Chracters

In Pride and Prejudice, there are many ways characters are introduced and presented.  To start off we have the protagonist Elizabeth and Jane.  And we have the antagonist who are the Bingley sisters and Mr. Darcy, in the beginning as well as Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet to a certain extent.  Also, Jane Austen incorporates foils to effectively illustrate the characters personalities.  We see this in the beginning as Jane and Elizabeth are presented as effective foils of each other.  Right from the start the distinctions in their character are clearly illustrated and can be clearly followed throughout the novel.  These distinctions really show us the type of characters they develop into as the novel progresses.  Also Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy are presented as effective foils of each other and although these foils are accurate for the majority of the book, we can say that Mr. Darcy has a "coming of age" story where he realizes he was wrong about Elizabeth.  Elizabeth goes through the same thing, except Elizabeth has an epiphany when she says "till this moment I never knew myself."  We see this as a growth and a development of character throughout the novel.  Also throughout the novel, there are round and flat and stock characters that effectively bring difference in the novel.  The round characters in Pride and Prejudice are Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy as they have a range of emotions that effectively changes throughout the story.  The flat characters are Jane and Mr. Bingley and Mr. Bennet as for the most part, all three of them stay as stagnant character and don't really change over the course of the novel.  There is also one stock character that fits into a stereotype.  Mrs. Bennet fits the stereotype of wanting all her daughters to become married and all she cares about is the money and the reputation, not the love.  Her reputation as the crazy psychotic mother.   Also in pride and prejudice, there is direct characterization where the narrator flat out tells you about a character and doesn't really show you.  This happens when the narrator tells you about the reputation of Mr. Darcy and also when the narrator tells you about the Bennets.  There is also indirect characterization, this is where the narrator shows us rather than tells us.  When Mr. Darcy denies a dance with Elizabeth, that is showing us the real and true character of Mr. Darcy.  In Hamlet, this is completely different as there is no narrator, the introductions of the characters are completely different. In pride and prejudice where there is direct and indirect characterization to demonstrate the characters in the novel, in hamlet, we are only and can only be introduced to the characters through the language of there prose.  We don't have a narrator explaining it to us so we have to read in between the lines to fully understand the type of character the it is in Hamlet.  This is more difficult where there can be multiple interpretations of a character while in the pride and prejudice, you can easily interpret each character.