Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

In Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, the two main characters, Mr. Darcy and Lizzy, are the two most commonly examined. However, I personally think that Miss Bingley is more interesting; she is my favorite character.

Miss Bingley is the one most often portrayed as a villian (besides Mr. Wickham, of course) but I think that she is misunderstood. As the book is primarily from Lizzy's perspective ( though it is third person) it is Lizzy who you root for the entire time, you want Lizzy, to marry Mr. Darcy. You certainly don't want Miss Bingley. But is she really so bad? The book has the word "pride" in its name, and that is mostly about Mr. Darcy, who you love despite, and perhaps even because of his pride. But Miss Bingley is different. She never gets over her pride, which, in the first place, is false.

With her belief in marriage depending on social classes, she must have been extremely deluded to think that Mr. Darcy would sink so far down as to marry her. She is the daughter of a tradesman, her wealth  is nothing to his-- his uncle is titled. Thinking that it would be suitable for Darcy to marry her but not suitable for him to marry Lizzy is very hypocritical. After all, Lizzy is a gentleman's daughter. A poor country gentleman's daughter might, in the eyes of someone so very stuck up, be above a rich tradesman's daughter.

Going by this reasoning, the type of reasoning Miss Bingley surely used on others but not on herself, her own brother, Mr. Bingley, had married above himself. Jane, Lizzy's sister, is a gentleman's daughter too.  Miss Bingley should not have disapproved. In this way Miss Bingley's whole personality is contradictory, which makes her such a good and complex character.

Though she is prideful and arrogant, and not at all likeable, I feel that she can be sympathetic, if not so sympathetic as Darcy. She is certainly not a villian, but a young woman who wants to get further up the social ladder. This is nothing unusual; everyone is desparate for popularity-- it is human nature. And so is her longing for riches. Why do you think the lottery is so successful? Miss Bingley, in my opinion, is just a normal person surrounded by people who make her look terrible-- she looks greedy next to Darcy (who has no need to be greedy because he's already loaded), cruel next to her brother (who would make anyone appear cruel; he's just naturally kind- hearted, as is Jane), and shallow next to Lizzy (who has no marital or monetary ambition.)