Positive and negative pride in the novel

Plan

Introduction

Chapter I General notes on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

I.I The novel Pride and prejudice

I.II Main characters in the novel

Conclusion on chapter I

Chapter II The concept pride in the novel

II.I Positive and negative pride in the novel

II.II pride as psychological phenomenon

Conclusion on chapter II

Conclusion

Introduction

The object of investigation:

To give general notes on Jane Austen's works;

To define the author’s role as the most famous woman - writer in English literature;

To give psychological and social explanation on Pride;

The object of investigation:

The subject of investigation: The development of genre and artistic peculiarities of novel “A Sense and Sensibility".

The hypothesis of investigation: We suppose that investigation of Jane Austen's works, which is given stylistic devices, analysis of her works, and also her genre of writings reflect its own place in literature.

Methods of investigation:

Descriptive method. 2.comparative method.

Materials of investigation: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), Northanger Abbey.

Theoretical value: in our course paper work we are going to investigate J. Austen’s life and her writings, literary genre in her writings. This material could be used by the students during their theoretical classes as the literature of Great Britain.

Practical Value of this diploma paper is to investigate J. Austen’s literary art and its role in English realism; also it is given some facts such as Jane Austen's Limitations, Jane Austen's literary reputation.

Structure of the diploma paper: Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, three Conclusion, Bibliography and Appendix.

Introduction includes topicality, theme, problem, aim, objectives, object, subject, hypothesis, theoretical and practical value, methods of investigation and structure.

Chapter I General notes on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

I.I The novel Pride and prejudice

English writer, who first gave the novel its modern character through the treatment of everyday life. Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her bright, young heroines is courtship and finally marriage. Austen herself never married. Her best-known books include Pride and prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816). Virginia Woolf called Austen "the most perfect artist among women." Jane Austen focused on middle-class provincial life with humor and understanding. She depicted minor landed gentry, country clergymen and their families, in which marriage mainly determined women's social status. Most important for her were those little matters, as Emma says, "on which the daily happiness of private life depends." Although Austen restricted to family matters, and she passed the historical events of the Napoleonic wars, her wit and observant narrative touch has been inexhaustible delight to readers. Of her six great novels, four were published anonymously during her lifetime. Austen also had troubles with her publisher, who wanted to make alterations to her love scenes in Pride and Prejudice. In 1811 he wrote to Thomas Egerton: "You say the book is indecent. You say I am immodest. But Sir in the depiction of love, modesty is the fullness of truth; and decency frankness; and so I must also be frank with you, and ask that you remove my name from the title page in all future printings; 'A lady' will do well enough." At her death on July 18, 1817 in Winchester, at the age of forty-one, Austen was writing the unfinished SANDITON. She managed to write twelve chapters before stopping in March 18, due to her poor health. The cause of her death is not known. It has been claimed that Austen was a victim of Addison's disease. According to Claire Tomalin, she may have died of lymphoma. Katherine White has suggested in the British Medical Journal's Medical Humanities magazine, that she died of tuberculosis caught from cattle.

Jane Austen was buried in Winchester Cathedral, near the centre of the north aisle. "It is a satisfaction to me to think that [she is] to lie in a Building she admired so much," Cassandra Austen wrote later. Cassandra destroyed many of her sister's letters; one hundred sixty survived but none written earlier than her tentieth birthday.

Jane Austen's brother Henry made her authorship public after her death. Emma had been reviewed favorably by Sir Walter Scott, who wrote in his journal of March 14, 1826: " had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I have ever met with. The Big Bow-Wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me." Charlotte Brontë and E. B. Browning found her limited, and Elizabeth Hardwick said: "I don't think her superb intelligence brought her happiness." It was not until the publication of J. E. Austen-Leigh's Memoir in 1870 that a Jane Austen cult began to develop. Austen's unfinished Sanditon was published in 1925.        

        Since our diploma paper is dedicated to the novel Pride and Prejudice we  shell begin to investigate it. Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, an marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London. Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet’s five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth. Though Austen set the story at the turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing

near the top of lists of “most loved books.” It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, selling over 20 million copies, and receives considerable attention from literary scholars. Modern interest in the book has resulted in a number of dramatic adaptations and an abundance of novels and stories imitating Austen’s memorable characters or themes.

