Pride and Prejudice tells the story of a young girl in the midst of a very materialistic society. Jane Austen uses the setting to dramatize the restrictions that women had to endure in society. As the novel develops, we see how women are expected to act in a way based on their gender, social class, and family lineage. Elizabeth Bennet's sisters represent the righteous lady of society while Lizzy is the rebel. Through her characters Austen shows how women's happiness was second to the comfort of wealth. As the plot develops, events are presented to illustrate how true love is unattainable when women marry with intentions of wealth. Women have very specific and limited roles in a society where men are superior. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays Elizabeth Bennet as a heroine who achieves happiness by rebelling against the social and gender roles of the time period. Austen's novel follows Elizabeth Bennet's struggle as she shatters these expectations of a woman. Jane Austen introduces her characters together at the beginning to strengthen the strong family bonds that run through Pride and Prejudice. We learn that Elizabeth Bennet is stuck in the middle of a family of five sisters whose sole purpose is to get married. Mrs. Bennet's only job in the house is to find suitable matches for each of her daughters. In the first two pages of the novel we see Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's prejudices towards their daughters. In responding to Mrs. Bennet's requests to introduce Mr. Bingley, Mr. Bennet shows his pride in Elizabeth: You are too scrupulous, surely. I imagine Mr. Bingley will be happy to see you; and I will send you a few lines to assure him of my cordial consent to his marriage to whichever of the girls he chooses: even if I stand... in the middle of a paper... and plot to show how materialistic society can be. A woman marrying for love was an idea left in the past. Surrounding Elizabeth Bennet with the constraints of society only made her even more of a heroine. Austen told the story of a young woman who refused to be anything but herself, ending up the happiest of her four sisters. Elizabeth Bennet never sacrificed her thoughts as a young woman to fit society's expectations. Pride and Prejudice shows how Elizabeth's struggle is as much against herself as it is against the pressures of society or family. By standing up to society, facing criticism, Lizzy not only found herself, but her true love found her. Works Cited Austen, Jane. Pride and prejudice. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1984. PrintBloom, Harold. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print.