Al-Quds Open University

English Department
Graduation Project

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Written by:
Dania Azar

Supervised by:
Dr. Luai Abu Aida
Nablus, Palestine
April 2019
 Table of Contents

Part One: Introduction

Part Two: Plot Summary

Part Three: Analysis of the Plot

Part Four: Characters

Part Five: Major Themes

Conclusion
Abstract

In this reaserch paper, the researchers shed the light on Jane Austen’s
novel Pride and Prejudice. It’s a romantic novel written in 1813 which
protagonist is Elisabeth Bennet. It charts her emotional development, who
learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the
difference between the superficial and the essential. In this novel, Jane
Austen addresses many important topics including marriage, social
stratification, wealth and many other.
This reaserch is divided in 5 major sections: the first is the introduction in
which there’s a description of the author’s life; the second section is a
brieve summery of the novel; the third is the analysis of the plot; the fourth
is a description of the most important characters of the novel; the fifth
focuses on the major themes. A conclusion is given at the end of the study.
 Introduction
“You must learn some of my philosophy.
Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”

J ane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six
major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the
British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.

Austen's plots often explore

the dependence of women on
marriage in the pursuit of
favourable social standing and
economic security. Her works
critique the novels of sensibility of
the second half of the 18th century
and are part of the transition to
19th-century literary realism. Her
use of biting irony, along with
herrealism, humour, and social
commentary, have long earned her
acclaim among critics, scholars,
and popular audiences alike.

With the publications of Sense and Sensibility(1811), Pride and

Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved
success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger
Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began
another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She
also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, a
short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and another unfinished novel, The
Watsons. Her six full-length novel shave rarely been out of print, although
they were published anonymously and brought her moderate success and
little fame during her lifetime.
In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication
of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her
writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience.

Life of Jane Austen

Family

Jane Austen was born

in Steventon, Hampshire, on 16
December 1775. He added that
her arrival was particularly
welcome as "a future companion
to her sister". The winter of 1776
was particularly harsh and it was
not until 5 April that she was Steventon Church, as depicted in A
baptised at the local church with Memoir of Jane Austen
the single name Jane.

For much of Jane's life, her

father, George Austen (1731–
1805), served as the rector of
the Anglican parishes at Steventon
and at nearby Deane. In 1768 the
family took up residence in
Steventon. Henry was the first
child to be born there, in 1771. In
1773, Cassandra was born,
Steventon rectory, asdepicted in A Memoir of Jane
followed by Francis in 1774, and Austen, was in a valley and surrounded by
Jane in 1775. meadows.

According to Honan, the atmosphere of the Austen home was an "open,

amused, easy intellectual" one, where the ideas of those with whom the
Austens might disagree politically or socially were considered and
discussed.

Education

In 1783, Austen and her sister Cassandra were sent to Oxford to be

educated by Mrs Ann Cawley who took them with her
to Southampton when she moved there later in the year. In the autumn
both girls were sent home when they caught typhus and Austen nearly
died. Austen was from then home educated, until she attended boarding
school in Reading with her sister from early in 1785 at the Reading Abbey
Girls' School, ruled by Mrs La Tournelle, who possessed a cork leg and a
passion for theatre. The school curriculum probably included some French,
spelling, needlework, dancing and music and, perhaps, drama. The sisters
returned home before December 1786 because the school fees for the two
girls were too high for the Austen family. After 1786, Austen "never again
lived anywhere beyond the bounds of her immediate family environment".
The remainder of her education came from reading, guided by her
father and brothers James and Henry. Irene Collins believes that Austen
"used some of the same school books as the boys" her father
tutored. Austen apparently had unfettered access both to her father's library
and that of a family friend, Warren Hastings.

