What does Pride and Prejudice reveal about Austen’s attitudes to issues of class, wealth and social status?

Through the wide range of characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice her views on class, wealth and social status are revealed. Jane Austen grew up in Hampshire, from the age of sixteen she would have often been present at dances and visits to other families of the same social class – gentry and minor aristocracy. These sorts of gatherings formed a large part of the Hampshire’s social scene in a similar way as in Pride and prejudice. Austen’s attitudes of class, wealth and social status originate from her own background and experience and this is portrayed in the novel through characters and key events. The first line of the novel clearly reflects Austen’s upbringing and beliefs, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The language used here, ‘universally acknowledged’ and ‘must’ show that Austen feels that it is a commonly known fact that men with money are always looking for poten...