Expectation and first reactions
I heard about Pride and Prejudice when I was actually quite young. My first expectations back then were that it must be a boring book with lots of complicated things. Now that I’m older, I wanted to give it a chance anyway. My expectations were, as discussed in our text book, lots of wit and a good perspective on the circumstances back then. My first reaction was that it did seem like a good book, as even the first sentence caught my attention.
Summary
The Bennet family is ecstatic when a rich, handsome man the estate of Netherfield close-by their village Longbourn rents. At a ball, an immediate connection forms between Mr. Bingley and Jane, the eldest daughter of the Bennet family. Mr. Bingley’s sisters, the single Caroline and the wedded Mrs. Hurst, adore her, but his best friend, Mr. Darcy, doesn’t show any sympathy. Not even for the beautiful Elizabeth Bennet.
When Jane goes to Netherfield on horseback and gets ill, Elizabeth follows her while their sisters are completely infatuated with a group of soldiers in town. Elizabeth stays at Netherfield for a while and has regular arguments with Mr. Darcy about what can and what cannot. Shortly after she and Jane go back home, Mr. Collins, a nephew of Mr. Bennet who will inherit the family’s property, comes around. Mr. Collins has a good relationship with lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy’s aunt.
One of the soldiers has a strong aversion against Mr. Darcy and tells Elizabeth their history. The soldier, whose name is Wickham, was the godson of Mr. Darcy’s father and would inherit a place in the church, but after his death, Mr. Darcy decided Wickham wouldn’t get anything. During a ball at Netherfield, the story is countered by the Bingley family. Jane and Mr. Bingley spend a lot of time together as well.
The next day, Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, but she refuses immediately. Shortly after, Jane gets a letter from Caroline Bingley saying Mr. Bingley, his sisters and Mr. Darcy will go to London for indefinite time. She speculates Mr. Bingley will marry Mr. Darcy’s sister Georgiana, who the Bingley sisters love. Mr. Collins marries Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte Lucas.
Jane, in an attempt to gain the attention of the Bingley family, stays at her aunt and uncle Gardiner’s house in London. She meets Caroline Bingley, who says their return will be highly unlikely and doesn’t want any other contact with Jane.
Shortly after Mr. Collin’s wedding, Elizabeth visits them. She meets Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter as well. Unexpectedly, Mr. Darcy is visiting his aunt with his cousin colonel Fitzwilliam at the same time.
After numerous awkward, short visits from Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth hears Mr. Darcy had tried everything to keep Jane and Mr. Bingley apart. A few days later, Elizabeth gets another visit from Mr. Darcy, who declares his lover for her and proposes. She refuses and they get into a fight, where he admits to have driven her sister and his friend Bingley apart.
The next day, Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter in which he explains and apologizes. He kept Jane and Bingley apart because he suspected it wouldn’t be a good marriage. He thought their family wasn’t rich enough and Jane’s affection towards Bingley were probably mediocre. Darcy also explains his behavior towards Wickham.
Wickham could’ve gotten a place in the church indeed, but he refused this and asked for money instead. Mr. Darcy had given him the money, but he’d completely lost all of it to gambling. He asked for money again, but Darcy refused. Darcy didn’t see Wickham for years after that, until he tried to seduce his sister Georgiana because of her fortune. Luckily, Mr. Darcy managed to prevent this.
Elizabeth goes home and her sister Lydia leaves for Brighton with a young, married couple who she befriended. The husband was a military man, so Wickham and the other soldiers go to Brighton as well. That summer, Elizabeth goes on holiday with her aunt and uncle Gardiner. During the trip to North-England, they decide to visit the Pemberly estate of Mr. Darcy because it was open to public.
Per coincidence, they see Mr. Darcy. He acts very nice, even to her aunt and uncle, and she finally sees him in a familiar, relaxed environment. An awkward tension is felt between them, but Elizabeth leaves quickly once a letter arrives saying Lydia, her sister, and Wickham ran away to get married. Such a scandal it is. After searching for a while, they are found and the wedding takes place. They move to Newcastle because Wickham was transferred there.
Elizabeth discovers Mr. Darcy helped with the preparations for the wedding, even with his dislike of the groom. Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy return to Netherfield and shortly after, Jane and Bingley get engaged. Lady Catherine de Bourgh comes to Longbourn to interrogate Elizabeth about her relationship with Mr. Darcy. Rumors seem to be going around that the two are engaged instead of marrying the lady’s daughter, as had been decided long ago. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get married not long after they declare their love for each other and they live happily ever after, just like Jane and Bingley.
Facts
Pride and Prejudice was written by Jane Austin and edited by Penguin Classics. It’s first published in 1813 and it has 399 pages.