Juvenilia and Early Manuscripts

From the age of eleven, and perhaps earlier, Austen wrote poems and
stories for her own and her family's amusement. In these works the details
of daily life are exaggerated, common plot devices are parodied, and the
"stories are full of anarchic fantasies of female power, licence, illicit
behaviour, and general high spirits", according to Janet Todd. Austen later
compiled fair copies of twenty-nine early works into three bound
notebooks, now referred to as the Juvenilia. In 1881 she anonymously
pubblished Sense and Sensibility .
Austen began a second novel, First Impressions (later published as Pride
and Prejudice), in 1796.
Tom Lefroy

When Austen was twenty, Tom Lefroy, a neighbour, visited

Steventon from December 1795 to January 1796. Lefroy began a flirtation
with Jane, who was a friend of an older female relative.
Jane Austen wrote two
letters to her sister Cassandra
mentioning "Tom Lefroy", and
some have suggested that it may
have been he whom Austen had in
mind when she invented the
character of Mr. Darcy in Pride
and Prejudice, as the courtship
between Tom Lefroy and Jane
Austen took place over the year or
so that Pride and Prejudice was
written.

Published author

At the time, married British women did not have the legal power to
sign contracts, and it was common for a woman wishing to publish to have
a male relative represent her to sign the contract. Like most women
authors at the time, Austen had to publish her books anonymously. At the
time, the ideal roles for a woman were as wife and mother, and writing for
women was regarded at best as a secondary form of activity; a woman who
wished to be a full-time writer was felt to be degrading her femininity, so
books by women were usually published anonymously in order to maintain
the conceit that the female writer was only publishing as a sort of part-time
job, and was not seeking to become a "literacy lioness".

Illness and death

Austen was feeling unwell by early 1816, but ignored the warning
signs. By the middle of that year, her decline was unmistakable, and she
began a slow, irregular deterioration.The majority of biographers rely on
Dr. Vincent Cope's 1964 retrospective diagnosis and list her cause of
deathas Addison's disease. Austen made light of her condition, describing
it as "bile" and rheumatism. As her illness progressed, she experienced
difficulty walking and lacked energy; by mid-April she was confined to
bed. Austen died in Winchester on 18 July 1817, at the age of 41.
 Plot

