Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice
Author	Jane Austen
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel of manners
Publisher	T. Egerton, Whitehall
Publication date	28 January 1813
Media type	print (hardback, 3 volumes)
ISBN	NA

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen. First published on 28 January 1813, it was her second published novel. Its manuscript was initially written between 1796 and 1797 in Steventon, Hampshire, where Austen lived in the rectory. Originally called First Impressions, it was never published under that title, and in following revisions it was retitled Pride and Prejudice.^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 Plot summary 3 Main characters 3.1 Interrelationships 4 Major themes 5 Style 6 Publication history 7 Reception 7.1 Modern popularity 8 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 9 Related works 10 References 11 External links

Background

The novel was originally titled First Impressions by Jane Austen, and was written between October 1796 and August 1797.^[2] On 1 November 1797 Austen's father gave the draft to London bookseller Thomas Cadell in hopes of it being published, but it was rejected.^[3] The unpublished manuscript was returned to Austen and it stayed with her.

Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812.^[2] She later renamed the story Pride and Prejudice. In renaming the novel, Austen probably had in mind the "sufferings and oppositions" summarized in the final chapter of Fanny Burney's Cecilia, called "Pride and Prejudice", where the phrase appears three times in block capitals.^[4] It is possible that the novel's original title was altered to avoid confusion with other works. In the years between the completion of First Impressions and its revision into Pride and Prejudice, two other works had been published under that name: a novel by Margaret Holford and a comedy by Horace Smith.^[3]

Austen sold the copyright for the novel to Thomas Egerton of Whitehall in exchange for £110 (Austen had asked for £150).^[5] This proved a costly decision. Austen had published Sense and Sensibility on a commission basis, whereby she indemnified the publisher against any losses and received any profits, less costs and the publisher's commission. Unaware that Sense and Sensibility would sell out its edition, making her £140,^[3] she passed the copyright to Egerton for a one-off payment, meaning that all the risk (and all the profits) would be his. Jan Fergus has calculated that Egerton subsequently made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book.^[6]

Plot summary

Elizabeth Bennet, one of the five daughters of a country gentleman in 19th-century Hertfordshire, England, faces a dilemma in her future – as their father's property is entailed to a male heir upon his death, they will be turned out of their house and left to fend for themselves unless she and her sisters can find advantageous husbands, something which consumes her mother. An opportunity arrives in the form of Mr. Bingley, a wealthy young gentleman who takes a country estate near to the Bennet's home, accompanied by his sisters and his good friend Fitzwilliam Darcy. Whereas Bingley is well-liked in the community, Darcy begins his acquaintance with Elizabeth, her family, and their neighbours with smug condescension and proud distaste for all of the country people; despite Mrs. Bennet's embarrassing interference Mr. Bingley and Jane begin to grow closer. Elizabeth, stung by Darcy's haughty rejection of her at a local dance, makes it a point to match his coldness with her own venom. When the militia arrive in the town, earning the admiration of Elizabeth's flighty and immature younger sisters, Elizabeth begins a friendship with Mr. Wickham, a charming soldier with a prior acquaintance with Darcy. Upon hearing Wickham's story of his misfortune at the hands of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth immediately seizes upon it as another, more concrete reason to hate Mr. Darcy. Unbeknown to her, Darcy finds himself gradually drawn to Elizabeth.

When Bingley leaves the countryside suddenly and makes no attempts to contact Jane any more, the young woman is heartbroken. Elizabeth, having previously thought well of Bingley, believes that there is something amiss in the way that he abandoned Jane and suspects Darcy's involvement. She is also approached by her cousin, the foolish and pompous clergyman Mr. Collins, who offers marriage to her; despite the fact that Collins is the male heir who will inherit her father's property upon his death, Elizabeth is unwilling to subject herself to a union that she knows will be unhappy for her and refuses him, much to her mother's distress. Collins subsequently marries Elizabeth's friend Charlotte Lucas, who invites Elizabeth to stay with them. Collins' parish is adjacent to Rosings Park, the grand manor of Darcy's aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whom Collins is greatly obsequious towards; as a result, Elizabeth is frequently invited to Rosings, where she is again forced into contact with Darcy, who is visiting his aunt at the time. During this time, Elizabeth learns that Darcy indeed played a part in separating Bingley and Jane.

