Pride and Prejudice
Pride
and Prejudice is a romantic novel
of manners written by Jane
Austen in 1813. The novel follows the
character development of Elizabeth
Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the
book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to
appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. Its
humour lies in its honest depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money
during the Regency era
in Great Britain.
Mr
Bennet of Longbourn estate has five daughters, but his property is entailed and can only be passed to a male heir. His wife also lacks
an inheritance, so his family will be destitute upon his death. Thus it is
imperative that at least one of the girls marry well to support the others,
which is a motivation that drives the plot. The novel revolves around the
importance of marrying for love, not for money or social prestige, despite the
communal pressure to make a wealthy match.
Pride
and Prejudice has consistently appeared near the
top of lists of "most-loved books" among literary scholars and the
reading public. It has become one of the most popular novels in English
literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and has inspired many derivatives
in modern literature.[1][2] For more than a century, dramatic adaptations, reprints,
unofficial sequels, films, and TV versions of Pride and Prejudice have
portrayed the memorable characters and themes of the novel, reaching mass
audiences.[3] The 2005 film Pride &
Prejudice is the most recent film adaptation
that closely represents the book.[4]
Plot summary
The
novel is set in rural England in the early 19th century. Mrs Bennet attempts to
persuade Mr Bennet to visit Mr Bingley, a rich bachelor recently arrived in the
neighbourhood. After some verbal sparring with her husband, Mrs Bennet believes
he will not call on Mr Bingley. Shortly after, he visits Netherfield, Mr
Bingley's rented residence, much to Mrs Bennet's delight. The visit is followed
by an invitation to a ball at the local assembly
rooms that the entire neighbourhood will
attend.
At
the ball, Mr Bingley's friendly and cheerful manner makes him popular with
guests. He appears attracted to Jane Bennet (the Bennets' eldest daughter),
with whom he dances twice. Bingley's friend, Mr
Darcy, reputed to be twice as wealthy, is
haughty and aloof, causing a decided dislike of him. He declines to dance with
Elizabeth (the Bennets' second eldest daughter), stating she is not attractive
enough to tempt him.[5] Elizabeth finds this amusing and jokes about it with her
sisters.
Mr
Bingley's sister, Caroline, later invites Jane to Netherfield for dinner. On
her way there, Jane is caught in a rain shower and develops a bad cold, forcing
her to stay at Netherfield to recuperate. When Elizabeth goes to see Jane, Mr
Darcy finds himself becoming attracted to Elizabeth, while Miss Bingley grows
jealous, as she herself has designs on Mr Darcy.
Mr
Collins, Mr Bennet's cousin and heir to the Longbourn estate, visits the Bennet
family. He is a pompous, obsequious clergyman who intends to marry one of the
Bennet girls. After learning that Jane may soon be engaged, he quickly decides
on Elizabeth, the next daughter in both age and beauty.
Elizabeth
and her family meet the dashing and charming army officer, George Wickham, who
singles out Elizabeth. He says he is connected to the Darcy family and claims
Mr Darcy deprived him of an occupation (a permanent position as a clergyman in
a prosperous parish with good revenue) promised to him by Mr Darcy's late
father. Elizabeth's dislike of Mr Darcy is confirmed.[5]
At
the ball at Netherfield, Mr Darcy asks Elizabeth to dance, and, despite her vow
never to dance with him, she accepts. Excluding Jane and Elizabeth, several
Bennet family members display a distinct lack of decorum. Mrs Bennet hints
loudly that she fully expects Jane and Bingley to become engaged, and the
younger Bennet sisters expose the family to ridicule by their silliness.
Mr
Collins proposes to Elizabeth. She rejects him, to her mother's fury and her
father's relief. Shortly after, the Bingley's suddenly depart for London with
no plans to return. After Elizabeth's rejection, Mr Collins proposes to
Charlotte Lucas, a sensible young woman and Elizabeth's friend. Charlotte,
older (27), is grateful for a proposal that guarantees her a comfortable home.
Elizabeth is aghast at such pragmatism in matters of love. Meanwhile, a
heartbroken Jane visits her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner in London. It soon is clear
that Miss Bingley has no intention of resuming their acquaintance leaving Jane
upset, though composed.