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a

good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

The news that a wealthy young gentleman named Charles Bingley has
rented the manor of Netherfield Park causes a great stir in the nearby
village of Longbourn, especially in the Bennet household. The Bennets
have five unmarried daughters—from oldest to youngest, Jane, Elizabeth,
Mary, Kitty, and Lydia—and Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see them all
married. After Mr. Bennet pays a social visit to Mr. Bingley, the Bennets
attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley is present. He is taken with Jane and
spends much of the evening dancing with her. His close friend, Mr. Darcy,
is less pleased with the evening and haughtily refuses to dance with
Elizabeth, which makes everyone view him as arrogant and obnoxious.
At social functions over subsequent weeks, however, Mr. Darcy finds
himself increasingly attracted to Elizabeth’s charm and intelligence. Jane’s
friendship with Mr. Bingley also continues to burgeon, and Jane pays a
visit to the Bingley mansion. On her journey to the house she is caught in a
downpour and catches ill, forcing her to stay at Netherfield for several
days. In order to tend to Jane, Elizabeth hikes through muddy fields and
arrives with a spattered dress, much to the disdain of the snobbish Miss
Bingley, Charles Bingley’s sister. Miss Bingley’s spite only increases
when she notices that Darcy, whom she is pursuing, pays quite a bit of
attention to Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth and Jane return home, they find Mr. Collins visiting their
household. Mr. Collins is a young clergyman who stands to inherit Mr.
Bennet’s property, which has been “entailed,” meaning that it can only be
passed down to male heirs. Mr. Collins is a pompous fool, though he is
quite enthralled by the Bennet girls. Shortly after his arrival, he makes a
proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. She turns him down, wounding his
pride. Meanwhile, the Bennet girls have become friendly with militia
officers stationed in a nearby town. Among them is Wickham, a handsome
young soldier who is friendly toward Elizabeth and tells her how Darcy
cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance.
At the beginning of winter, the Bingleys and Darcy leave Netherfield and
return to London, much to Jane’s dismay. A further shock arrives with the
news that Mr. Collins has become engaged to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s
best friend and the poor daughter of a local knight. Charlotte explains to
Elizabeth that she is getting older and needs the match for financial
reasons. Charlotte and Mr. Collins get married and Elizabeth promises to
visit them at their new home. As winter progresses, Jane visits the city to
see friends (hoping also that she might see Mr. Bingley). However, Miss
Bingley visits her and behaves rudely, while Mr. Bingley fails to visit her
at all. The marriage prospects for the Bennet girls appear bleak.
That spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte, who now lives near the home of
Mr. Collins’s patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is also Darcy’s aunt.
Darcy calls on Lady Catherine and encounters Elizabeth, whose presence
leads him to make a number of visits to the Collins’s home, where she is
staying. One day, he makes a shocking proposal of marriage, which
Elizabeth quickly refuses. She tells Darcy that she considers him arrogant
and unpleasant, then scolds him for steering Bingley away from Jane and
disinheriting Wickham. Darcy leaves her but shortly thereafter delivers a
letter to her. In this letter, he admits that he urged Bingley to distance
himself from Jane, but claims he did so only because he thought their
romance was not serious. As for Wickham, he informs Elizabeth that the
young officer is a liar and that the real cause of their disagreement was
Wickham’s attempt to elope with his young sister, Georgiana Darcy.
This letter causes Elizabeth to reevaluate her feelings about Darcy. She
returns home and acts coldly toward Wickham. The militia is leaving
town, which makes the younger, rather man-crazy Bennet girls distraught.
Lydia manages to obtain permission from her father to spend the summer
with an old colonel in Brighton, where Wickham’s regiment will be
stationed. With the arrival of June, Elizabeth goes on another journey, this
time with the Gardiners, who are relatives of the Bennets. The trip takes
her to the North and eventually to the neighborhood of Pemberley, Darcy’s
estate. She visits Pemberley, after making sure that Darcy is away, and
delights in the building and grounds, while hearing from Darcy’s servants
that he is a wonderful, generous master. Suddenly, Darcy arrives and
behaves cordially toward her. Making no mention of his proposal, he
entertains the Gardiners and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister.
Shortly thereafter, however, a letter arrives from home, telling Elizabeth
that Lydia has eloped with Wickham and that the couple is nowhere to be
found, which suggests that they may be living together out of wedlock.
Fearful of the disgrace such a situation would bring on her entire family,
Elizabeth hastens home. Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet go off to search for
Lydia, but Mr. Bennet eventually returns home empty-handed. Just when
all hope seems lost, a letter comes from Mr. Gardiner saying that the
couple has been found and that Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia in
exchange for an annual income. The Bennets are convinced that Mr.
Gardiner has paid off Wickham, but Elizabeth learns that the source of the
money, and of her family’s salvation, was none other than Darcy.
Now married, Wickham and Lydia return to Longbourn briefly, where Mr.
Bennet treats them coldly. They then depart for Wickham’s new
assignment in the North of England. Shortly thereafter, Bingley returns to
Netherfield and resumes his courtship of Jane. Darcy goes to stay with him
and pays visits to the Bennets but makes no mention of his desire to marry
Elizabeth. Bingley, on the other hand, presses his suit and proposes to
Jane, to the delight of everyone but Bingley’s haughty sister. While the
family celebrates, Lady Catherine de Bourgh pays a visit to Longbourn.
She corners Elizabeth and says that she has heard that Darcy, her nephew,
is planning to marry her. Since she considers a Bennet an unsuitable match
for a Darcy, Lady Catherine demands that Elizabeth promise to refuse him.
Elizabeth spiritedly refuses, saying she is not engaged to Darcy, but she
will not promise anything against her own happiness. A little later,
Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he tells her that his
feelings have not altered since the spring. She tenderly accepts his
proposal, and both Jane and Elizabeth are married.
 Plot Analysis

“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the

will of others.

