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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Creator Austen, Jane, 1775-1817
Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject England Young women Love stories Sisters Domestic Courtship Social classes
Release Date 1998-06-01
Copyright Status Not copyrighted in the United States. If you live elsewhere check the laws of your country before downloading this ebook.


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Background

At the time Jane Austen was writing, the revolutionary spirit was sweeping up Europe on its way to the New World, culminating in the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789. For most of Jane Austen's adult life Britain was at war with France. In the arts, the Romantic movement was nearing its height. Romanticism stressed the importance of emotion and the individual imagination. The poets Wordsworth and Coleridge, the painter J.M.W. Turner, the composer Beethoven, and Austen were all born within five years of each other.

However, Austen's work betrays little of this tumult, instead choosing to concentrate on the relatively minor upsets within domestic circles. This is not to suggest that she was ignorant of politics though. Indeed, recent interpretations of Pride and Prejudice have focused its elevation of Whig principles, particularly in Austen's portrayal of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Tracing the historical influences on the names in Austen's fiction contradicts earlier critics' beliefs that she was ignorant of the political upheavals of her day.

Austen was not inspired by the passion of the Romantics. In her last novel, Persuasion, the heroine discourages a heartbroken young man from reading the highly emotional poetry characteristic of the day. She admired the great eighteenth-century prose writers, such as Dr Johnson. Their detached, well-ordered and witty observations on life formed the basis of her style. Nevertheless, she was influenced by a group of mainly female writers of romantic novels, writers such as Fanny Burney, Maria Edgeworth and Charlotte Smith. Despite having become largely unknown to the modern reader, their work was incredibly popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Austen modelled her plots along their lines, but then turned them to her own devices, using this implied frivolity to mask far-reaching political theory.

Plot Summary

The novel is centred on the Bennett family who live at Longbourn in Hertfordshire, near to the town of Meryton. Mrs Bennett busies herself with trying to marry off her five daughters; as the estate is 'entailed' it will pass to his cousin, Mr Collins, when he dies, and his girls will inherit nothing. The arrival of Charles Bingley at Netherfield nearby excites the neighbourhood. He is well liked and almost immediately falls in love with Jane, the eldest Bennett sister. However, his two sisters and friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy, are deemed proud and disagreeable, and Elizabeth in particular is repulsed by their arrogant behaviour.

Mr Collins unexpectedly calls on the Bennetts and expresses his intention of marrying one of his cousins. He is opinionated and unpleasant, constantly pandering to Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who presented him with his living. Meanwhile, George Wickham, a young officer in the Militia garrisoned in Meryton arrives. Elizabeth is attracted to him and when he tells her of unjust treatment from Darcy her dislike of the man intensifies. Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth, but when refused he turns his attentions to Charlotte Lucas, and to the surprise of Lizzie she accepts. Soon after the Bingleys and Darcy leave for London, Elizabeth suspecting this to be a plot to separate Charles and Jane.

Jane is invited to London to stay with her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners. She meets with Caroline Bingley but her offhand manner makes it clear that her acquaintance is undesirable. Elizabeth visits Charlotte and is depressed by her friend's loveless marriage. Lady Catherine's insolence disgusts Elizabeth and she is glad when Darcy and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam arrive. Darcy is bewitched by Lizzie and proposes to her; however, his reference to their differing rank offends Elizabeth and she accuses him of being ungentlemanly, depriving her sister of happiness and mistreating Wickham. Darcy justifies himself in a letter, exposing Wickham as a liar, and she is forced to concede the truth of his remarks, even those concerning her family's vulgarisms.

She returns to Longbourn dismayed that her father has allowed her youngest sister Lydia to follow the Militia to Brighton. She takes a trip with her aunt and uncle to Derby shire, only agreeing to visit Pemberley, Darcy's estate, when told the family is away. She is astonished to hear from the housekeeper how much the local people love and respect him, and is shocked further when his unexpected return sees him behave in an amiable and courteous manner towards herself and her aunt and uncle. Elizabeth begins to warm towards him, but she then receives news that Lydia has eloped with Wickham, disgracing the family. It is doubtful they will marry, but these are dispelled by a letter from Mr Gardiner. When visiting, Lydia lets slip that Darcy was at the wedding, and when urged to tell all by Elizabeth, Mrs Gardiner explains that he organized the whole matter. He arrives soon after with Bingley, who makes a successful proposal to Jane. Lady Catherine unexpectedly visits and demands to know if the rumour that Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged is true. Although Elizabeth tells her it is false, to Lady Catherine's annoyance she does not promise never to accept if he should. Darcy is heartened when he hears of this and is encouraged to propose again. This time Elizabeth accepts.


