Decorum In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

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In England during the early 1800s, men and women were expected to learn and follow certain sets of rules in order to remain refined and proper. These sets of rules are called decorum. Decorum is commonly defined as having a good sense of orderliness in appearance, behavior and taste. If one were to violate decorum during this era, one would become extremely unfavorable to most and even be considered an outcast to the upper class people. In the 1813 Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice, Austen displays many situations in which decorum is violated. The novel illustrates the conformities of a traditional, upper-class, English family whom of which has five, single daughters. Each of these daughters are to find a wealthy husband with respectable social …show more content…
Bennet, as well as most people during this time. Amid finding their husbands, the second eldest daughter, Elizabeth, rejects multiple proposals. This is but one of the ways Austen presents the violation of decorum throughout her novel. By doing so she introduces the idea that it may not be so terrible to actually voice one’s opinions and follow one’s own conscience as opposed to conforming. Decorum plays a crucial role in the novel Pride and Prejudice by making the statement that violating decorum is permissible to violate even in the midst of a conforming society such as the one expressed in the novel. The violation and the importance of decorum is shown through the voicing of opinions, physical appearance, social, and gender decorum.
Although violating decorum is looked down upon, Jane Austen chooses to write so that the characters violate it throughout the entire novel. One particular way that this is shown is by voicing opinions as opposed to disclosing them. The second
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