Terminale LELE – Meeting the Other – Understanding what is at stake in Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

I/ Quick glance at what is at stake in P&P

1. Setting: Mostly in rural Hertfordshire in England (among the country

Gentry) in the late 18th century.

2. Protagonist: Elizabeth Bennet, the most intelligent and complex daughter

in a family of five unmarried sisters who have no prospect of inheriting wealth
except in marrying a well-off man.

2. Plot/ sub-plots, main theme and resolution: it deals with pairs of

lovers who seem destined never to get together because of the opposition of
powerful blocking figures and forces. The couples, however, after bringing the
entire community together, are happily married in the end.
By learning from her experience –and her mistakes-, Elizabeth gains a
husband who is not only wealthy but worthy. She overcomes her prejudice against
Mark Darcy, which was based on his appearance of pride, and he overcomes his
prejudice against her family, which was based on pride in his own social rank
and good manners.

3. Conflicts:
The plot comes from the need of the female characters to find suitable
husbands –since at that time women could not inherit wealth. The main conflicts
are the obstacles or blocks that get in the way of achieving these marriages. The
obstacles are both external (the want of beauty, money, sense, or social
connections) and internal (an inability to discern the true character or
feelings of another).

4. Style and implicit message to 19th century England:

By means of comic irony and satirical exaggeration, Austen exposes the social
and moral follies of her society. It reveals how knowledge is achieved thanks to
careful reasoning unbiased by an initial pride or prejudice(s) based on rank or
mere appearances. The absurdities and pretentions of 19 th century society and
conventions are denounced with wit and irony.
II/ LITERARY GENRE:
 P&P is a romance novel or romantic novel, a literary genre. Novels in
this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love
between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic
ending." Jane Austen expanded the genre, and her P&P is often considered the
epitome of the genre, in that it focused almost entirely on courtship and did so
entirely from the perspective of a female protagonist.
 P&P is a comedy of manners* that explores how considerations of
money, family background, and personal vanity can complicate or even
hinder relationships.

A *stock character is a fictional character based on a common

social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types
for their personality, manner of speech, and other
characteristics. They are often targets for parody.

The comedy of manners1 is an entertaining literary genre which satirizes the

manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stereotypical
stock characters*. The plot of the comedy, often concerned with scandal, is
Terminale LELE – Meeting the Other – Understanding what is at stake in Pride and Prejudice
generally less important than its witty dialogue. A great writer of comedies of manners
was Oscar Wilde, his most famous play being The Importance of Being Earnest.
1
A comedy of manners: comédie de moeurs. “Manners”= usages (sociaux)/ “good manners”=
bonnes manières.