Elizabeth Bennet is a heroine whose characterization rarely goes to any kind of extreme, but always has a balance of traits. She almost never has too much of one trait or too much of another, but is always somewhere in the middle.
The song "In-Between" from Lerner and Lowe's Paint Your Wagon could be rewritten with new lyrics to be about her.
*She's not very rich or of high status compared to others in her circle: that fact is an essential plot point, especially for how socially beneath Darcy she is. Yet she's still a member of the gentry, she is rich compared to most of England's population, and her circle also includes people of lower status than hers.
*She's not outstandingly beautiful: her own future love interest dismisses her looks as just "tolerable" at first. But neither is she plain: other characters consider her very pretty, as does Darcy eventually.
*She's in her early 20s, so she's more mature than Austen's teenage heroines, yet not approaching spinsterhood either.
*There are several characters who don't like her and aren't very nice to her, yet she's no outcast, but is well-liked in general.
*She's her father's favorite daughter, but her mother's least favorite daughter, so she has some experience of being both "the golden child" and "the black sheep" in her family.
*She's not a perfect refined lady, but neither is she a tomboy.
*She's not conservative about manners: her liveliness, playfulness, and willingness to speak her mind are some of her defining traits. Yet she's not so liberal as to ignore basic decorum: on the contrary, she's second only to Jane as the most polite member of her family, and sometimes she judges other people's character too much by their social graces.
*She's prickly, judgmental, and outspoken ā obviously not the traditional sweet, innocent heroine type like her sister Jane. Yet she's not mean either, but has a strong undercurrent of sweetness, caring, and (as mentioned) politeness to her character.
*In her relationship with her emotions, she's neither an Elinor Dashwood nor a Marianne Dashwood: she's not reserved or stoic, but neither does she let passion control her.
*Compared to her ultra-pragmatic friend Charlotte, she's a romantic. But compared to her tender-hearted sister Jane, she's very down-to-earth and practical.
*She's willing to question certain social norms (e.g. mercenary marriages) and to criticize the bad behavior of people who outrank her in status. Yet she's not a total revolutionary, but knows when the most practical choice is to play by society's rules (e.g. reluctantly accepting Lydia and Wickham's marriage as necessary).
*We get a strong sense of her physicality: she loves to go for long walks, she's a fast runner, she blushes, etc. Yet she's not just a strong physical presence, but is also a very intellectual, thoughtful heroine.
*She's not always right, but not always wrong either. She learns from Darcy, but he also learns from her.
*By the end of the novel, she grows and changes in important ways: she becomes humbler, more considerate, and a better judge of character. But in equally important ways, she stays the same: she never loses her wit, liveliness, courage, or fundamental self-respect.
Maybe these careful balances are the reason why she's such a successful and popular heroine. They're what make her complex like a real person. But maybe they're also the reason why people claim that in adaptations, her portrayal always feels slightly "off," because the scripts lean her more toward one extreme or another. Rarely do we see a heroine who in so many ways is "in-between."
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