Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Use these 5 discussion points and 5 extension tasks to help your students
understand the context of this classic novel.
5 Discussion points
1. Austen creates two kinds of characters, those who are blindly following
love and those who are more realistic. Which characters fall in to each
category?
Blind: Lydia in her trust, lust and recklessness towards Mrs Wickham. Elizabeth
when making a character assumption of Mr Darcy before truly getting to know him,
‘had I have been in love I could not have been so wretchedly blind. But vanity not
love has been my folly’. Mrs Bennet who wishes above all to marry her daughters
off to wealthy men.
Realistic: Charlotte Lucas who knows exactly what her married life to a man like Mr
Collins will be like but chooses it anyway because it gives her security, social status
and fulfils her ‘duty’ to marry well, Mary who has little interest in romantic love, Mr
Bennet who wants his daughters to marry for love but knows that realistically good
fortune is just as important.
2. To what extent is Elizabeth an early 19th century equivalent of a post-
feminist heroine?
Ask students to work in pairs initially to gather their opinions and use scenes from
the novel to justify their ideas. The discussion would take place in small groups or
as a class. You might also like to look at examples of modern day feminist icons and
discuss what connotations the term has with the class. How does Elizabeth
compare to the women of today?
3. In which ways are Mr Bennet and Mr Darcy similar?
Both men are sarcastic, opinionated and witty with a dry sense of humour. Do you
think Mr Bennet went out of his way to raise Elizabeth as a more head strong and
opinionated woman with more traditionally masculine qualities then her sisters? He
describes the other girls as ‘all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has
something more of a quickness than her sisters’. Does this make her the ideal
match for Darcy?
5 Activities
1. Never judge a book by its cover. Show the class a selection of covers of the
novel over the 205 years it has been in publication. Which is the most effective
and why? Now repeat the activity with digital extracts of the actors playing
Darcy (or a character your class is concentrating on that week) which actor’s
portrayal is the most accurate in your opinion and why? You might like to show
selections of the same scene. For Mr Darcy I would use the scene where we first
see his pride in refusing to dance with Elizabeth or engage in conversation with
Mrs Bennet.
2. Opinion lines. At the front of the classroom attach a sign that says ‘strongly
agree’, towards the middle ‘neutral’ and the back ‘strongly disagree’. Ask each
student create a statement about the novel; it could be on characters, events or
themes. Once they have been read aloud students stand and walk over to place
themselves according to their opinion, getting ready to justify their placement.
Examples could include ‘This is a novel about society more than romance’,
‘Jane’s beauty puts her advantage over all the other girls’, ‘Catherine Du Bourgh
embodies all Austen hates about society’. Remember that there can be middle
grounds, so if you agree rather than strongly agree you’d be standing a little
further back from the sign.
3. One quote, one word, one gesture, once colour, one theme. Have an image,
a token or a flashcard of each character you would like to discuss. Hold up the
image, token or flashcard and ask for one key quote. Next ask for the most
important word in that quote – how is it most relevant for that character?
Follow on by quickly asking students to show a simple gesture that most sums
up that character, for example for Lydia I might swirl in a circle, arms open wide
to show she’s interested in pleasure and fun. Can they now name a colour they
associate with the character – this is a lovely opportunity to discuss symbolism.
Finally can they think of a theme that most of the character’s behaviour falls in
to?
4. A Georgian dinner party. A dinner party in Austen’s era was an activity in
restraint. Women especially couldn’t say what they thought, eat until they were
full, eat what they wanted (no chewing a chicken leg please ladies!), have
anything less than perfect posture and manners, or be free in their expression.
To start this dinner party role play students should pretend to eat (what would
they be eating?) whilst discussing the following subjects: the weather, the
hunting season, the latest fashions, their health and their family. Remember to
keep absolute decorum!
5. Wedding invitations and article. Students should research the traditions of a
high society wedding in the Georgian era. They can then create wedding
invitations remembering the etiquette needed and mentioning both sets of
parents, their occupations as well as the location and date of the wedding. Can
they now create an article for the Public Advertiser, a newspaper of the day. Ask
students to create a fictional interview with both characters (either Jane and Mr
Bingley, Lydia and Mr Wickham, Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins or Elizabeth and
Mr Darcy). How did they meet? What were their first thoughts of each other?
How did they fall in love? Any funny anecdotes? What do they hope married life
will be like?