Pride and Prejudice
Synopsis
The Bennet family has five daughters who are eligible to be married, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. The family attends a ball at Mr. Bingley's Netherfield Park, which he has recently started renting. Jane and Mr. Bingley hit it off while Lizzy is off put by aloof friend Mr. Darcy and haughty sister Caroline. A few days later, Jane falls ill on her way to visiting Netherfield and ends up staying there. Lizzy hikes through the moors to see and take care of Jane. Seeing her arrive sweaty and covered in mud, Caroline is derisive while Darcy is entranced. When Jane and Lizzy return home, Mr. Collins (Mr. Bennet's cousin who is in line to receive Longbourn upon Mr. Bennet's death) is visiting. He proposes to Lizzy, and she declines, believing that they are terribly suited for each other. Soon after, Mr. Collins proposes to Lizzy's friend Charlotte Lucas, who accepts him. Lizzy and the Bennet sisters befriend a member of the militia, Mr. Wickham. He tells her how he was taken in by Darcy's father but got cheated out of his inheritance by Darcy. Lizzy enjoys his company and believes what he says to be true. At the beginning of winter, the Bingleys and Darcy return to London. Jane goes to London a few weeks later, hoping to possibly see Bingley, but he never reaches out to her. In the spring, Lizzy visits Charlotte and Mr. Collins. The three of them go to Rosings, where Mr. Collins's patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh lives. Darcy happens to be there at the same time because he is Lady Catherine's nephew. Their encounter leads him to visit Lizzy several times and propose to her. He describes how he struggles with his feelings because he is deeply aware of how much lower her social status in comparison to his own. Lizzy refuses him for several reasons: she's offended by the way he addressed her, she believes him to be responsible for separating Jane and Mr. Bingley, and she incorrectly thinks that he mistreated Mr. Wickham. Soon after parting, he delivers a letter to her explaining that he thought Jane didn't have feelings for Bingley and that Mr. Wickham lied about their past. Lizzy returns home as Lydia gains permission from Mr. Bennet to follow the militia as they move on to Brighton. Lizzy soon leaves home again to stay with the Gardiners, her aunt and uncle. Her aunt insists on visiting Pemberley, Darcy's estate, and Lizzy agrees upon learning that Darcy wouldn't be home. He surprisingly arrives at his house and behaves cordially toward Lizzy and her family, even inviting her to meet his sister the next day. Shortly after, Lizzy receives a letter while in Darcy's presence. It reveals that Lydia has run off with Wickham and disgraced their family. Lizzy travels back home to support her family while her father and uncle go to London to try to find the couple. Wickham and Lydia are found, get married, and return to Longbourn. Lydia accidentally lets it slip to Elizabeth that Darcy found them and essentially bribed Wickham into marrying Lydia so their union would no longer be as scandalous. After they leave, Darcy and Bingley visit Longbourn, and Bingley proposes to Jane. The family then gets a visit from Lady Catherine who privately accuses Lizzy of planning to marry Darcy and disapproving of the marriage. Lizzy refused to confirm or deny the truth of her accusations. The next day, Darcy visits after hearing about the conversation from Lady Catherine and asks Lizzy if her feelings have changed. Lizzy confirms that she loves him, and the two decide to get married.
“A carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden with neat borders and delicate flowers, I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses.”
— Charlotte Brontë about Pride and Prejudice
Characters
Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bennet*: quick witted, playful, loyal, the second oldest Bennet sister
Fitzwilliam Darcy*: courts and eventually marries Elizabeth, reserved, honest, wealthy, generous
Jane Bennet*: the oldest Bennet sister, marries Mr. Bingley, gentle, kind, optimistic
Charles Bingley*: Darcy's best friend, marries Jane, charming, easygoing
Caroline Bingley*: Charles's sister, in love with Darcy, snobby, uptight, vain
George Wickham: military officer, flirts with Elizabeth, marries Lydia, charismatic, deceitful
Mr. Bennet: the father of the Bennet sisters, sarcastic, favors Elizabeth
Mrs. Bennet: the mother of the Bennet sisters, cares more about her daughters marrying than
anything else, emotional, loud
Lydia Bennet: the youngest Bennet sister, marries Wickham, self-involved, immature
Mr. Collins: clergyman, in line to inherit Longbourn, proposes to Lizzy, marries Charlotte, pompous,
awkward, constantly brags about having Lady Catherine as his patroness
Lady Catherine de Bourgh: Darcy's aunt, wealthy, spiteful, condescending
Charlotte Lucas: Lizzy's friend, marries Mr. Collins after Lizzy rejects him, pragmatic
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner: Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife, caring, responsible
Georgiana Darcy: Darcy's younger sister, beautiful, shy
Catherine Bennet: the youngest Bennet sister, essentially Lydia's playmate and shadow
Mary Bennet: the third Bennet sister, bookish, plain, conceited (but less than Lydia and Catherine)
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*appears in You on the Moors Now
Symbols / Themes
Houses: class / wealth, privacy, family
Dancing: sophistication, formality, courtship
Nature: openness, relaxation of social expectation
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One's reputation does not always reflect their true character.