Elizabeth is shocked when Darcy admits his love for her and proposes marriage. Insulted by his high-handed and insulting manner of proposal, Elizabeth refuses him, confronting him with his sabotage of Bingley's relationship with Jane and Wickham's account of their dealings. Shocked by Elizabeth's vehemence towards him, Darcy writes her a letter justifying his actions and revealing that Wickham in fact cheated him, and attempted to seduce his younger sister Georgiana in the process. He also justifies his actions towards Bingley and Jane with the defence that Jane did not visibly show any interest in his friend, whom he was attempting to protect from both heartache and a disadvantageous association with Elizabeth's embarrassing and uncouth mother and younger sisters; Elizabeth is prompted to question both her family's behaviour and Wickham's credibility, and comes to the conclusion that Wickham is not as trustworthy as his easy manners would indicate and her early impressions of Darcy may not have been accurate. During a tour of Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, Darcy's grand estate, and presented with a more flattering, benevolent impression of his character from the locals who know him. When the party encounters Darcy as they tour the grounds of Pemberley, he makes an effort to behave in a gracious and welcoming manner towards them, thus strengthening Elizabeth's esteem of him.

Elizabeth and Darcy's renewed acquaintance is threatened when news arrives that Wickham and Elizabeth's reckless younger sister Lydia have eloped, thus threatening the family's reputation and the Bennet sisters with ruin. Lydia and Wickham are soon found and married, delighting Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth is surprised to learn from Lydia that Mr. Darcy was secretly responsible for both finding the couple and arranging their marriage at great expense to himself. Soon after, Bingley and Darcy return to the area; Bingley proposes marriage to Jane, and this news starts rumours that Darcy will propose to Elizabeth, prompting Lady Catherine to confront Elizabeth and imperiously demand that she never accept such a proposal. Elizabeth's refusal to bow to Lady Catherine's demands convinces Darcy that her opinion towards him has changed, and he once again proposes marriage. Elizabeth, by now in love with Mr. Darcy as well, accepts, and the two are engaged.

In the epilogue, the fates of the characters are more or less revealed. Elizabeth and Darcy have settled in Pemberly; Mr. Bennet misses his second daughter greatly and visits Pemberly often. Mrs. Bennet is still as frivolous and silly as always, and she loves visiting the new Mrs. Bingley and talking of the new Mrs. Darcy. Later, Jane and Bingley move from Netherfield to avoid Jane's mother and Meryton relations and to locate near the Darcys in Derbyshire. Elizabeth and Jane manage to lead Kitty down a more sensible path, and Mary learns to accept the difference between herself and her sisters' beauty and mixes more with the outside world. Lydia and Wickham are always moving, leaving their debts to Jane and Elizabeth to pay off every time. Lydia and Wickham frequently come to visit and stay at their sisters' estates in Derbyshire. This annoys even Bingley who begins to talk about dropping hints to their leaving as soon as possible. In Pemberly, Elizabeth and Georgiana grow close, though Georgiana is surprised at the playful manner Elizabeth uses with Darcy. Lady Catherine is still very angry with her nephew's marriage but over time the relationship between the two is repaired and she eventually decides to wait on them at Pemberly. Elizabeth and Darcy are also often visited by the Gardiners, to whom the Darcys are exceedingly grateful for bringing them together.