My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”

Title

The Novel, Pride and Prejudice was originally entitled First

Impressions. But when Jane Austen revised her novel, she gave it a new
title now it bears. This title is so appropriate that it requires hardly any
arguments to justify. The very title, Pride and Prejudice indicates
what the novel is written about. The words ‘Pride’ and ‘Prejudice’ are very
significant in the characterization of the novel. The hero and heroine of the
novel embody these traits of human character. When Mr. Darcy was first
introduced in the novel, he was declared to be, “The proudest, most
disagreeable man in the world.” All his actions may be traced to pride.
Darcy admits it and says that his pride consists in his being ‘selfish’ and
‘overbearing’. Darcy’s pride makes him turn down the proposal of dancing
with Elizabeth made by Bingley. In a humiliating tone, he says, “She is not
handsome enough to tempt me,” This wounds her sentiment and makes her
prejudiced against Darcy. This prejudice of Elizabeth against Darcy further
depends on when he makes a confession of his implacability at
Netherfield.

Setting
 Jane Austen does not tend to spend much time describing the setting
or what the setting looks like in Pride and Prejudice. Typically, her
writing focuses more on conversation than description. The story is
situated in England in the 19th century. The places, besides the ones in
parentheses and London of course, are all invented by the author. Austen
spends more time describing the grounds, rooms, and decorations at
Pemberley than any other location.
The main settings in Pride and Prejudice are a series of homes and estates,
including: Longbourn, Netherfield Park, Rosings, and Pemberley.
Longbourn is the Bennets' home, Netherfield Park is the residence of Mr.
Bingley, Rosings is Lady Catherine's estate, and Pemberley is Mr. Darcy's
estate.
From a temporal point of view, it’s clear that the story takes place in the
beginning of the 19th century. That is made clear by the manners and the
convictions of the characters.

Point of View

The story is being told from Elizabeth’s point of view mostly. The
story is told in the third-person narrative. The point of view in Pride and
Prejudice is limited omniscient; the story is told through Elizabeth, but not
in first person. As a result, the mood of the novel lacks dramatic emotions.
The atmosphere is intellectual and cold; there are little descriptions of the
setting. The emotions in the novel are to be perceived beneath the surface
of the story and are not to be expressed to the readers directly.

Style

Jane Austen's writing style is a mix of neoclassicism and

romanticism. Austen created a transition into Romanticism which
encourages passion and imagination in writing instead of a strict and stale
writing style. Mixing these two styles was one of Austen's strongest talents,
which gave her an edge in the literary world. In Pride and Prejudice,
Austen used her sharp and sarcastic wit and like most of her works, she
employed the narrative technique of free indirect speech, which 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". Austen created her characters with fully developed
personalities and unique voices. Though Darcy and Elizabeth are very
alike, they are also considerably different. By using narrative that adopts
the tone and vocabulary of a particular character (in this case, Elizabeth),
Austen invited the reader to follow events from Elizabeth's viewpoint,
sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions.
The tone of the novel is light, satirical, and vivid. Scenes such as Mr.
Collins proposal to Elizabeth, and Lady Catherine visits to Lizzy at
Longbourn, provides comic relief to the reader while at the same time
revealing certain traits of the characters.
As humans, we are often absurd beings, whether because of our
personality quirks or our efforts to fit into a particular group. Jane
Austen recognized this about humanity, so she tried to show how some of
this human foolishness was often harmful to society and even just
laughable. Austen does this in Pride and Prejudice by using satire. Satire
often includes pointing out flaws in society's expectations by creating
characters who fit into a social stereotype and whom the audience finds
ridiculous. One major theme in the book that requires Austen's use of
satire is the focus on the silliness of the expectation of women and
marriage in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Women were expected
by society to want to find a wealthy and powerful man to marry, and to
give birth to and raise children (whom they hoped would be boys).
In Pride and Prejudice, Austen primarily uses imagery to develop
characters and to create a more dynamic reading experience. The narrative
uses the imagery of austerity to create a portrait of Mr. Collins, one of the
minor characters in the novel. Mr. Collins is a clergyman who is supposed
to inherit the Bennett estate. He lives in a plain house with humble
furnishings. For instance, he describes his 'plain manner of living, small
rooms, and few domestics.’ When Mr. Collins visits the Bennetts he
remarks about the lavish decorations in their house. Here, the reader gets
the sense that Mr. Collins is motivated by his desire to increase his station.
In one scene, Mr. Collins visits with the Bennett daughters, Jane and
Elizabeth, 'while Mrs. Bennett was stirring the fire.' This image of the fire
being stoked is significant because it suggests that Mr. Collins' passions
are being aroused. In the company of the Bennett women, Mr. Collins is
overcome with desire--mostly for Elizabeth. Austen also
uses color imagery to suggest desire. Lydia and Kitty swoon over men 'in
red'- men in military uniform. They are particularly attracted to a young
sentinel, who is cloaked in red.