The novel centres on Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the five daughters of a country gentleman. Elizabeth’s father, Mr Bennet, is a bookish man, and somewhat neglectful of his responsibilities. In contrast Elizabeth’s mother, Mrs Bennet, a woman who lacks social graces, is primarily concerned with finding suitable husbands for her five daughters. Jane Bennet, the eldest daughter, is distinguished

by her kindness and beauty; Elizabeth Bennet shares her father’s keen wit and occasionally sarcastic outlook; Mary is not pretty, but is studious, devout and musical albeit lacking in taste; Catherine, sometimes called Kitty, the fourth sister, follows where her younger sister leads, while Lydia is flirtatious and unrestrained. The narrative opens with news in the Bennet family that Mr Bingley, a wealthy, charismatic and sociable young bachelor, is moving into Netherfield Park in the neighbourhood. Mr Bingley is soon well received, while his friend Mr Darcy makes a less favourable impression by appearing proud and condescending at a ball that they attend (he detests dancing and is not one for light conversation).  Mr Bingley singles out Jane for particular attention, and it soon becomes apparent that they have formed an attachment to each other. While Jane does not alter her conduct for him, she confesses her great happiness only to Lizzie. By contrast, Darcy slights Elizabeth, who overhears and jokes about it despite feeling a budding resentment. On paying a visit to Mr Bingley’s sister, Caroline, Jane is caught in a heavy downpour, catches cold, and is forced to stay at Netherfield for several days. Elizabeth arrives to nurse her sister and is thrown into frequent company with Mr Darcy, who begins to act less coldly towards her. Mr Collins, a clergyman, and heir to Longbourn, the Bennet estate, pays a visit to the Bennets. Mr Bennet and Elizabeth are much amused by his obsequious veneration of his employer, the noble Lady Catherine de Bourgh, as well as by his self-important and pedantic nature. It soon becomes apparent that Mr Collins has come to Long-bourn to choose a wife from among the Bennet isters (his cousins) and Jane is initially singled out, but because of Jane’s budding romance with Mr Bingley, Mrs Bennet directs him toward Elizabeth. After refusing his advances, and much to the onsternation of her mother, Elizabeth instead forms an acquaintance with Mr Wickham, a militia

officer who relates having been very seriously mistreated by Mr Darcy, despite having been a godson and

favourite of Darcy’s father. This accusation and her attraction to Mr Wickham increase Elizabeth’s dislike of Mr Darcy. At a ball given by Mr Bingley at Netherfield, Mr Darcy becomes aware of a general expectation that Mr Bingley and Jane will marry, and the Bennet family, with the exception of Jane and Elizabeth, make a public display of poor manners and decorum. The following morning, Mr Collins proposes marriage to Elizabeth, who refuses him, much to her mother’s distress. Mr Collins recovers and promptly becomes engaged to Elizabeth’s close friend Charlotte Lucas, a homely woman with few prospects. Mr Bingley abruptly quits Netherfield and returns to London, devastating Jane, and Elizabeth becomes convinced that Mr Darcy and Caroline Bingley have colluded to separate him from Jane.

Jane is persuaded by letters from Caroline Bingley that Mr Bingley is not in love with her, but goes on an extended visit to her aunt and uncle Gardiner in London in the hope of maintaining her relationship with Caroline if not with Charles Bingley. Whilst there she visits Caroline and eventually her visit is returned. She does not see Mr Bingley and is forced to realise that Caroline doesn't care for her. In the spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr Collins in Kent. Elizabeth and her hosts are frequently invited

