Where do we see instances of Austen relating her characters to others?

"To be a character in Austen is to get continually contrasted, juxtaposed, related to others, and, as such, to help build the thematic architecture that critics then discern" (Woloch, 43).

"Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say, very agreeable" (Pride and Prejudice, 50).


Since Elizabeth is the main character of the novel, we must question why Austen includes all of the sisters in her novel. According to Alex Woloch, the other members of the family exist in order to compare and contrast Elizabeth to them. We see an example of this in the scene where Mr. Bingley hosts his first ball; this is the first moment when the Bennet girls meet Mr. Bingley and his company, and he is instantly taken with Jane's beauty. Not only does he dance with her twice, while only dancing with everyone else once, but he claims, "She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say, very agreeable" (P&P, 50). Bingley describes Jane in terms of being the "most beautiful," meaning that of all the ladies there, she possesses the most beauty, but only describes Elizabeth as "very pretty" and "very agreeable." This means that while Bingley believes Jane to be the fairest, Elizabeth merely falls under the category of pretty, something that most other women could fall into, which suggests a sort of hierarchy with Jane being at the top.