Pride and PrejudiceDramatic Element in "Pride and Prejudice":

The age of Jane Austen was not that of drama. But we find an astounding influence of dramaon her novels. Her method of writing is exactly that of a dramatist and we feel that hergenius was pre-eminently suited to drama. It is often said that Jane Austen was more aperfect dramatist who never wrote a play. While reading "Pride and Prejudice" we feel thatit is constructed on dramatic principles. Baker shows that the action of "Pride and Prejudice"can be divided into five acts of a drama.According to his division, the first act extends over the first eighteen chapters. It introducesmajor chargers and it is in this act that the conflict between Darcy's pride and Elizabeth’sprejudice starts. Baker observes that the act is expository in nature and the opening scene issimilar to the opening scene in a Shakespearean comedy. The second act comprises nexteight chapters. This act deals with Collin's proposal to Elizabeth and her temporary interestin Wickham. The third act covers Elizabeth's visit to the Huns ford parsonage. This actpresents the climax of the plot as Elizabeth rejects Darcy's first proposal. The fourth actcovers Elizabeth’s visit to the Pemberley. Lydia's elopement with Wickham in this act can bedescribed as the final stage of the drama. The entire conflict is resolved with the fifth andfinal act; with Jane and Elizabeth getting married to Bingley and Darcy.Walton Litz says that the tripartite structure of the novel is similar to the structure of athree-act play, and adds that in many of the passages we are reminded of the novel'saffinities with the best eighteenth century drama.While studying the plot more carefully we find that it is well integrated and develops in anorganic manner. Moreover, we do not find a strict correspondence between the plot and thecharacters. The novel has three sub-plots involving Jane and Bingley, Lydia and Wickham,Charlotte and Collins besides the main Elizabeth-Darcy plot. These sub-plots are skillfullyinter -linked with the main plot and substantially contribute to its progress. Jane - Bingleyplot brings Elizabeth and Darcy together at Netherfield, the Charlotte-Collins plot bringsthem together at Rosing and leads them to the main climax of the first half of the play. TheLydia-Wickham sub-plot brings out Darcy's heroism and helps to unite them. Moreover,these sub-plots have a thematic significance as they all deal with the theme of love andMarriage, and thus help describing the values Jane Austen considers important to a happymarriage. The plot is properly rounded and we find no loose end left dangling. Moreover,there are no superfluous characters in the plot except Mary and KittyDramatic irony is another feature or "Pride and Prejudice". Jane Austen emphasizes thedifference between appearance and reality in a dramatic manner. Wickham is graceful tolook at and refined in his manners but he turns out to be villainous. Darcy is seemingly rudeand ill-mannered, but he later appears as a fine gentleman. The Bingley sisters hate theBennett’s for their vulgarity but are themselves vulgar. Darcy remarks about Elizabeth that"She is not handsome enough to tempt me and soon after gets captivated by her enormouseyes. Darcy dissuades Bingley from marrying in the Bennet family. Elizabeth declares thatshe is not the type of girl who will reject the first proposal and accept the second, but this isexactly what she does. The departure of the militia from Meryton was expected to put anend to Lydia's flirtations but it brings out her elopement. Lady Catherine intervenes to stop

the marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy, but in fact helps to expedite it.Jane Austen remains in the background in most part of the "Pride and Prejudice" and letsher characters reveal themselves through short and pithy dialogues. Brower writes," Inanalyzing the ironies and assumptions, we shall see how intensely dramatic the dialoguesare. They are dramatic in the sense of defining characters through the way they speak andare spoken about."Howard S. Babb has shown how Jane Austen plays on the word "Performance” in the earlydialogues and brings all the implications of the word together in the great scene at Rosings,where Elizabeth's actual performance at the piano becomes the centre of a dramaticconfrontation.Jane Austen rarely gives us a direct comment, description or analysis. We come to know Mr.Collins through his letter before he makes a personal appearance at Long bourn. We seeLady Catherine first through the eyes of Collins, then of Wickham and finally we meet herpersonally at Rosings. There are scenes in "Pride and Prejudice" where we find a greatdramatic vividness and intensity, for example Darcy-Elizabeth repartees at Nether field, thetwo proposal scenes and the clash between the Lady Catherine and Elizabeth. In suchscenes, we find a "master dramatist" in Jane Austen with a natural instinct for climax andanticlimax.Tony Tanner, in his introduction to the Penguin Edition of "Pride and Prejudice" observesthat there is an interesting combination of the dramatic and epistolary in "Pride andPrejudice". He says that by combining the dramatic and the epistolary modes, Jane Austenhas deftly set before us a basic truth that we are both performing selves and reflectingselves.Dramatic element is more prominent in the first half of the "Pride and Prejudice" and it hascertainly been a dramatic performance but in the second half a mixture of narrativesummary and scene carries the story towards the conclusion

Written And Composed By:Prof. A.R. SomrooM.A. English, M.A. EducationCell: 03339971417

Pride and Prejudice

Economic Considerations in Jane Austen:She was a Marxist before Marx:

It is usually said that Jane Austin was a Marxist before Marx. Karl Marx (1818-1883) was aGerman philosopher and socialist of the 19th century who co-authored with Fredrich Engels"The Communist Manifesto" in 1848.Political and economic theories presented by him aregiven the name of "Marxism”. He worked out a new theory of society. He showed that allsocial systems are economically motivated.According to him, all the social changes and human activities are guided by the historicalforces such as class struggle and economic considerations. Jane Austen had died in 1817while "The Communist Manifesto” was published 31 years after her death. When we saythat Jane Austen is a Marxist before Marx, it means she presented some of Marxist ideas inher novels. For the first time, she has discussed the importance of economic conditions inmatters of human life. The novel begins with the sentence “it is a truth universallyacknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife".The phrase "a good fortune" refers to the economic position of a would-be husband.Money is, no doubt, a very important factor in life. Somerset Maugham in his novel "Of Human Bondage" writes: "Money is like a sixth sense without which you can not make acomplete use of the other five,"A critic W. A. Cralk is of the opinion that according to Jane Austen, marriage is closely boundup with money. Marriage is a social contract and as such it entails social obligations. In theage of Jane Austen, there were no social services, no insurance schemes, no national medicalcare, no pension schemes for sickness and old age. Large families were appreciated. Divorcewas virtually out of question. In such a society a man who marries, commits himself to heavyresponsibilities and the woman who marries stakes the rest of her life on the performanceof these responsibilities. Adequate income is not merely desirable but it is vital. Hence avery reasonable concern on everyone's part is with the assets of a possible suitor and thefortunes of a possible wife. The topic is so important that it constantly occurs again with itsdeep moral concern on the events leading to a young woman's marriage.The most explicit discussion on money in matrimony is those in "Pride and prejudice" and in"Persuations”. These two novels depend upon how the character weighs the rival claims of prudence of feelings. In this regard, Leonard Woolf writes: “The social standards are almostthose of money and snobbery. It is remarkable to what an extent the plots and charactersare dominated by the question of money."Jane Austen's attitude to the antithesis is of a capitalist and pre-eminently of the Victorianrich class. There is hardly a single male character in her novels that does any work. Sherecognizes as socially possible only the following professions; the army and navy, the church,the law. Of these professions, only the army and navy are usually consideredunobjectionable. As a profession, the Navy is regarded by Jane Austen and her charactersalmost exclusively as a means to obtaining either position or money. Out of the six heroes of her Novels, there are three clergymen, but none of them seems to be working as clergyman.This attitude towards work, profession and trade is characteristic of a landed aristocracy or