Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

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Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has repeatedly maintained that the author replicated

a fixed storyline in each of her six canonical novels, in which the hero and heroine ultimately find happiness after a previous series of misunderstandings.

In Pride and Prejudice, the narrative tension reaches its peak with

Mr. Darcy’s first proposal to Elizabeth Bennet and, as a result, the novel subsequently heads towards a happy yet anticlimactic ending

Jane Austen’s ironic aphorism as the opening lines of Pride and Prejudice is

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife

By using words such as ‘man’, ‘fortune’ and ‘wife’

Austen’s initial announcement straightforwardly insinuates the main plot of Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy

the main protagonists of the novel.

Jane Austen’s beginnings as a writer

were tough and she repeatedly faced disappointment during her early writing career

The first draft of Pride and Prejudice, initially entitled

‘First Impressions’

first draft of Pride and Prejudice written in epistolary form

was submitted to the publisher Cadell in 1796 but immediately rejected, so it seemed as if her novels would never see the light

submitted to the publisher Cadell in 1796 and rejected but published only after

twenty-three years after its initial sketch was the novel finally published. 1813

Although Austen had already faced some rejections, by the end of the nineteenth century Pride and Prejudice was, like the rest of Austen’s works, a sensation. Since then, it has remained her most popular novel beyond dispute. Current estimates have indicated

that the novel not only has never lost ground as one of the most representative works in British literature but it is still Austen’s most translated and printed novel

Pride and Prejudice, although published two hundred years ago,

it is still capable of attracting not only readers in very different historical contexts but it also continues to draw the literary critics’ attention towards issues of reason, feelings, decorum and independence in 19th century England

The opening lines of the novel as well as the women’s necessity to secure their future by means of a good marriage at Austen’s time

anticipates the author’s recurrent storyline in which her heroines frequently go through an emotionally charged process in their choice between potential suitors until they ultimately find happiness, always by means of matrimony.

Pride and Prejudice shares this pivotal thematic concern with

the rest of Austen’s six canonical novels

a feature that makes of Pride and Prejudice a unique work, which has not been replicated in any of Austen’s other works

Pride and Prejudice’s conflict, brought about by the first proposal, and the novel’s subsequent anticlimactic conclusion become one of its unique characteristics.

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The first proposal that Mr. Darcy makes to Elizabeth Bennet and her subsequent rejection constitutes the novel’s narrative peak and therefore it leads to an anticlimactic ending, since the most interesting and unexpected moment has already taken place

After going through Pride and Prejudice’s first chapter, one realises that

the seven members of the Bennet family could have easily had the leading role of the novel on their own.

According to the social rules of decorum in 19th century England,

gentry girls would be socially isolated until making their debut at age 16 at a grand ball.The Bennets start the story but it only develops from three of its members

The Bennets start the story but it only develops from three of its members

Jane, Elizabeth and Lidia Bennet- and their eventual fiancés respectively

the multiple plotting in Pride and Prejudice is

connected by the relationships that exist between characters

Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy are close friends; the latter is the son of Mr. Wickam’s father’s master

One of the plots develops off stage, as the reader is not explicitly told how

Lidia Bennet and Mr. Wickam come to be lovers and eventually decide to elope.

gentry families in Austen’s novels have strong ties to

land transferred from one generation of a family to the next,

the Bennet daughters run the risk of

losing their home to a distant male relative through the system of ‘entail’, by which female inheritors were highly unlikely to inherit and, consequently, their only hope lied on marrying well

there are five Bennet daughters, each of them reported to be

“unique in temperament and behaviour

The title of the novel gives neither

clue nor a virtual reference to any of the sisters in particular

Elizabeth Bennet is not the

storyteller

at first it looks as if Mr. Bingley and Jane’s love story will attract the main focus

as they are the first ones who are suggested as potential suitors

Mr. Bingley dances twice with Jane over any other girl at the assemblies, as opposed to

o Elizabeth, who has not shown a particular interest in any of the men attending the social event

Elizabeth Bennet is put forward constantly

Her father regards her as someone who “has something more of quickness than her sisters”, who “are silly and ignorant like other girls” and therefore she is her father’s favourite because she has inherited his wit

Jane stays at Netherfield Park

due to her having gone on horseback during a heavy rain, the narrator stays in Elizabeth’s part, even though Jane’s is a fairly more climactic one

When Jane travels to London with her uncles the Gardiners,

we stay with Elizabeth as well

by using a third-person omniscient narrator Jane Austen refuses to commit herself to a definite position.