to Rosings Park, home of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt; coincidentally, Darcy also arrives to visit. Elizabeth meets Darcy’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, who vouches for Darcy’s loyalty, using as an example how Darcy had recently stepped in on behalf of a friend, who had formed an attachment to a woman against whom “there were some very strong objections.” Elizabeth rightly assumes that the said friend is none other than Mr Bingley, and her dislike of Darcy deepens. Thus she is of no mood to accept when Darcy arrives and, quite unexpectedly, confesses love for her and begs her hand in marriage. His proposal is flattering, he is a very distinguished man, but it is delivered in a manner ill suited to recommend it. He talks of love but also of revulsion at her inferior position and family. Despite assertions to the contrary, he assumes she will accept him. Elizabeth rebukes him, and a heated discussion follows;

she charges him with destroying her sister’s and Bingley’s happiness, with treating Mr Wickham disgracefully, and with having conducted himself towards her in an arrogant, ungentleman-like manner. Mr Darcy, shocked, ultimately responds with a letter giving a good account of his actions: Wickham had exchanged his legacies for a cash payment, only to return after frittering away the money to reclaim the forfeited inheritance; he then attempted to elope with Darcy’s young sister Georgiana, and thereby

secure her fortune for himself. Regarding Jane and Bingley, Darcy claims he had observed no reciprocal interest in Jane for Bingley, and had assumed that she was not in love with him. In addition to this, he cites the “want of propriety” in the behaviour of Mr and Mrs Bennet and her three younger daughters. Elizabeth, who had previously despaired over this very behavior, is forced to admit the truth of Mr Darcy’s observations, and begins to see that she has misjudged him. She quite rightly attributes her prejudice to his coldness towards herself at the beginning of their acquaintance.

Some months later, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle Gardiner visit Pemberley, Darcy’s estate, believing he will be absent for the day. He returns unexpectedly, and though surprised, he is gracious and welcoming, quite unlike his usual self. He treats the Gardiners with great civility, surprising Elizabeth who assumes he will “decamp immediately” on learning who they are. Darcy introduces Elizabeth to his sister, which Elizabeth knows is the highest compliment he can bestow, and Elizabeth begins to acknowledge

her attraction to him. Their re-acquaintance is cut short, however, by the news that Lydia has eloped

with Mr Wickham. Elizabeth and the Gardiners return to Longbourn (the Bennet family home), where Elizabeth grieves that her renewed acquaintance with Mr Darcy will end as a result of her sister’s disgrace. Mrs Bennet, quite typically, has no such scruples and is ecstatic to have a daughter married, never stopping to consider the want of propriety and honesty throughout the affair. Mr and Mrs Wickham visit Longbourn, where Lydia lets slip that Mr Darcy was in attendance at their wedding but that this was to have been a secret. Elizabeth is able to discover by letter from her aunt Mrs Gardiner, that in fact Mr Darcy was responsible for finding the couple and negotiating their marriage, at great personal and

monetary expense. Elizabeth is shocked and flattered as “her heart did whisper that he had done it for her” but is unable to dwell further on the topic due to Mr Bingley’s return and subsequent proposal to Jane, who immediately accepts. Lady Catherine de Bourgh pays an unexpected visit to Longbourn. She has heard a rumour that Elizabeth will marry Mr Darcy and attempts to persuade Elizabeth to agree not to marry. Lady Catherine wants Mr Darcy to marry her daughter (his cousin) Anne De Bourgh and thinks Elizabeth is beneath him. Elizabeth refuses her demands. Disgusted, Lady Catherine leaves, promising

that the marriage can never take place. Elizabeth assumes she will apply to Darcy and is worried that he may be persuaded. Darcy returns to Longbourn. Chance allows Elizabeth and Darcy a rare moment alone. She immediately thanks him for intervening in the case of Lydia and Wickham. He renews his proposal of marriage and is promptly accepted. Elizabeth soon learns that his hopes were revived

by his aunt’s report of Elizabeth’s refusal to promise not to marry him. The novel closes with a “happily-ever-after” chapter including a summary of the remaining lives of the main characters. None of the characters change very much in this summary, but Kitty has grown slightly more sensible from association with Jane and Elizabeth and distance from Lydia, and Lady Catherine eventually condescends to visit the Darcys.

