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Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

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his good looks and charm (Morris 51). Tara Wallace finds<br />

Wickham to be "the most dangerous character . . . whose<br />

formidable powers of conversation empower him to injure<br />

others" (52). The power of inheritance language, the<br />

drive behind Wickham's success so far, is just as<br />

forceful, if not more formidable than the inheritance<br />

itself. He easily manipulates Elizabeth's feelings about<br />

Darcy for a good portion of the novel. He jumps from<br />

Miss Darcy to Elizabeth to Miss King, and is nearly<br />

successful with all three. He finally succeeds with<br />

Lydia, compromising her integrity and jeopardizing her<br />

sisters' futures, all in his search for money. We<br />

realize that even with his marriage to Lydia, Wickham has<br />

no intention of abandoning his search for a woman of<br />

fortune.<br />

Men categorize women in <strong>Pride</strong> and <strong>Prejudice</strong> as they<br />

would in real life, by their marketability. Austen uses<br />

Wickham to show the crude and despicable depths to which<br />

this practice can sink. Strict settlement works for<br />

those with large estates who are aggrandizing their<br />

wealth and power, and who can produce a male heir.<br />

Attaching a wife's property or using her portion to<br />

accumulate land and interest is more acceptable than

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