When the reader thinks he knows everything about the novel’s main protagonist, the narrator surprises him with the heroine’s unexpected responses to critical situations that she encounters.

the narrator surprises readers with the heroine’s unexpected responses to critical situations that she encounters

What her answer to Mr. Collins’ proposal as well as to Mr. Darcy’s one might be is something we might expect but it is definitely something for which we are not explicitly prepared, nor by the narrator nor by the character herself

At the end of the day, it is in Elizabeth’s

independent mind and in her vivaciously intelligence where her appeal lies.

Mr. Darcy is not the main reflector of the story and the narrative perspective does not stay with him throughout the novel either

Still, he is soon recognised as the hero of this story

After about two-hundred years of his creation, Mr. Darcy remains to be

defined as “one of the most enduring and influential fantasy-figures in English literature, if not in Universal literature more generally”

Parallel to what happens to the character of Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy role in the novel suggests a

weak involvement in the main narrative conflicts of the novel, at least compared to his friend Bingley

Mr. Bingley that has become the new tenant of

Netherfield Park and therefore the new neighbour of Hertfordshire.

Mr. Darcy’s prominence can be explained in part because

he outweighs Mr. Bingley both in fortune and in beauty

Mr. Bingley was good looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners

but the ladies declared he –Mr. Darcy- was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening

the upper-middle class world of Jane Austen’s fiction, which is portrayed as

“secure in its values, its privileges and snobberies and, therefore, as the kind of society that defines itself very precisely in terms of land, money and class, accepting rank as an essential guinea-stamp

Austen seems determined to expose

the most disagreeable aspects of Mr. Darcy which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend

Mr. Darcy character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and

everybody hoped that he would never come there again.

Mr. Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh

In concordance with her nephew, she “was reckoned proud by many people”

she likes to have the distinction of rank preserved”

Lady Catherine is the member of a

higher titled family. She typifies the older generation of aristocracy; a group which looks sharply at social distinction

Lady Catherine works as

the personified barrier that exists between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet and therefore as the constant reminder that Lizzy has to be mindful about the boundaries that separate her and Mr. Darcy

Lady Catherine to Mr. Darcy’s

Because honor, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it \[…\] You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by every one connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us”.

Mr. Darcy’s role as one of the main protagonists is doubtful.

He is not presented as a fixed member of Hertfordshire but an occasional visitor

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Moreover, his first impressions have been not only the opposite of a moral person but the most proud one, rejecting to relate with any other characters in the novel

Mr. Darcy dismissed Elizabeth as

not handsome enough to tempt him

Elizabeth Bennet the character was capable of enthralling her own creator, who uttered the following words

“I must confess that I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in print”

Elizabeth Bennet was

unconsciously successful in delighting her initial antagonist Mr. Darcy too

Mr. Darsy eventually claims

that he “had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He initially believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger”

it is social difference

that constrains Mr. Darcy; it is the only objection that he can find in Elizabeth.

The introduction of a new character, Mr. Wickam,

is a very significant shift in the plot and at the same time plays a key role in Elizabeth’s opinions about Mr. Darcy.

Mr. Wickam is a

settled soldier at Meryton

Elizabeth really sees Mr. Wickam as a worthy suitor, as opposed to Mr. Darcy, whom she still regards “as the worst of men

compensating for Mr. Darcy’s arrogance but also someone that is her equal in rank and status.