Main characters

Character genealogy
Mr. Hurst                                 Mrs. Hurst         Mr. Philips                       Caroline Bingley         Mrs. Philips                         Mr. Charles Bingley         Mrs. Gardiner                           Jane Bennet           Mr. Gardiner                       Elizabeth Bennet         Mrs. Bennet                                         Mary Bennet                   Mr. Bennet                                   Catherine "Kitty" Bennet             Mr. William Collins                                 Lydia Bennet           Charlotte Lucas                             Mr. George Wickham                                               (Old) Mr. Darcy     Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy                               Lady Anne Darcy     Georgiana Darcy                     Lady Catherine De Bourgh   Anne De Bourgh                   Earl of Matlock[citation needed]   Colonel Fitzwilliam

• Elizabeth Bennet is the main female protagonist. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint.^[7] The second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old, she is portrayed as intelligent, lively, attractive and witty, with her faults being a tendency to judge on first impressions and perhaps being a little selective of the evidence she uses to base her judgments upon. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt Mrs. Gardiner and her neighbour Charlotte Lucas.

• Fitzwilliam Darcy is the main male protagonist. At twenty-eight years old and unmarried, Mr. Darcy is the wealthy owner of the famously superior estate Pemberley in Derbyshire. Portrayed as handsome and intelligent, but not convivial, his concern with decorum and moral rectitude is seen by many as an excessive concern with social status. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the people of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well.

• Mr. Bennet has a wife and five daughters. Portrayed as a bookish and intelligent man somewhat withdrawn from society and one who dislikes the frivolity of his wife and three younger daughters, he offers nothing but mockery by way of correction. Rather than trying to lead his younger daughters down a more sensible path, he is rather intent on laughing at them.

• Mrs. Bennet is the wife of Mr. Bennet and mother of Elizabeth and her sisters. Her main objective in life is to find (wealthy) husbands for her five daughters, but she lacks the subtlety to execute her goals. She is portrayed as frivolous, excitable and narrow-minded. She is susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations, and her public manners are embarrassing to her eldest daughters. Her favourite daughter is the youngest, Lydia.

• Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-three years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer and equally sensible but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. Jane is closest to Elizabeth. She, at the end, marries Mr. Bingley.

• Mary Bennet is the middle Bennet sister, aged around eighteen. The only plain one of the five, she strives to be the most accomplished. She spends most of her time reading and studying, but without understanding. Of the sisters, she thinks most highly of Mr. Collins.

• Catherine (Kitty) Bennet is the fourth Bennet sister, aged seventeen. Portrayed as a less headstrong but equally frivolous shadow of Lydia.

• Lydia Bennet is the youngest Bennet sister, aged fifteen. She is repeatedly described as frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socialising, especially flirting with the military officers stationed in the nearby town of Meryton. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. She later marries Mr. Wickham.

• Charles Bingley has just rented the Netherfield estate near Longbourn when the novel opens. Twenty-two years old at the start of the novel, handsome, good-natured and wealthy, he is contrasted with his friend Mr. Darcy as being less intelligent but kinder and more charming (and hence more popular in Meryton). He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others.

• George Wickham is an old acquaintance of Mr. Darcy, and an officer in the militia unit stationed near Meryton. A superficially charming man, he forms a friendship with Elizabeth Bennet, prompting many to remark upon his suitability as a potential husband. He spreads numerous tales about the wrongs Mr. Darcy has done to him, colouring the popular perception of the other man in local society; it is eventually revealed that these tales are distortions, and that Darcy was the more wronged man in their acquaintance.

• Mr. William Collins is Mr. Bennet's cousin and a clergyman, aged twenty-five. Since Mr. Bennet has no sons, Collins is in line to inherit Mr. Bennet's estate. Jane Austen described him as "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society". Collins is thought to be naively stupid by Mr. Bennet, and Elizabeth rejects his marriage proposal. She is very distressed when her friend Charlotte Lucas decides to marry Mr. Collins out of interest in his estate rather than his personality. Collins constantly boasts about his acquaintance with the wealthy and pompous Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

• Lady Catherine De Bourgh is haughty, egotistical, and domineering. Because of her wealth and social standing she believes she can command anyone around her. People such as Mr. Collins contribute to this personality by acting as sycophants who bow to her every command. Her nephew Darcy initially does whatever his aunt requests out of respect for her, but by the end of the text, he makes the choice to go against her wishes and marry Elizabeth.