In
the spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr Collins in Kent. Elizabeth and
her hosts are invited to Rosings Park, the imposing home of Lady Catherine de
Bourgh, imperious patroness of Mr Collins and Mr Darcy's wealthy aunt. Lady
Catherine expects Mr Darcy to marry her daughter, as planned in his childhood
by his aunt and mother. Mr Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, are also
visiting at Rosings Park. Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth how Mr Darcy recently
saved a friend, presumably Bingley, from an undesirable match. Elizabeth
realises the prevented engagement was to Jane and is horrified that Mr Darcy
interfered. Later, Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, declaring his love for her
despite her inferior social rank. She rejects him angrily, stating she could
never love a man who caused her sister such unhappiness and further accuses him
of treating Wickham unjustly. Mr Darcy brags about his success in separating
Bingley and Jane, and suggests that he had been kinder to Bingley than to
himself. He dismisses the accusation regarding Wickham sarcastically, but does
not address it.
Later,
Mr Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter, explaining that Wickham, the son of his late
father's steward, had refused the living his father arranged for him, and was
instead given money for it. Wickham quickly squandered the money and when
impoverished, asked for the living again. After being refused, he tried to
elope with Darcy's 15-year-old sister, Georgiana, for her considerable dowry. Mr Darcy also writes that he separated Jane and Bingley
because due to Jane's reserved behaviour, he sincerely believed her indifferent
to Bingley, and also because of the lack of propriety of the other members of
her family.
Elizabeth tells her father that
Darcy was responsible for uniting Lydia and Wickham, one of the two earliest
illustrations of Pride and Prejudice.[6] The clothing styles reflect the time the illustration was
engraved (the 1830s), not the time in which the novel was written or set.
Some
months later, Elizabeth accompanies the Gardiners on a tour of Derbyshire. They
visit Pemberley, the Darcy estate (after Elizabeth ascertains Mr Darcy's
absence). The housekeeper there describes Mr Darcy as kind and generous,
recounting several examples of these characteristics. When Mr Darcy returns
unexpectedly, he is exceedingly gracious and later invites Elizabeth and the
Gardiners to meet his sister, and Mr Gardiner to go fishing. Elizabeth is
surprised and delighted by their treatment. She then receives news that her
sister Lydia has run off with Wickham. She tells Mr Darcy immediately, then
departs in haste, believing she will never see him again as Lydia has ruined
the family's good name.
After
an agonising interim, Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia. With some veneer of
decency restored, Lydia visits the family and tells Elizabeth that Mr Darcy was
at her and Wickham's wedding. Though Mr Darcy had sworn everyone involved to
secrecy, Mrs Gardiner now feels obliged to inform Elizabeth that he secured the
match, at great expense and trouble to himself. She hints that he may have had
"another motive" for having done so, implying that she believes Darcy
to be in love with Elizabeth.
Mr
Bingley and Mr Darcy return to Netherfield. Bingley proposes to Jane, who
accepts. Lady Catherine, having heard rumours that Elizabeth intends to marry
Mr Darcy, visits Elizabeth and demands she promise never to accept Mr Darcy's
proposal. Elizabeth refuses and the outraged Lady Catherine leaves. Darcy,
heartened by his aunt's indignant relaying of Elizabeth's response, again
proposes to her and is accepted. Elizabeth has difficulty in convincing her
father that she is marrying for love, not position and wealth, but Mr Bennet is
finally convinced. Mrs. Bennet is exceedingly happy to learn of her daughter's
match to Mr. Darcy and quickly changes her opinion of him. The novel concludes
with an overview of the marriages of the three daughters and the great
satisfaction of both parents at the fine, happy matches made by Jane and
Elizabeth.
Characters
- Elizabeth Bennet – the second eldest of the Bennet daughters, she is twenty years old and intelligent, lively, playful, attractive, and witty – but with a tendency to form tenacious and prejudicial first impressions. As the story progresses, so does her relationship with Mr Darcy. The course of Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship is ultimately decided when Darcy overcomes his pride, and Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice, leading them both to surrender to their love for each other.
- Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy – Mr Bingley's friend and the wealthy, twenty-eight-year-old owner of the family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire, rumoured to be worth at least £10,000 a year (equivalent to £796,000 or $1,045,000 in 2018).[7] While he is handsome, tall, and intelligent, Darcy lacks ease and social graces, and so others frequently mistake his initially haughty reserve and rectitude as proof of excessive pride (which, in part, it is). A new visitor to the village, he is ultimately Elizabeth Bennet's love interest. Though he appears to be proud and is largely disliked by people for this reason, his servants vouch for his kindness and decency.
