Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen.

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 1813.

Why read it? Quite a few people say that Pride and Prejudice is their favorite novel. It begins with a major problem: Mrs. Bennet’s goal is to marry off her five daughters. Mr. Bennet’s goal is to read his books in peace and to comment wryly on the people he encounters, including his wife and daughters, except for Jane Bennet who is sweet and Elizabeth Bennet who is intelligent and accepts life as it is. Elizabeth is also prejudiced toward Darcy whom she perceives as proud (her family is beneath him socially) and arrogant. But he can’t help himself. He loves Elizabeth.

Austen’s view of marriage is both satirical and reverent. She makes fun of most veteran wedded couples who are, as is true in most marriages that I have observed, misfits, but the realities of marriage do not stop Elizabeth and Jane from seeing marriage as their ultimate goal for achieving happiness in life. [I wish I had paid more attention to this book. I would love to have had the class to accept rejection as well as Darcy accepted Elizabeth’s. He was a gentleman. I was a jerk.]

In the end, Darcy realizes that his love for Elizabeth overcomes his distaste for her gauche family and Elizabeth finds that, deep down, Darcy has a heart of gold. So it all ends happily ever after. I wish, however, that Austen had written a follow-up to Pride and Prejudice so that we could learn how Elizabeth and Darcy treated each other after many years of marriage. I suppose that Austen was saying, in distinguishing between bad and good marriages, that having respect for each other makes for a lasting and loving marriage. And Elizabeth and Darcy have, in this novel, learned to respect each other.

Some sample ideas from the novel: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” “Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year.” “When she is secure of him, there will be leisure for falling in love as much as she chooses.” “ ‘Do you prefer reading to cards?’ said he; ‘that is rather singular.’ ”

“An accomplished woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions….yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.” To which Elizabeth responds: “I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women; I rather wonder now at your knowing any.”

“He has always something to say to everybody; that is my idea of good breeding.” “I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love.” “…for you are really proud of your defects in writing, because you consider them as proceeding from a rapidity of thought and carelessness of execution, which if not estimable, you think at least highly interesting.” “…because he [Darcy] does not write with ease; he studies too much for words of four syllables.” “Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society.” Mr. Bennet: “Your mother will never see you if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.”

Quote: Darcy to Elizabeth after she has refused his proposal: “Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.”