Many critics take the novel’s title as a starting point when analysing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, 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. It should be pointed out that the qualities of the title are not exclusively assigned to one or the other of the protagonists; both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and

prejudice.” A major theme in much of Austen’s work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people’s character and morality. Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen’s work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr and Mrs Bennet as parents is blamed for Lydia’s lack of moral judgment; Darcy, on the other hand, has been taught to be principled and scrupulously honourable,

but he is also proud and overbearing. Kitty, rescued from Lydia’s bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society. Pride and Prejudice is also about that thing that all great novels consider, the search for self. And it is the first great novel that teaches us this search is as surely undertaken in the drawing room making small talk as in the pursuit of a great white whale or the public punishment of adultery.

Major themes

The opening line of the novel 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 the marriage motif of the novel. It turns out that rather than the man being in want of a wife, the woman is in want of a husband who is “in possession of good fortune”. Charlotte Lucas, Lydia Bennet, Jane Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet get married to men who are sufficiently appropriate for each of them. Marriage becomes an economic rather than social activity. In the case of Charlotte, the seeming success of the marriage lies in the comfortable

economy of their household. The relationship of Mr and Mrs Bennet serves to illustrate all that a marriage relationship should not be. Elizabeth and Darcy marry each other on equal terms after breaking each other’s 'pride' and 'prejudice' and Austen clearly leaves the reader with the impression that the two will be the happiest.

Wealth 

Money plays a key role in the marriage market, not only for the young ladies seeking a well-off husband, but also for men who wish to marry a woman of means. Two examples are George Wickham, who tried to elope with Georgiana Darcy, and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Marrying a woman of a rich family also ensured a linkage to a high family as is visible in the desires of Bingley’s sisters to have their brother married to Georgiana Darcy. Inheritance was governed by laws of entailment. When there was no heir to the estate, the family had to entail its fortune to a distant cousin. In the case of the Bennet family, Mr Collins was to inherit and his proposal to Elizabeth would have allowed her to have a share. Nevertheless, she refused his offer. Inheritance laws benefited males because most women did not have independent legal rights until the second half of the 19th century. As a consequence, women’s financial security at the time the novel is set depended on men. For the upper middle and aristocratic classes, marriage to a man with a reliable income was almost the only route to security for the woman

and her future children.

Class

Much of the pride and prejudice in the novel exists because of class divisions. Darcy’s first impressions on Elizabeth are coloured by his snobbery. He cannot bring himself to love Elizabeth or at least acknowledge his love for her even in his own heart because of his pride. His first proposal clearly reflects this attitude: “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” [13] Also, Elizabeth quickly believes Wickham’s account of Darcy because of her prejudice against him. Lady Catherine and the Bingley sisters belong to the snobbish category. Mr Bingley shows complete disregard to class.

Self-knowledge

Elizabeth and Darcy were not born a great match. It is through their interactions and their critiques of each other that they recognize their faults and work to correct them. Elizabeth meditates on her own mistakes thoroughly in chapter 36: “How despicably have I acted!" she cried; “I, who have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable distrust. How humiliating is this discovery! yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly

blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself.”

 Style

Pride and Prejudice, like most of Jane Austen's works, employs the narrative technique of free indirect speech. This 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”. By using narrative that adopts the tone and vocabulary of a particular character (in this case, that of Elizabeth), Austen invites the reader to follow events from Elizabeth’s viewpoint, sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions. “The learning

curve, while undergone by both protagonists, is disclosed to us solely through Elizabeth’s point of view and her free indirect speech is essential ... for it is through it that we remain caught, if not stuck, within Elizabeth’s misprisions.”

