Strong Feelings of Love

There are clear comparisons to be made between the ways strong feelings and their effects are made interesting in 'Romeo and Juliet' by Shakespeare and 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. Although 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Pride and Prejudice' are two completely different texts, both of them demonstrate a variety of techniques to show strong feelings of love. 'Pride and Prejudice' the early 19th century novel, is a satire, it uses humor to make fun of the class system and to challenge the idea that women cannot be independent and powerful. On the other hand, 'Romeo and Juliet' a play by Shakespeare is all about the tragical, romantic love story of Romeo and Juliet. Where two wealthy families are at war, but Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet fall in love. 'Pride and Prejudice' is all about how the main characters overcome their pride and prejudice and fall in love. It is mainly based on two characters, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Which come from two completely different families, and are in a completely different rigid class system. Both main heroines in the play and novel, tend to be independent of mind and challenge the social conventions of the time. We can also see clearly that the characters in both stories live in a patriarchal society but they are each determined to make their own decisions. However, is not all of them...

In the novel 'Pride and Prejudice', Austen uses the characters of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth to show how people in Austin's society pre judge a person based on their social hierarchy. This two characters begin on their journey with strong feelings against each other. Austen conveys the characters of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth in various of ways. One of which is their strong dislike of each other upon first meeting. Darcy's first words about Elizabeth were, "she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me". This uncomplimentary remark by Mr Darcy about Elizabeth is overheard by her, and she therefore, feel annoyed with him and have a negative view about him. This also makes her feel deeply offended with him as her self-esteem got hurt. This make her view him as a very proud man, arrogant who had mortified her own pride by the things he says.