PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Jane Austen

I: Biography

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in

Hampshire, England.
The seventh of eight children, she was educated mainly at home and never lived
apart from her family. She had a happy childhood amongst all her brothers. She was
very close to her elder sister. To amuse themselves, the children wrote and
performed plays.
She began to write as a teenager. At the age of 14 she wrote her first
novel, Love and Friendship. In her early twenties Jane Austen wrote the novels
that were later to be worked again and published as Sense and Sensibility, Pride
and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. She also began a novel called The Watsons
which was never completed.
As a young woman Jane enjoyed dancing (an activity which features frequently
in her novels). She loved the country, enjoyed long country walks. It was a
considerable shock when her parents suddenly announced in 1801 that the family
would be moving away to Bath.
After the death of Jane's father in 1805 Jane, her sister Cassandra and
their mother moved in Chawton, near Steventon.
The next four years were difficult for Jane Austen. They suffered financial
difficulties and were forced to rely on the charity of the Austen sons. It was
also at this time that, Jane fell in love, and when the young man died, she was
deeply upset. Later she accepted a proposal of marriage from Harris Bigg-Wither, a
wealthy landowner and the brother of one of her closest friends, but she changed
her mind the next morning and was greatly upset by the whole episode.
Jane's brother Henry helped her negotiate with a publisher and her first
novel, 'Sense and Sensibility', appeared in 1811. Her next novel 'Pride and
Prejudice', which she described as her "own darling child" received highly
favourable reviews. 'Mansfield Park' was published in 1814, then 'Emma' in 1816.
None of the books published in her life-time had her name on them — they were
described as being written "By a Lady".

In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, she had contracted Addisons
Disease, a tubercular disease of the kidneys.
No longer able to walk far, she used to drive out in a little donkey carriage. She
travelled to Winchester to receive treatment. She died there on 18 July 1817.

Portrait of Jane Austen

II. Introduction of the novel

It was originally titled First Impression because the appearances of the

characters created the plot of the novel. However, because the novel is also
concerned with the effects of the character’s first impressions, that is their
prejudice, Jane Austen found the title Pride and Prejudice more appropriate.
Pride and Prejudice described the clash between Elisabeth Bennet, the daughter of
a country gentleman, and William Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner. Their
relationship starts from dislike because of their both pride and arrogance.

The tone of the novel is light, satirical, and vivid. The story is told through
Elizabeth, but not in first person. As a result, the atmosphere is intellectual
and cold; there are little descriptions of the setting. The main actions of the
novel are the interactions between opinions, ideas, and attitudes, which weaves
and advances the plot of the novel. The emotions in the novel are to be perceived
beneath the surface of the story and are not to be expressed to the readers
directly.

The main theme in the novel is stated in the first sentence of the novel:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good

fortune, must be in want of a wife."

In this statement, Jane Austen has cleverly done three things: she has declared
that the main subject of the novel will be courtship and marriage, she has
established the humorous tone of the novel by taking a simple subject to elaborate
and to speak intelligently of, and she has prepared the reader for a chase in the
novel of either a husband in search of a wife, or a women in pursuit of a husband.

III. Introduction of the characters

- Miss Elisabeth Bennet

The novel’s protagonist. The second daughter of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth is the most
intelligent and sensible of the five Bennet sisters. She is well read and quick-
witted, with a tongue that occasionally proves too sharp for her own good. Her
realization of Darcy’s essential goodness eventually triumphs over her initial
prejudice against him.

- Miss Jane Bennet

Jane, Elizabeth's older sister, is nearly as sensible and practical as Elizabeth,
but Jane is also the beauty of the family, and therefore, Mrs. Bennet's highest
hope for a good match.

- Mr and Mrs Bennet

Mr Bennet has a sarcastic, cynical sense of humour that he uses to irritate his
wife. Though he loves his daughters (Elizabeth in particular), he often fails as a
parent.

Mrs. Bennet is a foolish woman who talks too much and whose only goal in life is
to see her daughters married.

- Mr Bingley
Bingley’s purchase of Netherfield, an estate near the Bennets‘ home. He is a well-
intentioned gentleman, whose easygoing nature contrasts with Darcy’s initially
discourteous behaviour. He is uncaring about class differences.

- Mr Darcy
A wealthy gentleman, he is intelligent and honest, his excess of pride causes him
to look down on his social inferiors. He looks haughty and arrogant. Throughout
the novel, he tempers his class-consciousness and learns to admire and love
Elizabeth for her strong character.
III: Sum up of the novel

The news that a wealthy young man has rented the manor of Netherfield Park
creates a great stir in the nearby village of Longbourn near to the Bennett’s
household. Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see her five daughters unmarried: from the
oldest to the youngest: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia. Soon after
Bingley’s arrival, the Bennet attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley and his friends
are present. Mr. Bingley and Jane become fond of one another. Mr. Darcy, Charles
Bingley’s friend, begins his acquaintance with Elizabeth, her family, and their
neighbours with condescension and pride for the all of the country people.
Elizabeth makes a point to match his disgust with her own venom. She hears
from a soldier that Darcy has misused a man named Wickham because of jealousy and
how he cheated him out of an inheritance. Without thinking through the story,
Elizabeth sees in that story a more concrete reason to hate Mr. Darcy. She
contradicts and argues with Darcy each time they meet, but somewhere along the way
he begins to like Elizabeth, increasingly attracted by her charm and intelligence.

But at the beginning of the winter, Bingley and Darcy leave the countryside
suddenly and make no attempts to contact Jane anymore, the young woman is
heartbroken.
Elizabeth decides to visit her friend Charlotte Lucas, a bride, newly
married to Mister Collins, who’s leaving near the home of Lady Catherine de
Bourgh, who is also Darcy’s aunt. After several encounters with Mr. Darcy while
visiting her friend, Elizabeth is shocked when Darcy proposes to her. Elizabeth
refuses him and questions him about the way that he misused her soldier friend
Whickham and his undoubted role in the way that Bingley abandoned Jane.

IV: Explanation of the passage

This is a document of a literary nature. It is an excerpt taken from the novel

Pride and Prejudice, written by an English born writer Jane Austen, published in
1813.
In this passage, Elisabeth, who is visiting her friend Charlotte, receives the
visit of Darcy, who declares his burning love for her.

``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.''

Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and
was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement, and the avowal of all
that he felt and had long felt for her immediately followed. He spoke well, but
there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more
eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority
-- of its being a degradation -- of the family obstacles which judgment had always
opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the
consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.

``[…] I am sorry to have occasioned pain to any one. It has been most
unconsciously done, however, and I hope will be of short duration. The feelings
which, you tell me, have long prevented the acknowledgment of your regard, can
have little difficulty in overcoming it after this explanation.''

``And this is all the reply which I am to have the honour of expecting! I might,
perhaps, wish to be informed why, with so little endeavour at civility, I am thus
rejected. But it is of small importance.''

``I might as well enquire,'' replied she, ``why, with so evident a design of
offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your
will, against your reason, and even against your character? Was not this some
excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil? […]

``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 that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events
have built so immoveable 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.''

``You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and
have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken
up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and
happiness.''