- Mr Bennet – A late-middle-aged landed gentleman of a modest income of £2000 per annum, and the dryly sarcastic patriarch of the now-dwindling Bennet family (a family of Hertfordshire landed gentry), with five unmarried daughters. His estate, Longbourn, is entailed to the male line. His affection for his wife wore off early into their marriage and is now reduced to him tolerating the other. He is often described as indolent in the novel.
- Mrs Bennet (née Gardiner) – the middle-aged wife of her social superior, Mr Bennet, and the mother of their five daughters. Mrs Bennet is a hypochondriac who imagines herself susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations (her "poor nerves"), whenever things are not going her way. Her main ambition in life is to marry her daughters off to wealthy men. Whether or not any such matches will give her daughters happiness is of little concern to her. She was settled a dowry of £4,000 from her father, Mr Gardiner Sr., most likely invested at 4 per cents, allowing her to receive £160 per annum, as it was indicated by Mr Collins during his proposal ["to fortune I am perfectly indifferent, and shall made no demands of that nature on your father, since I am well aware that it could not be complied with; and that one thousand pounds in the 4 per cents. which will not be yours till after your mother's decease, is all that you may ever be entitled to"][8], that it is probable that her settlement had increased to £5,000 over the years, but remains invested at 4 per cents.
In a letter to Cassandra dated May
1813, Jane Austen describes a picture she saw at a gallery which was a good
likeness of "Mrs Bingley" – Jane Bennet. Deirdre Le Faye in The
World of Her Novels suggests that "Portrait of Mrs Q-" is the
picture Austen was referring to. (pp. 201–203)
- Jane Bennet – the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-two years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood and is inclined to see only the good in others (but can be persuaded otherwise on sufficient evidence). She falls in love with Charles Bingley, a rich young gentleman recently moved to Hertfordshire and a close friend of Mr Darcy.
- Mary Bennet – the middle Bennet sister, and the plainest of her siblings. Mary has a serious disposition and mostly reads and plays music, although she is often impatient to display her accomplishments and is rather vain about them. She frequently moralises to her family. According to James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen, Mary ended up marrying one of her Uncle Philips' law clerks and moving into Meryton with him.
- Catherine "Kitty" Bennet – the fourth Bennet daughter at 17 years old. Though older than Lydia, she is her shadow and follows her in her pursuit of the officers of the militia. She is often portrayed as envious of Lydia and is described a "silly" young woman. However, it is said that she improved when removed from Lydia's influence. According to James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen, Kitty later married a clergyman who lived near Pemberley.
- Lydia Bennet – the youngest Bennet sister, aged 15 when the novel begins. She is frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socializing, especially flirting with the officers of the militia. This leads to her running off with George Wickham, although he has no intention of marrying her. Lydia shows no regard for the moral code of her society; as Ashley Tauchert says, she "feels without reasoning."[9]
- Charles Bingley – a handsome, amiable, wealthy young gentleman from the north of England (possibly Yorkshire, as Scarborough is mentioned, and there is, in fact, a real-life town called Bingley in West Yorkshire), who leases Netherfield Park, an estate three miles from Longbourn, with the hopes of purchasing it. He is contrasted with Mr Darcy for having more generally pleasing manners, although he is reliant on his more experienced friend for advice. An example of this is the prevention of Bingley and Jane's romance because of Bingley's undeniable dependence on Darcy's opinion.[10] He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others; his two sisters, Miss Caroline Bingley and Mrs Louisa Hurst, both disapprove of Bingley's growing affection for Miss Jane Bennet. He inherited a fortune of £100,000, which could be either invested at 4 per cents or 5 per cents for a sum of £4,000 or £5,000 per annum.[11].
