My View Of Elizabeth So Far...

From the start of the book my view of Elizabeth has been that she is very intelligent and all together more interesting than her sisters or any other female characters. For example in chapter one, Mr Bennet expresses that she is his favourite child, referring to her as "My little Lizzy". He then goes on to justify this by saying she has "something more of a quickness than her sisters". So before we are even introduced fully to Lizzy we have an idea that she is different to the others. I think that Elizabeth seems to share more of her father's character than her mother's. She is not silly and excited like Lydia and Kitty and it does not seem to be her main aim in life to secure a husband. So in this sense she seems unfeminine in her views, compared to other women in the book.
It also seems to me that Elizabeth isn't in anyway vain and doesn't care what people think of her. For example, this is shown in chapter three when Mr Darcy insults her and she doesn't seem upset at all. On the contrary, she tells the story "with great sprit amongst her friends". She doesn't worry about what Darcy has said and seems able to laugh about it, this is displayed through the narrator's description of her; "She had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous".
Another example of Elizabeth's good humour is in chapter six when she is teasingly sarcastic with Mr Darcy. She says "Mr Darcy is all politeness"-she is evidentily referring to Darcy "slighting" her, and Darcy will know this. There are times in the book so far when we can tell that Elizabeth's behaviour is not the norm to some people. For example she appears unladylike when, in chapter seven, she walks through muddy fields to visit Jane at Netherfield. "her appearance created a great deal of surprise. That she should have walked three miles so early in the day, in such dirty weather and by herself was almost incredible to Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley". Elizabeth doesn't pretend to be something she's not, she acts as she sees fit.

Another view of Elizabeth that I have so far is that she is a free sprit and can be teasingly defiant and confrontational. For example in chapter six when we are told "Miss Lucas defied her friend to mention such a subject to him (Darcy), which immediately provoking Elizabeth to do it". She seems to say what she wants, despite being advised by her friend to keep quiet.

Elizabeth also appears to be a very caring person. She is very close to her sister, Jane and is very loving towards her. For example in chapter four she says to Jane "He (Bingley) could not help seeing that you were about five times as pretty as every other woman in the room". She also seems protective of Jane, and makes her aware of the impression she has of Bingley's sisters. This is another thing I have found about Elizabeth's character so far, she seems very observant and notices things in people that most wouldn't or don't in the book. An example of this would be the fact that she sees through Bingley's two sisters as Jane does not. She calls them "proud and conceited" whereas Jane insists they are "very pleasing women". She makes another observation of the sisters in chapter six, "Elizabeth still saw superciliousness in their treatment of everybody".

I think that Elizabeth's attitude to marriage in chapter six shows that she has sense and perhaps a more contempory attitude towards marriage. She feels that marriage should be for genuine love and affection and that you should "understand his character". She also feels marriage shouldn't be rushed, for example she reminds Miss Lucas that Jane has "only known Bingley a fortnight" and so should not be too hasty.

Finally I believe that Elizabeth is very popular amongst her peers due to her easy-manners and down to earth attitude. For example in chapter six we see this when she plays the piano, "Elizabeth, easy and unaffected, had been listened to with much more pleasure, though not playing half so well"-due to her passion and liveliness, people just enjoy her company more than others.

Overall my view of Elizabeth so far is that she is sensible, intelligent, genuine and playfully teasing, especially in comparison to other women. She is observant of other people and doesn't seem to get as caught up in marriage and society as her sisters and mother do.
She appears to have it all, wit, looks, intelligence and popularity amongst most people (apart from Mrs Hurst and Miss Bingley perhaps), and even Darcy cannot resist being charmed by her light and carefree personality.