Title

The title “Pride and Prejudice” is very likely taken from a passage in Fanny Burney's popular 1782 novel Cecilia, a novel Jane Austen is known to have admired: “The whole of this unfortunate business,” said Dr. Lyster, “has been the result of Pride and Prejudice. ... Yet this, however, remember: if to Pride and Prejudice you owe your miseries, so wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to Pride and Prejudice you will also owe their termination ...”]. The terms are also used repeatedly in Robert Bage's influential 1796 Hermsprong. An earlier occurrence still is to be found in Chapter II of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire published in 1776. In the discussion of slavery the following sentence appears: “Without destroying the distinction of ranks, a distant prospect of freedom and honours was presented, even to those whom Pride and Prejudice almost disdained to number among the human species”. Austen began writing the novel after staying at Goodnestone Park in Kent with her brother Edward and his wife in 1796. The novel was originally titled First Impressions by Jane Austen, and was written between October 1796 and August 1797. On 1 9 November 1797 Austen’s father sent a letter to London bookseller Thomas Cadell to ask if he had any interest in seeing the manuscript, but the offer was declined by return of post. Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812. She later renamed the story Pride and Prejudice. In renaming the novel, Austen probably had in mind the “sufferings and oppositions” summarized in the final chapter of Fanny Burney's Cecilia, called “Pride and Prejudice”, where the phrase appears three times in block capitals. It is possible that the novel’s original title was altered to avoid confusion with other works. In the years between the completion of First Impressions and its revision into Pride and Prejudice, two other works had been published under that name: a novel by Margaret Holford and a comedy by Horace Smith. Austen sold the copyright for the novel to Thomas Egerton of Whitehall in exchange for £110 (Austen had asked for £150). This proved a costly decision. Austen had published Sense and Sensibility on a commission basis, whereby she indemnified the publisher against any losses and received any profits, less costs and the publisher’s commission. Unaware that Sense and Sensibility would sell out its edition, making her £140, she passed the copyright to Egerton for a one-off payment, meaning that all the risk (and all the profits) would be his. Jan Fergus has calculated that Egerton subsequently made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book. Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes on 27 January 1813. It was advertised in the Morning Chronicle, priced at 18s. Favourable reviews saw this edition sold out, with a second edition published in November that year. A third edition was published in 1817. Foreign language translations first appeared in 1813 in French; subsequent translations were published in German, Danish, and Swedish. Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United States in August 1832 as Elizabeth Bennet or, Pride and Prejudice. The novel was also included in Richard Bentley's Standard Novel series in 1833. R. W. Chapman’s scholarly edition of Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1923, has become the standard edition from which many modern publications of the novel are based.

Adaptation

Pride and Prejudice has engendered numerous adaptations. Some of the notable film versions include that of 1940 starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (based in part on Helen Jerome’s 1936 stage adaptation), and that of 2005 starring Keira Knightley (an Oscarnominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen. Notable television versions include two by the BBC: the popular 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and a 1980 version starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul. A 1936 stage version was created by Helen Jerome played at the St. James’s Theatre in London, starring Celia Johnson and Hugh Williams. First Impressions was a 1959 Broadway musical version starring Polly Bergen, Farley Granger, and Hermione Gingold. In 1995, a musical concept album was written by Bernard J. Taylor, with Claire Moore in the role of Elizabeth Bennet and Peter Karrie in the role of Mr Darcy. A new stage production, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, The New Musical, was presented in concert on 21 October 2008 in Rochester, New York, with Colin Donnell as Darcy

I.II Main characters in the novel

 Elizabeth Bennet

The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint. The second of the Bennet daughters, she is twenty years old and is intelligent, lively, playful, attractive, and witty—but with a tendency to judge on first impression (the “prejudice” of the title) and perhaps to be a little selective of the evidence on which she bases her judgments. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt (Mrs Gardiner)—and her best friend, Charlotte Lucas. As the story progresses, so does her relationship with Mr Darcy. The course of Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship is ultimately decided when Darcy overcomes his pride, and Elizabeth overcomes her

prejudice, leading them both to surrender to their love for each other.

 Mr Darcy Fitzwilliam

 Darcy is the male protagonist of the novel and is twenty eight years old. He is the wealthy owner of the renowned family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire, and is rumoured to be worth at least £10,000

a year. This is equivalent to anywhere from around £200,000 a year to around £10 million a year in 2014,

depending on the method of calculation, but such an income would have put him among the 400 wealthiest families in the country at the time. Handsome, tall, and intelligent, Darcy lacks the social ease that comes so naturally to his friend Bingley. Others frequently mistake his aloof decorum and rectitude as further proof of excessive pride (he is the “pride” of the title). While he makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the landed gentry of Meryton, Darcy is greatly valued by those who know him well. As the novel progresses, Darcy and Elizabeth are repeatedly forced into each other’s company, resulting in each altering their feelings for the other through better acquaintance and changes in environment. At the end of the work, both overcome their differences and first impressions to fall in love with each other.