Structure

The story is divided in 61 chapters and it’s in chronological order; it

also doesn’t have any flashbacks or flash forwards. The time sometimes
skips ahead to more important periods and at other times, it seems because
that part of the story is explained so detailed, as if time is standing still.
The novel has neat and coherent dramatic structure. At the Meryton Ball
where Darcy meets Elizabeth, there is the first sowing of the seeds of pride
and prejudice. The prejudice of Elizabeth is strengthened by
Wickham’s disclose of Darcy’s unfair treatment of him. Darcy is however
attracted by the liveliness of her mind. His feelings grow steadily warmer
towards Elizabeth. The proposal of Darcy when she visits Hunsford
parsonage reveals its pride. His frank explanation of his condescension
angers Elizabeth. She rejects the proposal and this rejection is the dramatic
climax of the plot. His letter of explanation opens the eyes of Elizabeth to
the lack of any basis for her prejudice against him. The walls rose between
them by pride and prejudice began to crumble slowly. At this stage Austen
creates another situation which helps the establishment of perfect
understanding between the two. Wickham elopes with Lydia. Darcy exerts
himself to force Wickham to marry Lydia. Elizabeth is duly grateful and
when he proposes to her again there is nothing to stand in the way of her
accepting him; thus a pretty tangle is created and it is resolved finally.
Austen’s ironical tone unifies her materials. Therefore, the plot is so
skillfully constructed that they can not be separated from one another nor
can they be considered unnatural.
 Characters
“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used
synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to
our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, is the second-

eldest Bennet daughter. She is twenty years old, she is intelligent, spirited,
and opinionated. Elizabeth is closest to her older sister, Jane, and serves as
a foil to Jane’s innocent and trusting character. Her admirable qualities are
numerous—she is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she
converses as brilliantly as anyone. Her honesty, virtue, and lively wit
enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her
class-bound and often spiteful society.
Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty
judgments often lead her astray. Upon Elizabeth’s and Mr. Darcy’s first
meeting, he calls Elizabeth “tolerable. . .but not handsome enough to tempt
me.” wounding her pride and spurring her prejudice against him. Elizabeth
is often judgmental, and although she does not truly know Mr. Darcy, she
almost immediately judges his character as haughty and proud. Although
Elizabeth is prone to prejudice, she is also open and kind to those who are
kind to her. This impulse towards reciprocity allows Elizabeth to easily
bond with the charming and attentive Mr. Wickham, a stark contrast to the
cold and rude Mr. Darcy.

Mr. Darcy
 Fitzwilliam Darcy, or Mr. Darcy, is the shy, wealthy, and aristocratic
landowner of Pemberley. He is a socially awkward character, which makes
him initially come across as cold, haughty, and prideful. Mr. Darcy is
judgmental towards those of a lower class than he is.
The narrator relates Elizabeth’s point of view of events more often
than Darcy’s, so Elizabeth often seems a more sympathetic figure. The
reader eventually realizes, however, that Darcy is her ideal match.
Intelligent and forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too hastily and
harshly, and his high birth and wealth make him overly proud and overly
conscious of his social status. Indeed, his haughtiness makes him initially
bungle his courtship. Her rejection of his advances builds a kind of
humility in him. Darcy demonstrates his continued devotion to Elizabeth,
in spite of his distaste for her low connections.

