CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

Literature can refer to anybody of written work, but it is sometimes used more
specifically to refer the works of prose, fiction, drama and poetry that are specifically
regarded as work of art. The concept has been broadened in recent decades to include oral
literature, much of which has been recorded. The primary literary genres are drama, fable,
autobiography, biography, poetry, prose, science, fiction, and literary journalism. Western
literature dates to around 3200 B.C in the city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. From
there, it flourished in Egypt, later in Greece, and finally in Rome. Latin is the root of the
word ‘literature,’ which originally denoted ‘the use of letters’ or ‘writing.’ However, the
word gained the extra meaning of ‘knowledge gained from reading or studying books.’
(Rexroth, Kenneth. Britannica Encyclopedia. Britannica.com)

Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for
writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose, fiction, drama and
poetry including both print and digital writing. Literature, as an art form, can also include
works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, dairies, memoir, letters, and essays.
Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other written
information on a particular subject.

Definition of British literature are bound up with historical shift of British identity
changing consciousness of English national identity, Scottish national identity, Wise
nationalism, and the effects of British imperialism have altered interpretations of how the
literatures of British have interacted.
 British literature refers literature associated with the United Kingdom, isle of men
and Channel Islands. This includes literature from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland
and Wales. By far the largest part of British literature has been written in the English
language wish English literature developing into a global phenomenon, because of its use in
the former colonies of British.

In addition the story of British literature involves writings in Anglo-Norman,

Anglo-Saxon, Cornish, Guernesisai, Jerriais, Latin Manx Scots, Gaelic, Walsh and other
language. Anglo-Saxon literature (450-1100) is primarily limited to works from the West-
Saxon region of England.

This Pride and Prejudice is British literature. There are some characteristics between
19th-century British literature and modern British literature. During this time, several
genres, such as realism, poetry, politics and class, anthropology, gender, and feminism,
became popular due to the growth of literacy and new ideas. Numerous of these areas of
attention were good examples of the Industrial Era's embrace of individualism and self-
determination. Romanticism, a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement centered on
emotional expression, dominated the first half of the 19th century.

For the purpose of expressing their ideas, 19th-century authors used a wide range of
formats and were not constrained by any one genre. The views that prominent authors of
this era express through their poems, journals, fictitious stories, and novels are well
recognised. There were no genre restrictions on authors. Among the most notable 19th.
Century figures are: Jane Austen, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Charles Dickens.
 The book Pride and Prejudice was written in Britain. The United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands are all represented
in British literature. Each work of literature has a different theme. It changes based on its
literature. Likewise, British literature has different themes: the novel's ascent, sexuality
and gender, entertainment, such as theatre, politics, and religion, the culture of Georgia,
colonialism, travel, and enslavement, politeness, delicacy, and sentimentalism, as well as
satire and humour. Modern British literature primarily exhibits five traits. Individualism,
experimentation, symbolism, absurdity, and formalism are some of the primary traits of
modern literature.

Novel is an important genre in literature. According to the oxford English

Dictionary", a novel is a fictitious prose narrative or tale of considerable length in which
characters and actions representative of the real life the past or present time are portrayed
in a plot of more or less complexity".

E.A. Baker in his "History of the English Novel", defines the novel, "As a prose story
picturing real life or something corresponding there to and having the unity and coherence
due to a plot or scheme of some kind or to a definite intention and attitude of the part of
the author".

It was in the Victorian era (1837-1901) that the novel became the leading literary
genre in English. Another important fact is the number of women novelist who Were
successful in the 19th century even though often had, to use a masculine pseudonym.

The majority of readers were of course women. At the beginning of the 19 century
most novels were published in three volumes. However, monthly serialization was revived
with the publication of Charles Dicker's Pickwick papers in twenty parts between April
1836 and November 1837.
 The 1830 and 1840s saw the rise of social novel, also known as social problems novel,
which "arose out of social and political upheavals which followed the Reform Act of 1832.

This was in many ways a reaction to rapid industrialization, and the social. Political
and Economic Issues Associated with it, and was means of commenting on abuses of
government and industry and the suffering of the poor, who were not profiting from
English's economic prosperity.

A Victorians realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in his
novels and poetry by Romanticism, especially by William Words Worth.

The English novel is said to have begun with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719)
and Moll Flanders (1722) though John Bunyan's The Pilgrims Progress (1678) and
AphraBehn's Oroonoko (1688) are also contenders, while earlier works such as Sir Thomas
Malory's Morte d' Arthur and even the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
have also been suggested as possible for-runners.