 Mr Bennet

  Mr Bennet is the patriarch of the Bennet family, a gentleman of modest income with five unmarried daughters. Mr Bennet has an ironic, cynical sense of humour that irritates his wife. Though he loves his daughters (Elizabeth in particular), he often fails as a parent, preferring to withdraw from the never-ending marriage concerns of the women around him rather than offer help. In fact, he often enjoys laughing at the sillier members of his family, partially the reason many have fatal faults, as he has

not taken pains to amend them. Although he possesses inherited property, it is entailed—that is, it can only pass to male heirs—so his daughters will be on their own upon his death.

 Mrs Bennet

Mrs Bennet is the wife of her social superior Mr Bennet and mother of Elizabeth and her sisters. She is frivolous, excitable, and narrow-minded, and she imagines herself susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations when she is displeased. Her public manners and social climbing are embarrassing to Jane and Elizabeth. Her favourite daughter is the youngest, Lydia, who reminds her of herself when younger, though she values the beauty of the eldest, Jane. Her main ambition in life is to marry her daughters to wealthy men; whether or not any such matches will give her daughters happiness is of little concern

to her.

 Jane Bennet

 Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-two years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth’s as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. As Anna Quindlen wrote, Jane is “sugar to Elizabeth’s lemonade.” Jane is closest to Elizabeth, and her character is often contrasted with that of Elizabeth. She is favoured by her mother because of her beauty. She falls in love with Mr Bingley, a rich man who has recently moved to Hertfordshire, and a close friend of Mr Darcy. Their love is initially thwarted by Mr Darcy and Caroline Bingley, who are concerned by Jane’s low connections and have other plans for Bingley. Mr Darcy, aided by Elizabeth, eventually sees the error in his ways and is instrumental in bringing Jane and Bingley back together.

Mary Bennet

Mary Bennet is the only plain (not pretty) Bennet sister, and rather than join in some of the family activities, she mostly reads and practises music, although she is often impatient to display her accomplishments and is rather vain about them. She works hard for knowledge and accomplishment, but she has neither genius nor taste. Like her two younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia, she is seen as being silly by Mr Bennet. Mary is not very intelligent

but thinks of herself as being wise. When Mr Collins is refused by Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet hopes Mary may be prevailed upon to accept him and we are led to believe that Mary has some hopes in this direction but neither of them know that he is already engaged to Charlotte Lucas by this time. Mary does not appear often in the novel.

Catherine Bennet

Catherine, or Kitty, Bennet is the fourth daughter at 17 years old. Although older than her, she is the shadow of Lydia and follows in her pursuits of the 'Officers’ of the regiment. She appears but little, although she is often portrayed as envious of Lydia and also a 'silly' young woman. However, it is said that she has improved by the end of the novel.

Lydia Bennet

Lydia Bennet is the youngest Bennet sister, aged 15 when the novel begins. She is frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socializing, especially flirting with the officers of the militia. This leads to her elopement with George Wickham, although he has no intention of marrying her. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. Lydia shows no

regard for the moral code of her society, and no remorse for the disgrace she causes her family.

Charles Bingley

Charles Bingley is a handsome, good-natured, and wealthy young gentleman of 23, who rents Netherfield Park near Longbourn. He is contrasted with his friend Mr Darcy as being more kind and more charming and having more generally pleasing manners, although not quite so clever. He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others. His two sisters, Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst,

both disapprove of Bingley’s growing affection for Jane Bennet.

