An excessively proud person looks down on people, and as long as he looks down, he cannot see what is above him. On the other hand, an individual with too little pride has an attitude of mediocrity and this hinders self-realization. Disproportionate pride blinds moral judgment, creates intolerance, and discourages relationships. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin is a novel that portrays individual characters who demonstrate a lack of balance in how they perceive themselves and create ruin as a result. Pride and Prejudice tells the dearest love stories that take place in the small English village of Longbourne, England, and is above all the story of relationships with interactions of characters who suffer and make people suffer due to disproportionate pride. Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Lady Catherine Debourgh are characters who have excessive pride that blinds their moral judgment and causes damage to their relationships. Charles Bingley, Jane Bennett, and Charlotte Lucas are Austen's characters who possess an attitude of mediocrity that compromises their ability to maximize fulfillment in their lives. Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the novel is the second daughter of the Bennet family who is lovely, intelligent, honest, virtuous and witty. Despite her admirable qualities, Elizabeth allows excessive pride to create a destructive prejudice against Fitzwilliam Darcy, the son of a rich and successful family, and this prejudice causes Elizabeth to jeopardize her love. From the beginning, Elizabeth demonstrates how her pride leads her to misjudge Darcy when he shows interest in dancing with her. Elizabeth's pride leads her to react defensively and reject Darcy's honest advances... middle of paper...... Instead, Charlotte accepts Mr. Collins's marriage proposal "solely for... desire for an institution" (Austen, 121). Charlotte's non-existent pride creates a lack of self-confidence, and this leads to poor judgment with a disastrous outcome. The world is full of people who are too arrogant or who live with too little self-esteem. Through the characters in her book Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays how attitudes of too much pride or too little self-realization can cause ruin. Some like Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are fortunate enough to become aware of their disproportionate pride and thus manage to achieve happiness in their relationship. Unfortunately, others like Charlotte Lucas never awaken and remain dissatisfied throughout their lives. Balance of perspectives is a good rule to respect.