Mr. Bennet

Mr. Bennet, the father of the five Bennet ladies, is eccentric,

intelligent, and sarcastic. Mr. Bennet is a small landowner, and, since he
does not have any sons, his estate is entailed to Mr. Collins, his closest
male relative. In his youth, Mr. Bennet married Mrs. Bennet for her
beauty, unaware of her shallowness. He is now disappointed with his
marriage, but he copes with Mrs. Bennet’s ridiculous nature through
sarcasm and indifference. Although aloof, negligent, and often emotionally
closed off to his daughters, Mr. Bennet loves and admires Elizabeth
Bennet, viewing her as his most intelligent daughter.

Mrs. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Bennet’s wife, is silly, shallow, and interested only
in getting her daughters married to wealthy men. She favors her youngest
daughter, Lydia, but she also takes a great amount of pride in the beauty
and grace of her eldest daughter, Jane. Mrs. Bennet shows contempt
towards Elizabeth, often pointing out Elizabeth’s flaws in beauty and
manner as compared to Jane's. Mrs. Bennet constantly seeks out attention
and adds to the Bennet family’s continuous embarrassment in social
situations.

Jane Bennet

Jane Bennet is the oldest and most beautiful of the five Bennet
sisters. She is thoughtful, selfless, and trusting. She often sees only the
good in the people she meets, whereas her sister Elizabeth is more shrewd
in judgement. Jane falls in love with Mr. Bingley, a wealthy bachelor who
moves into Netherfield Park near her family’s home in the countryside.
Although Jane does love Mr. Bingley, her quiet and gentle nature does not
allow her to outwardly show her affections. Jane spends the majority of the
novel unhappy over Mr. Bingley’s leaving, as she truly loves him.

Mr. Bingley

Mr. Charles Bingley is a wealthy, good-natured bachelor from the

north of England. He prides himself in his spontaneity and is very loyal
and trusting towards his friends, possessing “great natural modesty.”
Although he falls in love with Jane Bennet, his trust in Mr. Darcy and his
sisters allows them to persuade him to leave the countryside and end his
courtship with her.

Mr. Darcy convinces Mr. Bingley that Jane is not in love with him and
argues that the Bennets are vulgar and socially beneath them.
Mr. Wickham

Mr. Wickham, a militia officer, is at first portrayed as charming and

handsome. As the novel progresses, however, Mr. Wickham’s character is
revealed to be manipulative and irresponsible; his goals are money and
positive attention, and Wickham employs dastardly methods to try and
attain them. As an antagonistic character, Mr. Wickham serves as the
catalyst for Elizabeth Bennet’s increased prejudice against Mr. Darcy.

This diagram, or map, illustrates the relationships between each of the main characters in the novel Pride
and Prejudice.
 Major Themes
“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.”

Many critics take the title as the start when analysing the themes
of Pride and Prejudice but, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much
into the title, because 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.

Pride

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen looks at people who are guilty of
pride, and the effects it has both on their lives and lives of others.
Everyone in the book has some degree of pride, but the key characters are
often caricature of proud people: Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de
Bourg. Mr. Collins had long been supllying this need. He had been raised
with “humilty of manner”, but living at Hunsford has made him a mixture
of “pride and obsequiouness, self-importance and humilty” and this lapdog
servility makes him even more unlikeable in our eyes. Catherine De Bough
is seen to be so proud of herself due to the social status that she is in. she is
seen to base her pride in the wealth and the privileges that the wealth bring
along with making her overestimate her ability. Her pride show that she is
capable of doing anything. Her pride is able to drift her to think that her
feelings are the only important one. She talks rudely with little or no
conscious that she is doing so.
Darcy and Elizabeth develop as characters during the course of the
novel and they are also seen to have pride as part of their personality.
Elizabeth, though chiefly signifying prejudice, is guilty of pride on which
this prejudice is based. Darcy tells hr when he proposes, “Had not your
heart been hurt... (my faults) might have been overlooked”, and the chapter
that follows, she admits this. The chief representative of pride in the novel
is Darcy. He is said to be proud. He seems withdrawn, superior and
cynical.