Another important early novels is Gulliver's Travels (172 amended 1735) by the Irish
writer and Clergyman Jonathan Swift. It is both a satire and human nature as well as a
parody of traveler’s tales like Robinson Crusoe. The rise of the novel as an important
literary genre is generally associated with a growth of the middle class in England.

The early 18th century saw the rich flowering of the modern novel as distinguished from
earlier prose fiction and a number of factors contributed to the rise of the novel.
 Other major 18th century English novelists are Samuel Richardson (1689-1761)
author of the epistolary novels Pamela or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and Clarissa Harlowe
1747-1781); Henry Fielding (1707-1754) who wrote Joseph Andrews (1742) and The history
of Tom Jones, A Foundling. (1749); Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) who published Tristram
Shandy in parts between 1759 and 1766; Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) author of The Vicar
of Wake Field (1766); Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) a Scottish novelist best known for his
comic picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The
Expeditions of Humphry Clinker (1771) who influenced Charles Dickens; and Fanny
Burney (1752-1840) whose novels like Evelina (1778), Cecilia(1782) and Camila (1796) were
enjoyed and admire by Jane Austen.

A noteworthy aspect of both 18th and 19th century novel is the way the novelist
directly addresses the reader. Francis Burney (1752-1840) is the earliest of the great women
novelist. She wrote Evelina Cecilia and Camila. Miss. Burney was the source of inspiration
and a model for imitation by many other women novelists. She is a conventional woman
and her picture of human life is for less comprehensive than that of the author of Tom
Jones, Fielding exhibited life in all aspect ugly as well as beautiful, evil as well as good.
Burney avoided handling subjects unsuitable for presentation by a gentle young lady. This
limited her range.

Mrs. Ann Redcliffe (1764-1823) is another women novelist. She is the author of a number
of terror novels. Her best novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), is a book teeming with
mysterious passages, disappearing walls, shrouded figures, unexplained groans and
clanking of chains. She also exhibited the modern tendency in horror stories to eventually
explain the apparently supernatural as being due after all to natural phenomena.

Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849) is another women novelist. Who influenced Jane Austen the
novel Belinda is her best work. Charlotte Lennox is another woman novelist. She wrote The
Female Quixote (1752). This novel involves the romantic attitude and is a burlesqued and
exaggerated vindication of the rights of women and a rejection of all restraints.

The earliest novels that unequivocally idealize domesticity are Maria Edgeworth's Belinda
(1801) and Patronage (1814). The works of Jane Austen share many of the conventions of
the domestic novel of manners, although Jane Austen works within the frame work of
family life without actually idealizing it.

Jane Austen was a female writer. Throughout the written word's history, female
writers have faced numerous challenges. Jane Austen is best known for her six major
novels, which interpret, critique, and comment on the landed gentry in Great Britain at the
end of the 18th century. The dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of a
favorable social standing and financial security is frequently explored in Austen's stories.
Her combination of stinging irony, realism, and social critique has won praise from her
reviewers and academics. She genuinely depicted her characters romantic life in her works.
Her social commentary frequently focused on the 19thcentury experiences of women,
particularly their little opportunities and the practical advantages of marriage. Most of her
novels, including Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, which were
initially published anonymously and rose to prominence among feminist critics in the
20thcentury.

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire. Her father was
a priest and Jane was the youngest of seven children. Jane's education largely comprised
drawing and piano lessons with a little help from her oldest brother James Jane also
learned a great deal about History, Latin, Italian and Music.

Around this time, Jane decided to dedicate to her life to writing she wrote the Juvenile,
which contained several parodies like love and friendship. Jane's books mainly focused on
the lives of the middle class and portrayed young woman as obsessed with marriage and
love, full of humour and wit her writing are an insight into the lives of women during that
period.

At this time, Jane created something of a scandal by accepting the marriage

proposal of a wealthy man, and then changing her mind the very next morning.
Encouraged Jane started rewriting first Impressions and in 1813 it was printed as Pride
and Prejudice the book was a runaway hit and was printed three more times during Jane's
lifetime

More than a century later, in 1998 a writer named Teddy F Bader wrote a sequel
to it- Desire and Duty. The book was based on ideas that Jane had discussed with her
family. Jane Austen was an acute and amused observer of human behavior and all the six
novels she wrote in her short life of forty two years continue to delight readers even now
because of her wit, humour and an ability to weave a captivating story out of ordinary
incidents.

