Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

language of settlement practice, which she uses in her
work. Her characters use the language of inheritance to
silence other characters. Our heroine, Elizabeth, is the
center of judgment for Darcy, Collins, Wickham, and her
father in order to qualify her worthiness of their
inheritances-Darcy' s name and title, Collinsf s
Longbourn, and Wickham's debts. Austen, using a less
than perfect settlement, emphasizes Elizabethf s
worthiness to inherit for her father rather than from her
father.
As Mr. Bennet slowly loses Longbourn, he gains
Pemberley through his more than worthy daughter. Collins
may gain Longbourn, but the Bennets have social standing
by birth, which at the time was as important as land and
untouchable by men like Collins. Elizabeth at length
vindicates her immediate impressions of Wickham through
Darcy, finally reading him correctly through her maturity
and good judgment and ultimate understanding of the
language of inheritance, something poor Kitty lacks.
The famous opening line of the novel points to the
importance of inheritance: "It is a truth universally
acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good
fortune, must be in want of a wife" (5). The main