Regency Era in Pride and Prejudice Essay Example

The (social) decorum of the Regency Era showcased poise and elegance while also allowing for a proper essence of life. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice which was set in the Regency time period showed through and through what social decorum was and how important it was to society. From etiquette to dating to socializing, the set forum of society showed a more simple time before phones and hook-up culture that is prevailing in the lives of us young people in a detrimental manner. The set rules of the Regency Era actually helped in many ways, and so should return and become how we, in the society of today, proceed with life.

The most notable part of the Regency Era was how people would date which was actually courting. Courtship is a period of time in which a couple may develop a romantic relationship, with the view to marriage. This manner was very prevalent in the characters of Pride and Prejudice like Jane and Bingley who married after courting for several months. The main prerogative of courting was marriage, which did occur for them after Bingley proposed to Jane (Austen 305). Courting, in my opinion, should still be considered today, because people merely “fall in love” with one another just for the thrill, but no one really loves with the intention of marriage. The only thing on their mind seems to be sex which causes the detrimental effect of “hook-up” culture. This is typically when people go out with someone on a date and after this first date, have sex. The constant craze for sex and pleasure floods the minds of people my age and belittles the most honorable and best way of dating which is to not only have a flee of emotions with many people but with one person at a time, and then get married. Another plus for courting is that the men of the Regency Era were very bold in wanting to marry or court a lady. Today, boys, in my case, seem to want girls to make the first move and are not willing to be bold, and although I do think that love is fifty-fifty, I have grown up with the notion that a man should ask me out first or approach me because it is the proper way to do it. In Pride and Prejudice, we see this happen time and time again, but most notably, Mr. Darcy makes the first move with Elizabeth when he asks her to dance (Austen 80). This to me is also very romantic and shows that someone is interested, and then I can act in their interest of them.

I highly respect the social protocols of the Pride and Prejudice era because they maintained the level of regalness that I believe we today are missing. One including waiting to be introduced to someone by a mutual acquaintance, in today’s time would seem taboo, but imagine if you were in the upper class, it would be deemed as disrespectful if a working-class member came up to you and started talking. A similar scenario occurred in Pride and Prejudice when “Elizabeth tried hard to dissuade [Mr. Collins] from such a scheme assuring him that Mr. Darcy would consider his addressing him without an introduction as an impertinent freedom, rather than a compliment…”  (Austen 86). Mr. Collins’ behavior was frowned upon because of how much of a difference both of their social classes were and so not meant to be done. This rule does though make sense with the time because no one would dare go to King George lll and talk to him as if he were just anyone else, they would always have to be introduced by one of his servants in order to talk with him

Some other great parts about the era of Pride and Prejudice were the Balls that took place. The Balls of the time were a social gathering event where people would dance and talk all evening with the prospects of young women hopefully finding an eligible bachelor to get engaged to. Having a social event where it was just fun and socializing all night without any technology or drinking or shameful behavior sounds amazing, and I would do anything to get to enjoy that. Our social gatherings today include rough parties where everyone is either drunk or high, and I never enjoy them because it is so uncomfortable to have to watch others become so unlike themselves just for a night, but if we had beautiful Balls with classical music playing throughout the evening then I would definitely enjoy them. Mr. Bingley hosted a Ball that enabled him to dance with Jane, although, for Elizabeth, the evening did not go as planned because she was unable to dance with Mr. Wickham, she did end up dancing with the most eligible and wealthy bachelor, Mr. Darcy (Austen 80-81). This event helped catapult the relationship that ended with them being married, which I would love to experience with just one Ball. Marrying up in that day was also very important and to many girls today sounds great. The Bennet girls were always pressured by their mother to get engaged specifically to a wealthy man, and once Jane began to talk with Mr. Bingley, Mrs. Bennet obsessed over the thought that one of her daughters was marrying up, and could not stop talking about it at the Ball (Austen 91). The need to marry up may have been hard for many, but it really was worth it because, unlike today, I would just be in my house doing arts and crafts, or be socialize with my close girlfriends with a lot of money at my disposal. I think that we should bring that purpose back into our lives as women because of how much easier it makes our life.

The many rules of the Regency Era made for an elegant and respectable time that is worthy of consideration for today. We can learn to be respectful and even how to marry with this decorum and many of the rules should be upheld today for countless reasons. And so, the rules and regulations of the Pride and Prejudice era should still be used because of how much we would benefit from them.