Jane's literary talent blossomed at steventon and it appears she began writing at
party age, perhaps even before she was sixteen. At steventon, she wrote the first drafts of
novel pride and prejudice earlier entitle First Impressions and written in (1976). Sense and
sensibility written in the form of letters in (1797) under the title Elinor and Marianne and
Northanger Abbey written under the title Susan in (1789-99) During her stay in Bath and
Southampton. She wrote three of her other novels Mansfield park (1812) Emma (1814)
Persuasion (1815).

"Ah!" There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." (Austen, Emma,
volume2 p.248) This quote emphasizes how she was fond of her family and home in her
days. In her lifetime, she achieved some success but little fame thanks to the anonymously
published works Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park
(1814), and Emma (1815). She says that, "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I
ever heard of' (Austen, Mansfield Park, P.190). This quote shows that how she was fond of
writing and her idea about not to depend on others. In all her works, she tries to convey
her idea of family.

The growth of literacy and print culture in England during Austen , s lifetime was
one particularly noteworthy change. Literary rates for the rest of the population
progressively increased after 1800, when practically all members of the middle class and
above could read. The number of new novels produced also increased gradually starting in
1780, and by the time Jane Austen was alive, the novel had become the most popular form
of literature in England. She started another book, eventually titled Sanditon, but passed
away before it could be finished. She also wrote two other novels, Northanger Abbey and
Persuasion, both of which were published posthumously in 1818. In 1796, Austen started
work on her second book, 'First Impressions which would eventually become Pride and
Prejudice. At the age of 21, she finished the first draught in August 1797. By the beginning
of 1816, Austen was feeling sick but disregarded the signs. Her degeneration became
obvious by the middle of the following year, and she started to deteriorate slowly and
irregularly. Although Hodgkin's cancer has also been mentioned as the cause of her final
illness, Addison's disease was officially listed as the cause of death. Despite being unwell,
Austen kept up her work. She became weaker and had trouble walking as her sickness
worsened; by mid-April, she was bedridden. At the age of 41, Austen passed away in
Winchester on July 18, 1817. Her brother James wrote an epitaph that praises Austen's
character, prays for her salvation, and cites the great endowments of her mind, but it does
not specifically reference her literary accomplishments. (Deirdre Le Faye. Jane Austen: the
World of Her Novels, P. 236). After her death, Austen acquired fame, now, copies of her six
complete books are rarely out of print.
 Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the
landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English
literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical
importance among scholars and critics.

Austen's works critique the novel of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century
and are part of the transition to 19th century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally
comic, high light the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and
economic security. Her works, though usually popular, were first published anonymously
and brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime. In
1869, her nephew's A memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the
1940's had become widely accepted in academic circles as a great English writer. The
second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the
emergence of culture.

She was familiar with the domestic and social relationships in her limited world, and
her novels, too are concerned with such relationships. As Somerset Maugham points out
"She wrote very much the same sort of story in all her books, and there is no great variety
in her characters". (The History of English novel P.57).

According to Jane Austen, women ought to enjoy the same privileges and
possibilities as men. Many of the women characters in her books were not subordinate to
males. Women had a right to the same rights as males. At this point, some modern
feminists could agree with Jane Austen. Her feminism- based attitudes and actions.
Although Austen is a realist as a writer, this does not necessarily mean that she portrays
society as it is. She also writes romantic comedies in her books. In those days, women of
the gentry were expected to marry well for financial security rather than pursue of career.
 Jane Austen's clarity of style and form, her comedy and wit, and her analysis of
characters have led her to be regarded today as one of the greatest novelists of English
literature.

Jane Austen's novels have rightly been called Domestic novels. Pride and Prejudice deals
with the domestic life aspirations of the Bennets and to some extent with those of the
Lucases. They are ordinary middle-class people with nothing extraordinary or exceptional
about them. Her novels Centre on people and places that she was familiar with in the
upper middle class of southern England her novels, known as domestic novels, basically
deal with the relationship between men and women. She writes in a simple style and uses
brilliant dialogue in place of dramatic action. She makes her characters come alive through
witty dialogues.