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One must set aside their pride and prejudice to know and be known.
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Class has consequences, but money should not be the sole determination of character or motivation.
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Love finds a way.
Historical Context
Novel Setting
Time Period
Between 1795 and 1811
Novel Writing and Publication
Written 1796-1810
Published January 28, 1813
Government + Politics
Georgian era (1714-1837)
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Covers the reigns of George I, George II, George III, George IV, and William IV
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Monarchs built a worldwide trade network that was founded on colonization, especially in the eastern shore of North America and the South Asian subcontinent
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Enlightenment era (1715-1789)
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Characterized by favoring reason as well as ideals of liberty and fraternity
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Associated with the scientific revolution
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Slightly before the setting of Jane Eyre, but informed the 19th century
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England was almost constantly at war, especially with regards to the revolutions in France and America as a result of the enlightenment ideal of popular sovereignty (government by the people for the people.)
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The Napoleonic Wars (1800-1815) were a continuation of the French Revolution. Napoleon sought to expand France's territory by weakening the other European powers. The British initially remained neutral, but eventually formed several alliances to forcefully oppose and eventually defeat France at the Battle of Waterloo.
Economy + Class
In England, the Industrial Revolution (see Science and Technology section below) dramatically increased the wealth of the upper class, but also led to the creation of a new middle class that possessed technical skills working in factories.
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The development of more specific laws also increased the number of ways the upper class could prosecute those of the middle and lower classes.
Gender + Family
Women were expected to have high standards of etiquette, most importantly being demure and subservient.
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Women were treated as the property of the men closest to them, most likely being their father and then transferred to a husband in marriage.
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Wealthy women did not take jobs, a lot of lower class women were forced to work in factories or on farms to support their family.
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Wealthy women were educated by governesses in subjects like proper etiquette, religion, modern languages, music, drawing, dancing, and domestic arts (embroidery, sewing, knitting).
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Marriage was most women's only hope of upward social mobility, so a high importance was placed on keeping up appearances to win the favor of rich men.
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Women's inheritance came in the form of a lump sum of money, whereas men were allowed to inherit property and estates.
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Religion (i.e. Protestantism and its practices) was often seen as an extension of a woman's domesticity.
Religion + Beliefs
The Enlightenment era (see Government and Politics section above) overall favored reason and led to a decline in church attendance, but the relationship between rationality and faith was never static.
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The Evangelical Revival (also known as the First Great Awakening in the US) lasted through the 1730s and 1740s. It marked a renewed faith in salvation, particularly in favor of Protestantism and the Church of England. John Wesley preached the importance of forming a personal relationship with God by reading the Bible and praying individually.
Culture + Art
The Georgian era coincided with the ideas of the Romantic literary and artistic movement, including popular poets Wordsworth and Lord Byron, and composers Handel, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.
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The Napoleonic Wars shifted fashion and art from its previous centralization in France to the British defining their own style.
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Greek and Roman antiquity also heavily inspired the Neoclassicism of the Regency era.
Science + Technology
The Industrial Revolution started in the 1760s. This included technological advancements in textiles, metallurgy, steam and water power, and factory mechanization. It was largely centralized in Great Britain due to its political power as well as its wealth of resources from colonization. The mechanization of farming caused many rural families to move to newly growing urban centers, hoping to find work in factories.
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This time also saw major developments in mapping the periodic table of elements, finding a vaccine for smallpox, and excavating the past with archaeology. The cotton gin, steamboat, sewing machine, and internal combustion engine were all invented during this time.
Jane Austen
December 16, 1775 — July 18, 1817
Born in Stevenson, Hampshire, England, Jane and her sister Cassandra were both educated by a governess and at boarding school until the fees became too expensive for the Austen family. Because her father was a rector, he had access to a large library and tutored several boys. Jane benefitted from being exposed to so much literature as she grew up. By the age of fourteen, she started to write witty novels that critiqued social convention. Throughout her life, she hoped to make people more informed and less selfish by reading her novels. When she was twenty, she fell in love with a neighbor, Tom Lefroy, but they never married and eventually drifted apart because of their equally poor economic standing and family situations. At the same time, she wrote her first drafts of First Impressions, which later became Pride and Prejudice. She subsequently wrote Northanger Abbey. Several years later in 1804, Austen received a proposal from her friend's younger brother Harris Bigg-Wither, which she accepted. Although he was physically and socially unattractive, the marriage was economically favorable. In 1811, Austen published Sense and Sensibility, and its success afforded her a little more financial independence (barely). She then published Pride and Prejudice, followed by Mansfield Park and Emma. In 1816, her health declined, and she passed away the following year.