Mr. Wickam pictures Mr. Darcy

as someone whom “almost all his actions may be traced to pride; -and pride has often been his best friend. It has connected him nearer with virtue than any other feeling

There are almost sixty references to pride in Pride and Prejudice

mostly connected to Mr. Darcy.

It is Mr. Darcy’s pride which has undeniably created

Elizabeth’s prejudice

The courtship plot between Mr. Wickam and Elizabeth comes to an end rather quickly, as

he is prone to place his attentions in other women.

I am now convinced, my dear aunt, that I have never been much in love; for had I really experienced that pure and elevating passion, I should at present detest his very name, and wish him all manner of evil \[…\] There can be no love in all this

Elizabeth reckons to her aunt Mrs. Gardiner that she has not felt “pure and elevating passion”, related to true affection, for Mr. Wickam

Elizabeth is conscious enough

she is not willing to replicate her own parent’s matrimony

Had Elizabeth’s opinion been all drawn from

her own family

The several marriages portrayed in Pride and Prejudice are described neither in a positive nor in an exemplary way

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s marriage is said to be the fruit of passion. Once beauty has faded away, Mr. Bennet always looks forward to remain confined in his library, where his wife cannot disturb him.

Lydia and Wickam’s union correlates Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s one, it is the result of

selfish lust.

Charlotte’s marriage to the tedious Mr. Collins is a further example of the

pragmatic marriage with no real affection at all

Mr. Bingley’s engagement satisfies what someone would expect of a romantic story

their determination to seduce one another is so weak that Darcy’s attempt to discourage Mr. Bingley succeeds rather easily

Conversational exchanges

take up the greatest part of Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Darcy is constantly at a loss of words when it comes to having a conversation with

Elizabeth, and in the end their verbal exchanges would consist only of “a few formal enquiries”, “an awkward pause”, and some “odd unconnected questions”

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you”

Darcy’s proposal of marriage to Elizabeth

This is, perhaps, one of the most bizarre proposals of marriage in all literature

The awkwardness of Darcy’s proposal lies not in one but in several reasons

the reader does neither expect nor is explicitly prepared for Darcy’s proposal

the reader is not expectant to this very moment because he has no evidence that Darcy’s prejudices against the defects of Elizabeth’s family have disappeared yet

there is no evidence either of Elizabeth’s change of opinion towards Darcy. He is still regarded as a self-important and proud man and therefore there are no virtual references to the “elevating passion” that goes hand in hand with Elizabeth’s idea of marriage

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When Darcy started thinking of Elizabeth as his wife-to-be remainsWhen Darcy started thinking of Elizabeth as his wife-to-be remains

an unsolved mystery for the reader.

Pride and Prejudice’s conflict, brought about by

the first proposal, and the novel’s subsequent anticlimactic conclusion become one of its unique characteristics.

Although Mr. Darsy first instinct was to look to Elizabeth Bennet as someone beneath him, he is willing to

cross the barrier that separates them in terms of social difference so as to “be rewarded by her acceptance of his hand”

Apart from her earlier main objection –Darcy’s pride-, she has now “other provocations”

1. Mr. Wickam’s account of Darcy’s insensibility towards him
2. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s confirmation that it was Darcy who deliberately separated Jane and Mr. Bingley
3. Darcy’s own imputation of her family’s standing make it impossible for Elizabeth to ever consider Darcy as a prospective husband.
4. In a stratified society, Darcy’s rank and status have failed in having a positive impact on Elizabeth’s response.

Darcy’s letter plays an

important role in the disclosure of the knot of misunderstandings and is undeniably one of the most powerful elements in Pride and Prejudice’s twist of plot

After learning that Darcy was not responsible for Mr. Wickam’s loss of fortune and that he could have had a further justification to separate Mr. Bingley from an apparently disinterested Jane explains Mr. Darcy’s way of proceeding.

It is from this point onwards that Elizabeth really starts to reconsider her initial ideas on Darcy

In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth does neither persist in Mr. Darcy’s reform

nor lets him be in hopes of a further acceptance.

since the moment that Elizabeth rejects Darcy,

, both go through a simultaneous process by which they are equally humbled.


