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review of novel pride and prejudice

Answer 1

Pride and Prejudice

NOVEL BY AUSTEN

WRITTEN BY: 

Sarah Dillon

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Pride and Prejudice, novel by Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813.

SUMMARY: The narrative, which Austen initially titled “First Impressions,” describes the clash between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich and aristocratic landowner. Although Austen shows them intrigued by each other, she reverses the convention of first impressions: “pride” of rank and fortune and “prejudice” against Elizabeth’s inferiority of family hold Darcy aloof, while Elizabeth is equally fired both by the pride of self-respect and by prejudice against Darcy’s snobbery. Ultimately, they come together in love and self-understanding.



engraving of Jane AustenA 19th-century engraving of Jane Austen, likely derived from a portrait by her sister, Cassandra Austen, c. 1810.7 Continents History/Everett Collection

DETAIL: Pride and Prejudice is the second of four novels that Jane Austen published during her lifetime. As widely read now as it was then, Austen’s romance is indisputably one of the most enduringly popular classics of English literature. Written with incisive wit and superb character delineation, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of the Bennett family, its ignorant mother, negligent father, and five very different daughters, all of whom Mrs. Bennett is anxious to see married off. Set in rural England in the early nineteenth century, its major plot line focuses on the second eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and her turbulent relationship with the handsome, rich, but abominably proud Mr. Darcy. Slighted by him when they first meet, Elizabeth develops an instant dislike of Darcy, who, however, proceeds to fall in love with her, despite his own better judgement. Subsequent to a disastrous and rejected marriageproposal, both Elizabeth and Darcy eventually learn to overcome their respective pride and prejudice.



Pride and Prejudice readingAt the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, Eng., actress Angela Barlow, in period costume, prepares for an oral reading of Austen's Pride and Prejudice on January 28, 2013. The presentation was the highlight of a marathon 12-hour Internet Webcast, one of many events scheduled during the year to commemorate the novel's bicentennial.Suzanne Plunkett—Reuters/Landov

Although the novel has been criticized for its lack of historical context, the existence of its characters in a social bubble that is rarely penetrated by events beyond it is an accurate portrayal of the enclosed social world in which Austen lived. Austen depicts that world, in all its own narrow pride and prejudice, with unswerving accuracy and satire. At the same time, she places at its center, as both its prime actor and most perceptive critic, a character so well conceived and rendered that the reader cannot but be gripped by her story and wish for its happy dénouement. In the end, Austen’s novel remains so popular because of Elizabeth, and because of the enduring appeal to men and women alike of a well-told and potentially happily-ending love story.

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Sarah Dillon

LEARN MORE in these related Britannica articles:



English literature: The novel: from the Gothic novel to Austen and Scott

…originally titled “Elinor and Marianne”), Pride and Prejudice (1813; originally “First Impressions”),…



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…completed the first version of Pride and Prejudice, then called “First Impressions.” In 1797…

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…adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, with Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, and Maureen O’Sullivan heading…

Bennet family

>Pride and Prejudice (1813). Mr. Bennet is an intelligent but eccentric and sarcastic man who…

Fitzwilliam Darcy

…Elizabeth Bennet in the novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen. At first Elizabeth spurns…

MORE ABOUT Pride and Prejudice

5 REFERENCES FOUND IN BRITANNICA ARTICLES

Assorted References

Bennet family

In Bennet family

Darcy

In Fitzwilliam Darcy

discussed in biography

In Jane Austen: Life

film adaptation

In Robert Z. Leonard: Dancing Lady to Ziegfeld Girl

place in English literature

In English literature: The novel: from the Gothic novel to Austen and Scott



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