She was the first English novelist to extensively use free indirect speech in the
narrative style, which allowed her to provide the reader with a direct view into a
character's thoughts while still maintaining narrative control. The writing style enables the
author to switch up the discourse between the voice and values of the narrator and those of
the characters. Her modesty and lack of superiority provide her with a sense of humour,
which enables her most famous characters, like Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, to
transcend the frivolities of life that the dumber characters are unduly preoccupied with.
Jane Austen's literary style is characterised by a blend of parody, burlesque, sarcasm, free
indirect speech, and a certain amount of realism. She employs parody and burlesque for
comedic effect and to criticize how women are portrayed in Gothic and sentimental books
from the eighteenth century.
 She was famous for her six major novels that are sense and sensibility (1811), Pride
and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Northanger Abbey (1818),
Persuasion (1818).

Four of her novels were published in their revised form and under the present titles
between (1811 and 1816): Sense and Sensibility in 1811, Pride and Prejudice in 1813.
Mansfield Park in 1814 and Emma in 1816, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion appeared
1818 after her death. She died on 18th July, 1817.

All of Austen's stories take place in the landed gentry's homes around the end of the
18th century, providing women a realistic yet romantic perspective on a world controlled
by men. The books by Jane Austen offer a brief social history that includes commentary,
criticism, and humour. Her female characters defied expectations and are still among the
most lauded in literary history. Despite the strict social restrictions placed on them, they
are all, overall, rewarded with the greatest victory women of the era could experience a
happy marriage. They are all strong, funny, clever, hold, and brave, but they are all
ultimately flawed in some way. That is not to suggest, however, that each of Austen's six
main works has its own unique charms and virtues. She wrote some other works besides
these, but these works brought her more fame.

Unintentionally or not, Austen expresses something that was unspoken in her day and that
no one has been able to improve upon. In those times books by women were typically
published anonymously in order to maintain the conceit that the female writer was only
publishing as a sort of side job and was not seeking to become a "literary lioness. It was
stated that Sense and Sensibility was written by a lady' when it was published in October
1811 Women's viewpoints were not sought after or valued during the 19 and carly 20
centuries because they were deemed to be too flowery, girlie, uneducated, and unimportant.
The difficulties faced by female writers in the past are still visible now. Compared to the
'fairer sex,' male writers continue to get greater recognition for their work. For excellent
female writers, the stereotypes of the 1800s had a significant impact on all aspects of daily
life and work, leading many of them despite their amazing talents to pursue their goals
under the pretense of a male name. Editors, agents, and publishers frequently don't treat
female writers seriously.

The Six universal lessons Austen taught her readers in her novels are: Emma conveys
learn to pay attention to and listen to everyday issues. Northanger Abbey explains about do
not lose our sense of amazement. Pride and Prejudice taught recovering from errors.
Mansfield Park lectured about how not everything is about money. Persuasion educated its
readers to be truthful and think independently. Sense and sensibility showed real love is a
process.

The central theme of all her six novels is the search on the part of mothers or aunts for
husbands for girls of marriageable age. There are no soaring ambitions and aspirations in
her novels, for she herself had never experienced them. Her chief characters are either
young girls of marriageable age or young men with fortunes waiting for wives. Her
characters may be silly or affected, but they are all respectable.

Here are the short summary of Jane Austen ’s novels. At first, Sense and sensibility
appears first under the title Elinor and Marianne". The distinction envisages the title is
most clearly expressed by the psychological contrast between the novel's two chief
characters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Elinor is the older sister. She represents
qualities of "sense" or reason, restraint, social responsibility and a clear headed concern
for the welfare of others. In contrast Marianne her young enter represents qualities of
"sensibility", emotion, spontaneity, impulsiveness rapturous devotion.
Northanger Abbey is the least important and the least interesting of the author , s works. It
already shows her as an entertaining satirist. The vulgarity of John Thorpe and the
foolishness and vanity of his sister are very interestingly portrayed. The unexpected effect
of the vanity and dishonesty of Thorpe and the greed of general Tilney are brought out
with a quick concentration and sureness of touch.

Emma has as it's the theme man's absurdities not the high minded and exceptional
absurdities of tragedy or the grim one of swiftian satire, but those common frequent and
laughable. The novel is noteworthy for is code of manners and its fabricated engagement of
man's time, thought and energy.

Mansfield Park focuses on the life of Fanny Price and her experience living at Mansfield
Park, where she's been sent due to her family's financial problems. The main themes of the
novel are the development and collapse of social relationships, slavery, and a big topic
during Austen's life time, and morality.