About Jane: Jane Austin was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon near Bassingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She was primarily taught by her father and her brothers, but she also learned a lot by reading books. She lived quite a modest life and the support of her family helped her become the writer who she was. She experimented with lots of different styles of writing until she was already thirty-five years old. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother and in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 when she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on 18 July 1817. Her sister, Cassandra, was her best friend and the person she confided her trust in during her life. Out of her brothers, she was the closest to Henry. Henry was a banker and showed Jane the world of publishers, bankers, artists and many more that would’ve been invisible to her if she’d stayed in Hampshire. Her other brother George was the black sheep of the family and was prone to ‘attacks’ and ‘mental issues’. Not a lot is known about Jane, because only a hundred-and-sixty letters from the estimated three thousand were still left. Others had been burned by her brother James or censored. The letters that did get saved were from family and they described her as the ‘calm and sympathetic aunt Jane’. She published her works anonymously, which didn’t give her a lot of fame, but that changed after her cousin published a book in memory of her. Most of her books are about women in her time and how they had to rely on marriage to gain social status and economic stability. They also deepen themselves into the actual moral questions of her time. (333 words)
Books:
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Mansfield Park (1814)
Emma (1815)
Northanger Abbey (1818)
Persuasion (1818)
Ze schreef ook drie kortere stukken:
Lady Susan (briefroman)
The Watsons (onvolledige roman)
Sanditon (onvolledige roman)
Henry and Eliza
The Three Sisters
Love and Freindship [sic]
The History of England
Catharine, or the Bower
The Beautiful Cassandra
Characters:
– Charles Bingley: The cause of all tension at the beginning when he and his kin move to Netherfield. He’s very friendly, but wants to keep his reputation high and make everyone feel comfortable. He can be na”ve as well, though.
– Jane Bennet: The eldest Bennet daughter and the pride of her mom. She’s the most beautiful girl in the neighbourhood, but very introvert. She likes making people comfortable, but never really talks about what goes on in her head and heart. She places everyone but herself on the first place.
– Mr. Darcy: Mr. Bingley’s best mate, but a huge attention seeker. He’s rude and everything but open. He doesn’t like telling people his thoughts and thinks he’s intelligent because he thinks he has everyone figured out. He’s a proud man and refuses company that doesn’t fit his standards. He also thinks of himself as someone you don’t say ‘no’ to.
– Elizabeth Bennet: She’s the most important character. She knows what she wants and doesn’t care about what people thingk of her. When something doesn’t go her way, it doesn’t happen. She stands strong, but judges people to quickly. She cares a lot about family and quickly feels guilty when something’s wrong with them. She isn’t easily intimidated and stays true to herself by being honest.
Title explanation: The title refers to the two most important things in the book. Prejudice keeps Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth apart, because they think the other is not up to their standards. Only when they tell each other, they see that isn’t the case. Pride keeps them from admitting their faults which makes them take the longest time before they look back at their prejudices and dare to change them.
Genre: This book is a romantic, historical novel, because it takes place back in Austin’s time and has the element of love in it.
Setting: The story is set in England, somewhere close to London and at times in London itself. The most important places in the book are the estates Netherfield and Pemberly, the house of the Bennet family. It’s important it takes places in England, because you can see the obvious signs of typical English culture.
The story takes place around the 1800’s and is spread over around 350 pages of text in total. The actual time is probably around one and a half years. Time is huge for this story, because the time in which the story takes place plays a big part in how they act, how they are treated and what the standards are for that particular time.
Themes: Like the title says, pride and prejudice are the most important themes in the book. It’s basically what the whole book is about. Not about the love, or the indifference. Not about getting a wife or husband, but about the prejudices that keep people apart when it isn’t even needed and the pride that causes people to not say what they want or handle how they should. Of course there are little elements of love, because in the end it still plays a pretty important part, and things like the social levels back in that time. None of them are as important as pride and prejudice, though.
Style: The style of the book is quite old school, just like the book itself. It gives the story the bit of flair that makes it even better. You can easily see the differences between society then and now, which is quite enlightening and fun to read. It’s quite formal as well, especially when you look at the upper class. Sometimes you have to look up some words because you don’t know what they mean, but it isn’t all that bad. Some sentences can be long, boring and longwinded, but others sure make it worth reading through those boring parts. The arguments make worth the seemingly never-ending descriptions for example.
Literary points: The book is written in a good, flowing story. There are no huge flashbacks or flash forwards that make you lose the whole plot. It is chronologically written, and the only things that refer to the past are memories, but that doesn’t really disturb how it’s written. The story has a closed ending, because it tells you what happens after they get married and doesn’t leave you with a huge cliffhanger. It can be a bit of a slow introduction when all the characters are introduced and this also makes it a bit hard to keep track of all the characters that appear.
Quotation
‘From the very beginning – from the first moment, I may almost say – of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.’
This quote shows how Elizabeth swallows her pride and admit her prejudices were wrong. I chose this quote, because I think it’s one of the best sentences in the book and she finally admits her faults. I like how the quote is sort of sweet, but then the witty kind of sweet, if you get what I mean.
Evaluation
The book doesn’t have a lot of action, it’s outdated and sometimes a bit boring to read, it has characters and problems like marriages that we as teenagers aren’t really familiar with, but somehow this book gets you hooked and keeps you hooked. Maybe it’s the way of writing itself that’s interesting, the words and sentences, the beautiful language. Maybe it’s how Austin’s wit keeps me entertained. Maybe it’s because pride and prejudices are problems we can relate to even now. I honestly have no idea what got me hooked on this book. I started reading it because I wanted to see why some people are so excited because of the book and why others don’t like it at all. I guess it’s a question of taste, really. I normally don’t read historical books, because I simply don’t like them. I might read more of Austin’s book, though, seeing as I like what I read in this book and, well, I just like English.
I recommend this book to anyone, honestly. It’s a must-read, you could say. Even if you don’t like it at all, at least you read a piece of a master writer.