- Caroline Bingley – the vainglorious, snobbish sister of Charles Bingley, with a fortune of £20,000 (giving her an allowance/pin money of £800 or £1,000 per annum, depending on the percentage of investment). Miss Bingley harbours designs upon Mr Darcy, and therefore is jealous of his growing attachment to Elizabeth. She attempts to dissuade Mr Darcy from liking Elizabeth by ridiculing the Bennet family and criticising Elizabeth's comportment. Miss Bingley also disapproves of her brother's esteem for Jane Bennet, and is disdainful of society in Meryton. Her wealth (which she overspends) and her expensive education seem to be the two greatest sources of Miss Bingley's vanity and conceit; likewise, she is very insecure about the fact that her and her family's money all comes from trade, and is eager both for her brother to purchase an estate, ascending the Bingleys to the ranks of the Gentry, and for herself to marry a landed gentleman (i.e. Mr Darcy). The dynamic between Miss Bingley and her sister, Louisa Hurst, seems to echo that of Lydia & Kitty Bennet's, and Mrs. Bennet's & Mrs. Phillips; that one is no more than a follower of the other, with Caroline in the same position as Lydia & Mrs. Bennet, and Louisa in Kitty's & Mrs. Phillips (though, in Louisa's case, as she's already married, she's not under the same desperation as Caroline). Louisa is married to Mr Hurst, who has a house in Grosvenor Square, London.
- George Wickham – Wickham has been acquainted with Mr Darcy since infancy, being the son of Mr Darcy's father's steward. An officer in the militia, he is superficially charming and rapidly forms an attachment with Elizabeth Bennet. He later runs off with Lydia with no intention of marriage, which would have resulted in her and her family's complete disgrace, but for Darcy's intervention to bribe Wickham to marry her by paying off his immediate debts.
- Mr William Collins – Mr Collins, aged 25 years old as the novel begins, is Mr Bennet's distant second cousin, a clergyman, and the current heir presumptive to his estate of Longbourn House. He is an obsequious and pompous man, prone to making long and tedious speeches, who is excessively devoted to his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
- Lady Catherine de Bourgh – the overbearing aunt of Mr Darcy. Lady Catherine is the wealthy owner of Rosings Park, where she resides with her daughter Anne and is fawned upon by her rector, Mr Collins. She is haughty, pompous, domineering, and condescending, and has long planned to marry off her sickly daughter to Darcy, to 'unite their two great estates', claiming it to be the dearest wish of both her and her late sister, Lady Anne Darcy (née Fitzwilliam).
- Mr Edward and Mrs M Gardiner – Edward Gardiner is Mrs Bennet's brother and a successful tradesman of sensible and gentlemanly character. Aunt Gardiner is genteel and elegant, and is close to her nieces Jane and Elizabeth. The Gardiners are instrumental in bringing about the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth.
- Georgiana Darcy – Georgiana is Mr Darcy's quiet, amiable (and shy) younger sister, with a dowry of £30,000 (giving her an allowance/pin money of £1,200 or £1,500 per annum), and is aged barely 16 when the story begins. When still 15, Miss Darcy almost eloped with Mr Wickham, but was saved by her brother, whom she idolises. Thanks to years of tutorage under masters, she is accomplished at the piano, singing, playing the harp, and drawing, and modern languages, and is therefore described as Caroline Bingley's idea of an "accomplished woman".
- Charlotte Lucas – Charlotte is Elizabeth's friend who, at 27 years old (and thus very much beyond what was then considered prime marriageable age), fears becoming a burden to her family and therefore agrees to marry Mr Collins to gain financial security. Though the novel stresses the importance of love and understanding in marriage, Austen never seems to condemn Charlotte's decision to marry for money. She uses Charlotte to convey how women of her time would adhere to society's expectation for women to marry even if it is not out of love, but convenience.[citation needed] Charlotte is the daughter of Sir William Lucas and Lady Lucas, neighbours of the Bennet family.
- Colonel Fitzwilliam – Colonel Fitzwilliam is the younger son of an earl, and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy; this makes him the cousin of Anne de Bourgh and the Darcy siblings, Fitzwilliam and Georgiana. He is about 30 years old at the beginning of the novel. He is the co-guardian of Miss Georgiana Darcy, along with his cousin, Mr Darcy. According to Colonel Fitzwilliam, as a younger son, he cannot marry without thought to his prospective bride's dowry; Elizabeth Bennet joked that, as the son of an Earl, Colonel Fitzwilliam wouldn't be able to settle for a bride with a dowry lower than £50,000 (which suggests that Colonel Fitzwilliam's living allowance is about £2,000 to £2,500 per-year).
No comments:
Post a Comment