Persuasion was Jane Austen's last book. The character of Anne Eliot, who is 27 years
old when the books opens, we find the conflict between too opposing schemes of values,
those of prudence and those of love. Even though she can never abandon he3wr
commitment to the prudential values, she is completely and convincingly human that the
secret agony of her unfulfilled love affects us deeply. Even when Anne and Frederick are
happily united at the end, the problem posed by the novel remains unresolved. There exists
potentially in every relationship between man and women, the conflict between love and
prudence.
 Pride and Prejudice was first published under the title First Impressions. The title is
taken from the moral drawn in Fanny Burney's Cecilia, the whole of this unfortunate
business has been the result of Pride and Prejudice. The central theme is the groom
hunting campaign of Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Lucas for their marriageable daughters. They
strive to choose suitable husbands for their daughters. The arrival of Bingley and his friend
Darcy activate the women. Jane-Bingley love story and the clash of Pride and Prejudice
between Darcy and Elizabeth accelerates the action of the story.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, is a love story, was released in three volumes
under an assumed name in 1813. Although Pride and Prejudice, frequently regarded as the
greatest romantic book ever written, does belong to the romance genre, there are some
aspects of the book that deviate from tradition. A book with this title rapidly immerses
readers in the minds of the protagonists, allowing them to observe their decision-making
processes and core moral principles. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen examines the
occupational nature of marriage for women in her society through satire, characterization,
and narrative voice.

The main character of a romantic literature is called upon to display chivalry and love in
the story's plot, which is usually based on an adventure or quest. Pride and Prejudice,
which was released in 1813, has been referred to as 'the best romance novel ever written.
This novel is a romantic novel. A romance novel or romantic novel is a genre of fiction that
focuses primarily on the romance and relationship between two people and typically has an
'emotionally rewarding and hopeful ending.' Literary fiction writers like Jane Austen,
Charlotte Bronte, and Samuel Richardson are examples of forerunners. Georgette Heyer, a
British author of mystery fiction and historical romance, said that during Austen's lifetime
she was greatly influenced by her. Jane Austen made a significant impact on the romance
genre of fiction.
 This Pride and Prejudice is a creatively written, lengthy, and complicated
prose tale that explores the human condition. Although its origins are in English, there is a
wide variety of literary genres represented in the book, including historical, picaresque,
sentimental, Gothic, psychological, novel of manners, epistolary, pastoral, romance,
antinovel, cult, detective, mystery, thriller, western, fantasy, and proletariat. Austen
published her writings under an assumed name, like many other female authors of the
period. The nineteenth-century novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen demonstrates
how human nature is both innate and susceptible to development and influence by the
society one belongs to, for better or worse. Austen provides more evidence that human
nature can, luckily, be modified and improved.

Pride and Prejudice has several themes, including overcoming difficulties to find true
love, a woman's standing, social class, a sense of class, and class standing. The resilience of
family networks, behaviour, and integrity. It catches the fundamental essence of human
nature and is more than just captivating. Austen means that the world has changed, but
people's nature has not. Austen makes relatable, flawed individuals with flaws and places
them in challenging circumstances. Her characters teach us how to develop in times when
one should not judge others hastily or with prejudice.

In Pride and Prejudice, Austen holds the opinion that society is unfair since women are
not treated equally to men. She chose to live an unmarried life, and she made money from
writing novels. In the novel, Austen depicts Elizabeth as happy after rejecting Darcy's
proposal because she did not want to marry on the basis of financial status, but she was
fully aware that money is very necessary to lead a respectable life, Her private letters made
it known that she consistently counselled her friends to only get married out of true love.

Universal truths are part of the reason why Jane Austen is as popular now as she ever was.
In the society that Pride and Prejudice depicts, a woman's reputation is extremely
important. Women are expected to act in particular ways. She risks being shunned if she
deviates from social conventions. Pride and Prejudice, is one of Jane Austen's most
accomplished works, successfully combines humour, sarcasm, and romance. For Elizabeth
and Mr. Darcy to be together, they must each let go of their own

Pride and prejudices, which is the central theme of the novel. From the very first lines of
the novel, which are so deftly constructed, Pride and Prejudice features one of the most
well-known collections of quotations. Only Austen could have used sarcasm in her intricate
writing style without coming off as overly arrogant.

Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen, is considered a classic of English literature
and falls into the category of a romantic novel. It is also an example of a bildungsroman, a
novel that focuses on the moral and psychological growth of its protagonist.

This project has been divided into three parts. The first chapter formed the
introduction. The second chapter deals with the familial integrity of Jane Austen , s Pride
and Prejudice. The Final chapter sums up the discussions presented in the previous
chapters.