Pride and Prejudice as a Romantic Novel and Romantic Criticism To a large extent, Jane Austen satirizes conventional romantic novels by inverting the expectations of "love at first sight" and of celebrating passion and physical attractiveness and criticizing their lack of meaning. However, there are also elements of conventional romance in the novel, particularly in the success of Jane and Bingley's love. The first indication of Austen's reversal of accepted romantic conventions is Elizabeth and Darcy's mutual dislike at first sight. However, Jane and Bingley fall in love almost immediately, and the development of their romance follows the conventional wisdom of romantic novels, right down to obstacles in the form of disapproval from Darcy and Bingley's sisters (typical Family disapproval) and the attraction between the rich young man and the bourgeois maid. Their Cinderella story ends with a happy ending, as does Elizabeth and Darcy's. Elizabeth's defiance of Lady Catherine is reminiscent of Meg's defiance of her aunt in Little Women, and Darcy's willingness to accept Elizabeth despite the inferiority of his connections is a triumph of the conventional expectations of romantic novels. One of the most striking examples of Austen's satire is her emphasis on reason, as opposed to the unbridled passion praised in most romantic novels. Lydia and Wickham's marriage is seen as a triumph of their "passions" over their "virtue", and she is certain that "little permanent happiness" can result from such a union. This is exemplified by Wickham's continuation of his extravagant habits and the degeneration of any feelings between them to the point of indifference. The indifference that Mr. Bennet has for his wife and the unsatisfactory... middle of paper... Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1983. Jane Austen Info Page. Henry's Cemetery. University of Texas, Austin. November 23, 2000. .Kaplan, Debora. Status Structures: Eighteenth-Century Social Experience as Form in Jane Austen's Courtesy Books and Novels. Diss. University of Michigan, 1979.Monaghan, David. Jane Austen's structure and social vision. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1980. Poplawski, Paul. An encyclopedia of Jane Austen. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1998. Reidhead, Julia, ed. Norton Anthology of English Literature vol. 7, 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.Ward, David Allen. "Pride and Prejudice". Explainer. 51.1: (1992). Wright, Andrew H. "Sentiment and Complexity in Pride and Prejudice." Ed. Donald Gray. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1966. 410-420.