Prejudice

As the title suggests, prejudice is one of the main themes of the

novel. Prejudice is one of many obstacles that gets in the way of Elizabeth
Bennet and Mr. Darcy from connecting quickly. For example, Mr. Darcy's
prejudice toward Elizabeth is largely because of her social standing. The
narrator demonstrates how Mr. Darcy's initial prejudice initially clouds his
ability to see Elizabeth for the strong, intelligent woman that she is. Once
he is able to disregard their social differences, he allows himself to fall in
love with her. Austen's attention to Mr. Darcy's prejudice and subsequent
transformation into a humbler perspective shows the issues that social
prejudice can cause, and the good that can come from removing those
prejudices from society.

Marriage

The opening line of the novel famously announces: "It is a truth

universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a wife.” This sets marriage as a motif and a
problem in the novel. Readers are poised to question whether or not these
single men need a wife, or if the need is dictated by the "neighbourhood"
families and their daughters who require a "good fortune".
Marriage is a complex social activity that takes political economy
and economy generally, into account. In the case of Charlotte Lucas, the
seeming success of her marriage lies in the comfortable financial
circumstances of their household, while the relationship between Mr. and
Mrs. Bennet serves to illustrate bad marriages based on an initial attraction
and surface over substance (economic and psychological). The Bennets'
marriage is an example that the youngest Bennet, Lydia, re-enacts with
Wickham and the results are far from felicitous. Although the central
characters, Elizabeth and Darcy, begin the novel as hostile acquaintances
and unlikely friends, they eventually work toward a better understanding
of themselves and each other, which frees them to truly fall in love.

Love

Austen Jane has been hailed to have written the most cherish
literature in regards to love; this can be seen in the courtship of Elizabeth
and Darcy. For the two to realize their love, there were numerous things
that blocked such desires. The theme of love is depicted to be hand in hand
with marriage. It is evident that one of the stumbling block was characters’
own qualities, for instance, Elizabeth was proud making her misjudge
Darcy as being unfriendly while the later misjudges the former for coming
from a poor background. Apparently, the author makes the reader
understand that for individuals to realize and capture love, then there is
need for both partners to come out of the wrapping effect of social class.
Additionally, readers also become aware of fake love. This is where
characters engage in a marriage relationship for the sake of wealth.

Class and Economic Inequality

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows that Darcy family belongs
to the upper class. It can be seen from their estate, snobbish life
style. They stay at the large estate and they have company.The income
also identifies the social status of someone. The higher someone’s income
the higher social status she or he gets in society. The income identifies
Darcy’s social status. Another character belonging to the upper class is
Bingley family. Mr. Bingley is Darcy’s closest friend. He always holds the
dancing party. He is categorized based on his wealthy. Darcy’s aunt, Lady
Catherine de Bourgh also represents the upper class.
 The middle classes are represented by Bennet’s family and William
Collins. It is categorized based on their income and their profession.
William Collins is a Clergyman. During Austen’s time, clergyman in
the Church of England increasingly came from the middle
class. Actually, the lifetyle of the middle class is almost the same as
the upper class.
 Conclusion
“They were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who,
by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.”

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous novels ever existed.
It’s an important novel because of many themes and issues addressed, that
were and still are sensible and of great significance. Many people like to
read this novel for the moving love story between Elizabeth and Mr.
Darcy; others love the light, satirical tone and unique style of Jane austen.
That’s why it has been translated in a lot of languages all over the world.
It’s a novel loved by people of all the generations of the last two centuries.
The fact that it’s written by a woman of the 19th century gives more value
to the novel. The points discussed in this reaserch paper show how much
things make Pride and Prejudice a special novel and also show why I
chose this specific subject. I hope that with this reaserch paper I showed
the greatness of this masterpiece.
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