Summary and Analysis: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice:

                A novel by Jane Austen, famous for its use of free and indirect discourse.  It is written in language common in the 1800's, the Victorian era in which Austen lived. 

·         Plot: The novel begins the arrival of eligible young bachelor Mr. Bingley.  Mrs. Bennett begins to get excited about the prospect of setting her daughters up with him.  Jane, the eldest, ends up being the object of his fancy at the dance.  The lively second sister, Elizabeth, is seemingly dismissed by his prejudiced friend Mr. Darcy, who thinks he is too high-class for the company.  The family gets very excited about the possibility of marriage between Jane and Bingley—except Mr. Bennett, who seems fairly indifferent—and Mrs. Bennett sends Jane in the rain to Bingley’s house.  She falls ill and stays there.  Elizabeth visits her and the reader learns that Darcy is struggling with his feelings for her—he is falling in love with her, but thinks she isn’t good enough for him.  Elizabeth turns down the proposal of a cousin Mr. Collins, and starts to like a poorer man called Mr. Wickham.  Darcy warns her against Wickham but won’t say why.  Just when it seems Jane and Bingley will really get together, Bingley leaves unexpectedly with his sisters and doesn’t contact Jane.  Elizabeth learns that Darcy convinced Bingley to test Jane, to ensure she wasn’t just marrying him for his money, and so turns down Darcy’s proposal.  Then, Wickham runs away with Elizabeth’s younger sister Lydia.  Darcy reveals that Wickham had done the same thing with his younger sister Georgia.  Darcy manages to get Lydia back home and gets Wickham to marry her.  This problem solved, Jane and Bingley marry, as do Elizabeth and Darcy. 

·         Characters

o   Jane: The sweet-minded eldest daughter of the Bennett’s, who seems to fall instantly in love with Mr. Bingley.  She is the only person in the play who never judges anyone else harshly.

o   Elizabeth: The second-oldest and sharpest-tongued Bennet sister.  She is very independent and is alone uninterested in marriage.  She is very intelligent and playful and cares deeply about her family.  She is also prejudiced, immediately writing off Mr. Darcy.

o   Lydia: the sister who’s in love with love.  She flings herself at every man in sight.

o   Mary: The youngest and only unattractive daughter of the Bennett’s.  She feels like she has to make up for the fact that she is plain by being very talented in music.  However, she is only mediocre but still attempts to show off every chance she gets in a desperate bid to get noticed and still be equal to her beautiful siblings.

o   Mrs. Bennet: mother of Bennett household, it is her goal in life to get all of her daughters married to wealthy men.  She has problems with her “nerves” and is generally is a very gossipy, hypocritical, and superficial woman.  But she does deeply care about her family and especially her daughters.

o   Mr. Bennet: father of the Bennett household, he is the opposite of his wife.  He doesn’t particularly seem to care if his daughters marry or not.  He has a very sarcastic, dry sense of humor, but ultimately does what he thinks will please his wife and daughters.  He greatly favors Elizabeth, because he values her intelligence.

o   Mr. Bingley: the wealthy, charming, handsome young man who seems to fall in love with Jane as soon as he sees her.  He is an overall friendly, welcoming, generous man who doesn’t seem to be as bound to societal conventions and standards as his sisters.  That being said, when his family makes him stay away from Jane to test her motives, he doesn’t really appear to protest.  This suggests his malleable, eager-to-please, trusting nature.

o   Mr. Darcy: the wealthy friend of Mr. Bingley who eventually falls in love with Elizabeth.  He is very proud—he believes himself above the Bennett’s social station—and values his own careful intelligence. 

o   Mr. Wickham: the sex addict who runs away with young women, then leaves them

·         Theme: Today’s society is superficial and romance is never completely detached from money.  Rather than making a distinct argument, this novel explores the different paths a woman can take toward marriage.  It seems to advocate not marrying solely for money, for getting to know your partner as a person first. 

o   The novel is essentially a lot of ado about not much.  Ultimately, the outcome everyone predicted in the start of the novel occurs—the daughters marry rich husbands.  What happens in between is much dancing and afternoon tea.  Also, Mrs. Bennett is ridiculous to the reader, with her obsession with marrying off her daughters.  The reader scoffs and the frivolous, ball-and-lace filled society of Pride and Prejudice.  We criticize a society all about marriage, money, and nothing else. 

o   All the Bennetts who marry marry rich, except Lydia (who has no choice).  Though we are encouraged to look upon Jane/Bingley and Elizabeth/Darcy and sweet and positive romances, one cannot ignore that both matches advance the girls’ social status.  It causes the reader to question the reality of even Elizabeth’s love, and the possibility of true love detached from money at all.

o   The different sisters could be interpreted to symbolize different parts of the author, representing the different paths she could take.  Jane: the “good daughter”.  She is sweet and mild and marries for money and happiness at once.  Elizabeth: the “lively rebel”, a feminist fantasy of the author.  Her independence is viewed as a positive thing.  Then again, she ultimately marries a rich man and “falls in love.”  A single (and desirable) woman does not exist in this society.  Lydia is in love with the idea of love: this is not a good way to go, it seems, hankering after romance.  She ends up with Wickham because he tried to seduce her and got paid off.  The ugly daughters humble and stay single for now.  It seems as though Austen is acknowledging there really is only one way to achieve happiness: fall in love, and fall in love with a rich man.  The two are still not seperate. 

• Quotes:
• "It is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life."  This is a view expressed by Mrs. Bennett, a view eventually seeming to be critiqued by Austen.  Mrs. Bennett cares nothing for personality and is supporting the common view of the time that love had all to do with money and station and nothing with love that grows out of getting to know one another.  Austen endorses Lizzy and Darcy's relasionship--they have gotten to know one another and accept the other completely, flaws and all.  Their relationship is at least mostly seperate from money.
• "Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." Mary voices this opinion which highlights so many of the problems of characters in the novel.  Many characters are extremely proud AND vain--they want to keep up appearances, and think themselves above it all, hypocritically criticizing others.  These are traits in society which Austen critiques.
• "I have every reason in the world to think ill of you."  This quote, spoken by Lizzy to Darcy, sums up the way all the characters run around judging one another and trying to label each other without really getting to know them.  They--Lizzy, Darcy, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Bingley--all think themselves superior and believe they have another all figured out, but they have not really gotten to know them.  They believe they have their reasons, but they often jump to conclusions and are misinformed.  The chaos caused by this judging and misinformation helps convey Austen's criticism of this judgemental society.