Pride and Prejudice

Originally entitled First Impressions, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice centres upon Elizabeth Bennet and Fitz William Darcy overcoming their first impressions of each other. Probably Austen’s most popular novel, Pride and Prejudice is a light and witty comedy of manners. It tells the story of the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy and how they throw up obstacles to their own union. Beginning with the most famous opening line in English Literature, the novel introduces us to the genteel world of the Bennet family, sometime during the Napoleonic wars: “It is truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Pride and Prejudice has a well organized plot where every incident and situation either unfolds or advances the progress of the story. The narrative is pervaded by subtle and gentle irony and satire. The style is simple and transparent, the language used by the characters often revealing their personalities. Pride and vanity, thematically significant throughout Jane Austen’s comic-satiric fiction, lie at the heart of her characters. The novel displays and illustrates the dangers of excessive pride and over-weening prejudice. The hero and heroine, though eminently worthy of each other, are not able to come together because of pride on one side and prejudice on the other.
In Pride and Prejudice, love is neither a terrible thing nor a very deep passion. It is just a necessity of life at a certain age, say youth. Passion and illicit love is not found in the novel. Love is always terminated in marriage. Jane Austen approved only a sensible husband to a sensible wife and foolish one to the foolish. Mrs. Bennet gets what she deserves, Mr. Collins chooses a companion unlike himself, while Jane and Elizabeth select persons agreeable and suitable to their temperament and personality. Jane and Bingley both are of good nature and so deserve to be each other’s partners.
Elizabeth Bennet is an attractive,...