1. Darcy learns that rank and social connections represent no real barrier between him and
2. Elizabeth and Elizabeth realises that her first impressions did not let her identify true gentlemen and that good manners proved to be a façade for the real rascals of the story

“how differently did every thing now appear”.

“It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But **I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley**

Here, Elizabeth **talks to Jane about her feelings for Mr. Darcy.**

The characters had been so blinded by their prejudice against each other that

they can hardly identify where the affection started.

the reader is placed and therefore is able to identify the moment when it all started without his even realising it

On the grounds of Darcy’s property, his housekeeper’s opinions and his portrait Elizabeth comes to appreciate Darcy’s gallantry and inner qualities.

Pemberley becomes the metonym of

the real Mr. Darcy, not Elizabeth’s previous prejudiced idea about him.

**dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!** What **do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageousdearest, loveliest Elizabeth!** What **do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception.**

Elizabeth’s feelings had now changed completely towards the so called “pure and elevating passion”. The happiness that her positive answer provoked on Darcy “was such as he had probably never felt before”

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s matrimony is not but one out of the four marriages that take place in Pride and Prejudice, preceded by

1. the Collinses,
2. the Wickams and
3. the Bingleys,

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s steps towards their engagement undeniably contribute to the uniqueness of the novel

Pride and Prejudice’s uniqueness lies in the fact that

Mr. Darcy’s bizarre proposal constitutes the main narrative tension of the novel and therefore provokes a twist plot which leaves Austen’s traditional grand denouement in the shade

Pride and prejudice’s denouement lacks

proper climax.

, the overall tone of the novel represents matrimony as

an ambiguous social institution: marriage is suggested as cynical and lacking proper affection

most of Pride and Prejudice’s female characters prove that

matrimony is their only means of survival in 19th century England

Jane Austen’s creative style

of realism

Its essence as an entanglement of "rationality" and "emotionality" embodies the author’s view of love and the voice of women’s liberation

Jane Austen was born at

Steventon on December 16, 1775

youngest of seven children

education at home

Jane Austen completed "Pride and Prejudice"

at the age of twenty-two

Jane Austen distinguishes between

internal merit (goodness of person)

and

external merit (rank and possessions)

While social advancement for young men lay in the military, church, or law, the chief method of self-improvement for women was

the acquisition of wealth. Women could only accomplish this goal through successful marriage

The most remarkable characteristic of Jane Austen as a novelist is

her recognition of the limits of her knowledge of life and her determination never to go beyond these limits in her books

She describes her own class, in the part of the country with which she was acquainted; and both the types of character and the events are such as she knew from first-hand observation and experience

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." These words are spoken by

Mrs. Bennet to Mr. Bennet on the news that a gentleman of fortune has just moved to Netherfield Park, a nearby estate

Darcy is Elizabeth’s male counterpart. The narrator relates Elizabeth’s point of view of events more often than Darcy’s, so Elizabeth often seems a

a more sympathetic figure

Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley

they are vague characters, sketched by Austen rather than carefully drawn

It is left to Mr. Gardiner and Darcy to

track Lydia down and rectify the situation. Ultimately, Mr. Bennet would rather withdraw from the world than cope with it.

Mrs. Bennet also serves as a middle-class counterpoint to such upper-class snobs as Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley

demonstrating that foolishness can be found at every level of society

Pride and Prejudice is full of character-driven themes that revolve around the literary concept of

comedy of manners.‖

A comedy of manners is a

a literary work that deals with young lovers attempting to unite in marriage, and usually includes several incidences of witty commentary from the main characters, which can take form in terms of anything from clever flirting to open warfarePride and Prejudice one of the most famous works of Jane Austen. However, about three different volumes of the books were published anonymously in the year 1813

Pride and Prejudice one of the most famous works of Jane Austen.

about three different volumes of the books were published anonymously in the year 1813