Importance of the country estate in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park The world of Jane Austen's novels is a world of country estate. Its central characters are members of the parish or landed gentry and their lives and adventures often revolve around the local estate and the people who live there. One of Austen's main literary principles was to write only about the things she knew in her life, and the world of the landed gentry was what she had access to. However, the country estate in his novels serves a more important purpose than that of a simple backdrop for the lives of his characters. Austen uses the country estate to give the reader insight into her characters' personalities and as a way to discuss the political, religious, and aesthetic ideas of the period. One of the most obvious functions of the country estate in both Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park is to reflect the character of its owners and inhabitants and thus to provide a symbolic representation of their values ​​and personality traits. When Elizabeth Bennet visits Pemberley, she is struck by what she sees: it was a large and beautiful stone building, which stood well on rising ground and had a ridge of high wooded hills behind it; - and in front a stream of some natural importance swelled larger, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was very happy. He had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by clumsy taste. (p.267) This description occurs at a point where Elizabeth is forced to reconsider her opinions of Darcy. He has already read his response to Wickham's insults about his character, but he still believes that Darcy is an overly proud man, a belief that is overturned during his visit to Pemberley, and this vision of the estate is the first stage of his transformation life. opinion. The information the author provides allows us to begin to question our assumptions about Darcy and follow the process that is occurring in Elizabeth's mind. This description of the estate gives us insight into many aspects of Darcy's character. The beauty of the house and grounds make us feel that perhaps he has justification for the pride he shows.