The very first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice satirizes the inability of women to be self-sufficient and respected in society without a husband. Elizabeth Bennet resembles Austen as a young woman, as she chose to be an old maid rather than marry inappropriately. Elizabeth can't stand her mother and sisters' frenzy for superficial marriages. Unlike her sisters, Elizabeth is determined to find love and will not sacrifice love for any absurd amount of money or status. Austen wrote during the middle class revolt, which created a rise in individualistic views. Therefore, Austen challenges class hierarchy by juxtaposing Elizabeth with the aristocracy in order to satirize the nobility's divergence from the natural love of a man and a woman in holy matrimony, to the imposition of marriage as an artificial institution of society, used to preserve order and wealth. Austen challenges the ideals of class hierarchy and indicates that a person's status is independent of wealth or assets, and is decided by how much the vision of marriage corresponds to the natural love between a man and a woman. Jane Austen places the responsibility for her rebellion on Elizabeth. against the nobility's use of marriage as a way to achieve social status and economic security. Elizabeth, disgusted by their arrogance and rudeness, and unperturbed by their wealth and status, surprises both Mr. Collin and Mr. Darcy by denying their marriage proposals. Elizabeth directs her challenge to the aristocracy as a group, for their support of loveless marriage, for upholding their bloodline, while overwhelming society into a superficial lifestyle. Even though Elizabeth rejects these superficial relationships, she cannot escape the aristocracy's grip on her life, as her mother and sisters are surrounded... middle of paper ......looking for Lydia, Mr. Gardiner fills his shoes by continuing to search for Lydia to clear the family name. In this way, the Gardiners convince Elizabeth to open her heart and abandon her prejudices, allowing her relationship to grow and finally blossom with the success of Darcy's proposal. The irony behind the situation is that the lowly Gardiners, even below Elizabeth's class, are the ones who bring the couple together. Austen uses the Gardiners to challenge the paternal hierarchy as they are responsible for Elizabeth's marriage. Although the ending is happy, it does not overshadow the social problems Austen faces until the last page of her novel. Although the Gardiners experience love and status, they will never experience the economic status of Darcy's greatness and will therefore remind the reader of those less fortunate than Elizabeth..