (Mr. Darcy), while “prejudice” refers to the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. At a pleasant ball where they first meet, Mr. Darcy, however, finds that Elizabeth appears low in taste and has no extraordinary background; on the other hand, being snobbish, he has little preference to dance with her.

Not until Mr. Darcy is persuaded by his friend, Charles Bingley (Mr. Bingley), does he reluctantly ask Elizabeth to dance together. Out of her prejudice, Elizabeth opts to decline Mr. Darcy. As a part of the story shows above, I once fell into the false impression — Mr. Darcy must be the "pride” because of his unwillingness to dance with Elizabeth. Nevertheless, in the following story, a crucial turning point completely stirs me up. After Mr. Darcy's second proposal, Elizabeth is quite startled as well as disgusted toward it. Undoubtedly, Mr. Darcy is thought of as the last man in the world Elizabeth would marry. Blinded by her prejudice, Elizabeth directly refuses to marry him. Owing to this significant turning point, I immediately change my prior points of view. Later amid the garden, Elizabeth accidentally bumps into Mr. Darcy and receives a letter which changes Elizabeth's prejudicial attitude. Much to my surprise, she turns apologetic to Mr. Darcy for her previous misunderstanding. Her heart soon transforms from hatred into guilt. The misunderstanding between them is resolved all at once at that time.

As for Mr. Darcy’s best friend, Mr. Bingley, he proposes to Jane with everyone’s expectation. When the family are in ecstasy celebrating this happy marriage, Lady Catherine de Bourgh suddenly appears. She has heard that Mr. Darcy, her nephew, is planning to marry Elizabeth. Lady Catherine demands that Elizabeth promise to refuse Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth seemingly refuses, saying she is not engaged to Mr. Darcy, but she will not promise anything against her happiness. Later, Mr. Darcy meets Elizabeth, expressing his true feelings to her. He then proposes to her again. She tenderly and willingly accepts his proposal. The two leading characters ensure each other with an enduring marriage. Both Jane and Elizabeth are happily married in the end. Not only does the story end up with a win-win situation, but the author also leaves me such explicit definition of “pride and prejudice.” Neither of them should appear and exist when people run their marriages or get along with others. Therefore, never judge people by their first impressions.

Deeply into the story, everyone has his or her own features, and I am no exception. The cover of this book initially did not catch my eye when I first saw it. However, as I tried to sneak into the author's world, I gradually lay engrossed in it instead of finding an exit. For the majority of people, they may be attracted by the two main characters, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Unlike them, I, instead, am enchanted and fascinated by another character: Mr. Bennet. Known as Elizabeth's father, he is particularly the wittiest in this family. Confronted with his daughters' marriages, he always turns cool-headed to outwit everything. This is why I admire him the best and the most!

In contrast, Mrs. Bennet, far unlike her husband, has an unpleasant temperament to me. She spends almost her whole life arranging her daughters' marriages, worried too much about her five daughters left alone and lonely without any husbands to depend on and keep company for the rest of their lives. Although Mrs. Bennet thinks she is doing all her best for her daughters, her daughters also have the rights to choose their own Mr. Rights. Fortunately, accompanied with Mr. Bennet's humor and intelligence throughout the whole story, I do enjoy every single plot to the end. This story shows me how to cleverly distinguish pride from prejudice and how to build up a long-lasting relationship with others. It'll never be enough for me to read this story just only once.