Themes
Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is based on an earlier novel of Austen's called First Impressions. This could be taken as a working title of the later novel, and helps inform an approach to the text. How we judge others is a related theme - to do so without enough knowledge invites prejudice. And Austen goes on to show how the extent to which we know other people is directly correlated with the extent to which we know ourselves. Thus Elizabeth is more prone to siding with Wickham because of her prejudice against Darcy; but both characters come to a greater understanding of themselves as they work through their faults, this process eventually serving to draw them closer together. It is easy to label Darcy as being the character symbolic of pride, and Elizabeth of prejudice. Darcy takes pride in his rank, and his arrogance colours his assessment of the people of Longbourn. Elizabeth and the neighbourhood are prejudiced against Darcy from the beginning, taking offence at his low opinion of them. However, it becomes clear that these qualities infect the portrayal of other characters in the book. Lady Catherine displays ridiculous pride in her status; Mrs Bennet is ridiculously prejudiced in her views. Pride and prejudice seep through all of the characters, and in many guises.
Love and marriage


Pride and Prejudice is most easily defined as a romantic comedy, but Austen stresses that the first flush of romantic love will not sustain a marriage and is no basis for happiness. Mr Bennett is described as being 'captivated' by Mrs Bennett's 'youth and beauty' on first meeting her, but this is inadequate for a relationship to last. Similarly, Lydia and Wickham's elopement is, on the face of it, very romantic, driven as they are by passionate feeling. But Austen charts the effect of such recklessness on others, and we see this intensity start to decline as it is brought into the mundane practicality of the everyday.

If Austen is keen to stress the need for passion and attraction to be tempered, she is just as critical of marriages devoid of love and intimacy. Elizabeth angers her mother by refusing the hand of Mr Collins; but while Mrs Bennett see the practical, materialistic considerations of this union outweighing the absence of love, for Elizabeth, money is no recompense for feeling. This is why she is shocked by Charlotte Lucas's unsentimental detachment: "I am not a romantic... I ask only a comfortable home." But this example of marriage is just as unsatisfactory as one based on passion. In Pride and Prejudice, a happy marriage springs from both physical attraction and compatibility. So while Bingley may have been drawn to Jane's beauty, it is their 'general similarity of feeling and taste' that will ensure their marriage lasts. Their love has deepened through their shared setbacks. On the other hand, Darcy and Elizabeth's love only arises once misunderstanding, and blinding pride and prejudice, is overcome. They are made to examine why they love each other with practicality and reason.

Role of Women

In the eighteenth century a woman's role in society was determined by her father and husband. Convention demanded that women were submissive and modest. Their educational opportunities were inferior to men's and they were not expected to think for themselves. On the surface, Austen's fiction would appear to perpetuate this. Marriage is deemed the most a woman can hope to achieve, and her novels end happily with this confirmation. Yet Austen heavily criticizes the ignorance endorsed by popular expectation. Mrs Bennet's comic fickleness and absurd hypochondria result from her narrow mind and 'mean understanding'. Lydia may be spirited but she is also 'ignorant' and 'idle'. Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine may have status and rank, but they reveal their deficiency in failing to appreciate reading and music.

However, it is through Elizabeth and her relationship with Darcy that Austen betrays most her resentment at the restraint upon women. Elizabeth is contemptuous of idle small chat, preferring to converse with the gentlemen. She possesses wit and intelligence far removed from the conventional representations of women at the time, and especially those in the romantic novels Austen's fiction is said to resemble. Critics have drawn out parallels between the portrait of Elizabeth and the views of early feminists such as Mary Wollstonecraft. She argued that in order for women to achieve equality they must think independently with reason. Yet for all her spirit and quick wit, Elizabeth still conforms to expectation. She may have been prepared to reject one of the richest men in England, but at the end of the novel she is keen to assume her role as mistress of Pemberley. Indeed, it could be argued that her visit to the great estate marks the change in her feelings for Darcy.

Class

The relationship between gentry and trade is pivotal in understanding the implications of social interaction in the novel. Darcy's pride springs from his gentleman status; Elizabeth's connection with trade is one of the reasons why initially he has reservations about marrying her. However, Elizabeth does not doubt her fitness to mix with the upper classes, smartly answering Lady Catherine's rejection of her as suitable for Darcy: 'He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal.' Miss Bingley conveniently forgets that the family fortune came from trade; similarly, Sir William Lucas tries to mask his trade background by aspiring to be a country gentleman.

Austen shows personality to be the mark of class. The true gentility of the Gardiners impresses the previously contemptuous Darcy, and they show no shame in their living. This is neatly offset by the vulgar arrogance of Lady Catherine de Bourgh whose manners demonstrate how unworthy she is of her status. Towards the end of the novel class boundaries are necessarily crossed for the good of others. The gentleman, Darcy, works with the tradesman, Mr Gardiner, so that Lydia and the Bennetts will not be disgraced. Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage, then, both subverts and conforms to the social order. Austen is not asking that convention should be upset, only reinvigorated for a new and more assertive generation.