Elizabeth

Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, was known for being the wittiest, most insightful, and most intelligent amongst her sisters.

Elizabeth held qualities of lively wit, honesty, and frankness that enabled her to stand apart from her family and rise above the haughty and condescending behavior that existed in such a classist society. Elizabeth is seen as an insightful and levelheaded sister who sees people for who they really are. She acts as a driving force that attempts to have Jane, her older sister, see others in the same light and dissuade her from thinking that "all the world is respectable" (Austen 134). Despite Elizabeth’s virtues, she also had a tendency to formulate unfair judgments on first impressions, which would result in disaster in regards to her relationship with Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth’s candor and first impression of Darcy forces her to reject Darcy’s initial marriage proposal. However, as she gradually came to recognize the rectitude of Darcy’s motives, she also came to terms with the error of her false judgment of his character.

Elizabeth is like a lie detector. Just as Elizabeth is confident and can easily see the inconsistency of human beings, the lie detector can determine what is true and what is false. Lie detectors, however, hold a certain percentage of accuracy in their calculations along with a percentage of possible error. In regards to Elizabeth, at times, correct judgments were made; nevertheless, erroneous judgments also came about. Though lie detectors hold the accountability for being correct and induce a confidence among its users, they can be flawed.

Frankness is to Elizabeth what honesty is to Oprah in that both women have the confidence to be outspoken and exert their opinions regardless of what others think of them.