Friday, December 25, 2015

Give examples of "good" pride in "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austin

Pride, and the associated emotion of self-love and desire
for honour, were discussed extensively in 18th century ethical texts (Paley,
Shaftesbury) as being motives for good when trained properly and for evil when badly
trained or present in excess. Pride, and the desire to behave in a manner appropriate
for high station, was conceived as a motive for charity, which was considered behaviour
appropriate, and in fact, de rigeur for the upper classes (noblesse oblige). Thus as
Elizabeth discovers when she visits Darcy's estate, Darcy's pride leads him to treat his
servants and poorer neighbors with great fairness and charity. Elizabeth's own pride,
leading her to refuse to marry for mercenary reasons or to toady to the rich is also a
virtue in moderation. More pride would have led Lydia not to elope and Kitty to have
behaved better.

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