Interrelationships

Major themes

Many critics take the novel's title as a starting point when analysing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much into the title since commercial factors may have played a role in its selection. "After the success of Sense and Sensibility, nothing would have seemed more natural than to bring out another novel of the same author using again the formula of antithesis and alliteration for the title. It should be pointed out that the qualities of the title are not exclusively assigned to one or the other of the protagonists; both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and prejudice."^[8]

A major theme in much of Austen's work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people's character and morality.^[4] Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen's work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (particularly the latter) as parents is blamed for Lydia's lack of moral judgment; Darcy, on the other hand, has been taught to be principled and scrupulously honourable, but is also proud and overbearing.^[4] Kitty, rescued from Lydia's bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society.^[9]

Style

Pride and Prejudice, like most of Jane Austen's works, employs the narrative technique of free indirect speech. This has been defined as "the free representation of a character's speech, by which one means, not words actually spoken by a character, but the words that typify the character's thoughts, or the way the character would think or speak, if she thought or spoke".^[7] By using narrative which adopts the tone and vocabulary of a particular character (in this case, that of Elizabeth), Austen invites the reader to follow events from Elizabeth's viewpoint, sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions. "The learning curve, while undergone by both protagonists, is disclosed to us solely through Elizabeth's point of view and her free indirect speech is essential... for it is through it that we remain caught, if not stuck, within Elizabeth's misprisions."^[7]

Publication history

After the publication of her first novel, Austen sold the copyright for Pride and Prejudice to Thomas Egerton for £110. Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes in January 1813, priced at 18s.^[2] Favourable reviews saw this edition sold out, with a second edition published in November that year. A third edition was published in 1817.^[5]

Foreign language translations first appeared in 1813 in French; subsequent translations were published in German, Danish and Swedish.^[10] Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United States in August 1832 as Elizabeth Bennet or, Pride and Prejudice.^[5] The novel was also included in Richard Bentley's Standard Novel series in 1833. R. W. Chapman's scholarly edition of Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1923, has become the standard edition from which many modern publications of the novel are based.^[5]

Reception

The novel was well received, with three favourable reviews in the first months following publication.^[6] Jan Fergus calls it "her most popular novel, both with the public and with her family and friends",^[6] and quotes David Gilson's A Bibliography of Jane Austen (Clarendon, 1982), where it is stated that Pride and Prejudice was referred to as "the fashionable novel" by Anne Isabella Milbanke, later to be the wife of Lord Byron. However, others did not agree. Charlotte Brontë wrote to noted critic and reviewer George Henry Lewes after reading a review of his published in Fraser's Magazine in 1847. He had praised Jane Austen's work and declared that he, "...would rather have written Pride and Prejudice, or Tom Jones, than any of the Waverley Novels".^[11] Miss Brontë, though, found Pride and Prejudice a disappointment, "...a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but... no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck."^[11]

Modern popularity

• In 2003 the BBC conducted the largest ever poll for the "UK's Best-Loved Book" in which Pride and Prejudice came second, behind The Lord of the Rings.^[12]
• In a 2008 survey of more than 15,000 Australian readers, Pride and Prejudice came first in a list of the 101 best books ever written.^[13]

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Pride and Prejudice has engendered numerous adaptations. Some of the notable film versions include that of 1940 starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier,^[14] that of 2003 starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale,^[15] and that of 2005 starring Keira Knightley (in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen.^[16] Notable television versions include two by the BBC: the 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and a 1980 version starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul. A 1936 stage version was created by Helen Jerome played at the St. James's Theatre in London, starring Celia Johnson and Hugh Williams. First Impressions was a 1959 Broadway musical version starring Polly Bergen, Farley Granger, and Hermione Gingold.^[17] In 1995, a musical concept album was written by Bernard J. Taylor, with Peter Karrie in the role of Mr. Darcy and Claire Moore in the role of Elizabeth Bennet.^[18] A new stage production, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, The New Musical, was presented in concert on 21 October 2008 in Rochester, New York with Colin Donnell as Darcy.^[19] In 2009, the proposal scene in which Darcy is rejected by Elizabeth Bennett was read by Dominic West in a reading for The Carte Noire Readers.

