Pride and Prejudice: A Romantic Novel or an Overlooked Story of Enlightenment?

When getting a glimpse at the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, I can say that I was expecting it for what most people were telling me, just a simple romantic story. However upon closer inspection I believe that this did not just carry a simplistic and presumed theme. Otherwise how else would this book be carried on for so many generations? It is clear that Austen was not just thinking on romance while writing, but was also trying to create an understanding in seeing people in an unbiased point of view instead of through high expectations that we put onto others. Expectations of which we created ourselves through opinions that eventual lead to a never ending loop of assumptions that become embedded into a culture or society.

Now I will admit I did not successfully get through the entire story, only about halfway or so, but as someone who is very familiar with Old English (Elizabethan and Edwardian) writing I could still see that theme carried through the text. This book did not only challenge the rolls women had in the 19th century but also the chivalrous expectations of men, essentially trying to break traditional rolls. So in all honesty I think it’s not quite fair to jump to the impression and interpretation that it is just a romantic novel and nothing more. I believe Jane Austen was trying to send out this message of breaking this narrow perspective and expectation, and wanted to challenge the reader to see that book as intended; unprejudiced. Which ironically differs from the title. So from that I conclude that this story truly is to have an open mind, and to have those freedoms to gain knowledge. It is a tale about breaking from human limitations in a society.