Related works

The novel has inspired a number of other works that are not direct adaptations. Books inspired by Pride and Prejudice include: Mr. Darcy's Daughters and The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston; Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued and An Unequal Marriage: Or Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later by Emma Tennant; The Book of Ruth (ASIN B00262ZRBM) by Helen Baker; Pemberley Remembered by Mary Simonsen and Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll. In Gwyn Cready's comedic romance novel, Seducing Mr. Darcy, the heroine lands in Pride and Prejudice by way of magic massage, has a fling with Darcy and unknowingly changes the rest of the story. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, which started as a newspaper column before becoming a novel and a film, was inspired by the then-current BBC adaptation; both works share a Mr. Darcy of serious disposition (both played by Colin Firth), a foolish match-making mother, and a detached affectionate father. The self-referential in-jokes continue with the sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Bride and Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai, is a Bollywood adaptation of the novel, while Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy (2003) places the novel in contemporary times. The off-Broadway musical I Love You Because reverses the gender of the main roles, set in modern day New York City. The Japanese comic Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio, in which the wealthy, arrogant and proud protagonist, Doumyouji Tsukasa, falls in love with a poor, lower-class girl named Makino Tsukushi, is loosely based on Pride and Prejudice. A 2008 Israeli television six-part miniseries set the story in the Galilee with Mr. Darcy a well-paid worker in the high-tech industry.^[20]

Pride and Prejudice has also crossed into the science fiction and horror genres. In the 1997 episode of science fiction comedy Red Dwarf entitled "Beyond a Joke", the crew of the space ship relax in a virtual reality rendition of "Pride and Prejudice Land" in "Jane Austen World". The central premise of the television miniseries Lost in Austen is a modern woman suddenly swapping lives with that of Elizabeth Bennet. In February 2009, it was announced that Elton John's Rocket Pictures production company was making a film, Pride and Predator, based on the story, but with the added twist of an alien landing in Longbourne.^[21] In March 2009, Quirk Books released Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which takes Austen's actual, original work, and laces it with zombie hordes, cannibalism, ninjas, and ultra-violent mayhem.^[22]

Pride and Prejudice has also inspired many scholarly articles and books including: So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autism Spectrum in 'Pride and Prejudice' ^[23] by Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer, Forewords by Eileen Sutherland and Tony Attwood.

Marvel has also published their take on this classic, releasing a short comic series of five issues that stays true to the original storyline. The first issue was published on April 1st, 2009 and was written by Nancy Hajeski.^[24]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pride and Prejudice

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pride and Prejudice

• Pride and Prejudice at Project Gutenberg
• Pride and Prejudice, page-by-page text.
• Annotated HTML hypertext of Pride and Prejudice
• Free audiobook from LibriVox
• A Detailed Analysis of Pride and Prejudice by character, scene, principles of accomplishment, social evolution, etc. at Human Science
• Important Quotations Analyzed by Medha Patel-Schwarz

v • d • e Jane Austen General Timeline of Jane Austen · Reception history of Jane Austen · Jane Austen in popular culture · A Memoir of Jane Austen · Janeite · Jane Austen Centre · Jane Austen's House Museum Related people Catherine Hubback · Francis Austen · Cassandra Austen · Thomas Langlois Lefroy · Charles Austen Major works Sense and Sensibility (1811) · Pride and Prejudice (1813) · Mansfield Park (1814) · Emma (1815) · Northanger Abbey (1817) · Persuasion (1817) Minor works Lady Susan · Sanditon (unfinished) · The Watsons (unfinished) Juvenilia Love and Freindship · The Beautifull Cassandra · The History of England Characters Fitzwilliam Darcy · Elizabeth Bennet · Elinor Dashwood • Edward Ferrars • John Willoughby • Anne Elliot • Fanny Price • Edmund Bertram  • Maria Bertram • Thomas Bertram • Henry Crawford • Miss Mary Crawford • George Knightley