Caroline Bingley

Caroline Bingley is the snobbish sister of Charles Bingley, with a dowry of twenty thousand pounds. Miss Bingley harbours romantic intentions for Mr Darcy, and she is jealous of his growing attachment to Elizabeth and is disdainful and rude to her. She attempts to dissuade Mr Darcy from liking Elizabeth by ridiculing the Bennet family in Darcy’s presence, as she realises that this is the main aspect of Elizabeth with which she can find fault. She also attempts to convey her own superiority over Elizabeth, by being notably more polite and complimentary towards Darcy throughout. She often compliments his younger sister, Georgiana - suspecting that he will agree with what she says about her. Miss Bingley also disapproves of her brother’s esteem for Jane Bennet, and it is acknowledged later that she, with Darcy, attempts to separate the couple. She sends Jane letters describing her brother’s growing love for Georgiana Darcy, in attempt to convince Jane of Bingley’s indifference towards her. When Jane goes to London she ignores her for a period of four weeks, despite Jane’s frequent invitations for her to call upon her. When she eventually does, she is rude and cold, and is unapologetic for her failure to respond to Jane’s letters. Jane, who is always determined not to find fault with anybody, is forced to admit that she had been deceived in thinking she had a genuine friendship with Caroline Bingley, the realization of which she relays to Elizabeth in a letter.

George Wickham

George Wickham has been acquainted with Mr Darcy since childhood, being the son of Mr Darcy’s father’s steward. An officer in the militia, he is superficially charming and rapidly forms an attachment with Elizabeth Bennet. He spreads tales about the wrongs Mr Darcy has done him, adding to the local society’s prejudice, but eventually he is found to have been the wrongdoer himself. He elopes with Lydia, with no intention of marrying her, which would have resulted in her complete disgrace, but for Darcy’s intervention to bribe Wickham to marry her.

William Collins

William Collins, aged 25, is Mr Bennet’s clergyman cousin and heir to his estate. He is “not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted  by education or society”. Mr Collins is obsequious and lacking in common sense. He is a stuffy, pompous man that worships his benefactor, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and praises her day in and day out. He also “hates novels.” Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr Collins’s marriage proposal is welcomed by her father, regardless of the financial benefit to the family of such a match. Mr Collins then marries Elizabeth’s friend, Charlotte Lucas.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who possesses wealth and social standing, is haughty, pompous, domineering, and condescending, although her manner is seen by some as entirely proper and even admirable. Mr Collins, for example, is shown to admire these characteristics by deferring to her opinions and desires. Elizabeth, by contrast, is duly respectful but not intimidated. Lady Catherine’s nephew, Mr Darcy, is offended by her lack of manners, especially towards Elizabeth, and he later courts her isapproval by marrying Elizabeth in spite of her numerous objections.

Aunt and Uncle Gardiner

Aunt and Uncle Gardiner: Edward Gardiner is Mrs Bennet’s brother and a successful businessman of sensible and gentlemanly character. Aunt Gardiner is close to her nieces Elizabeth and Jane. Jane stays with the Gardiners in London for a period, and Elizabeth travels with them to Derbyshire, where she again meets Mr Darcy. The Gardiners are quick in their perception of an attachment between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, and judge him without prejudice. They are both actively involved in helping Mr Darcy arrange the marriage between Lydia and Mr Wickham.

Georgiana Darcy

Georgiana Darcy is Mr Darcy’s quiet, amiable, and shy younger sister, aged 16 when the story begins. When 15, Miss Darcy almost eloped with Mr Wickham, who sought her thirty thousand pound dowry. Miss Darcy is introduced to Elizabeth at Pemberley and is later delighted at the prospect of becoming her sister-in-law. Georgiana is extremely timid and gets embarrassed fairly easily. She idolises her brother Mr Darcy (Fitzwilliam Darcy), and the two share an extremely close sibling bond, much like Jane and Elizabeth. She is extremely talented at the piano, singing, playing the harp, and drawing.

Charlotte Lucas

Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth’s friend who, at 27 years old, fears becoming a burden to her family and therefore agrees to marry Mr Collins, whom she does not love, to gain financial security. Though the novel stresses the importance of love and understanding in marriage (as seen in the anticipated success of Elizabeth–Darcy relationship), Austen never seems to condemn Charlotte’s decision to marry for money. Austen uses Lucas as the common voice of early 19th Century society’s views on relationships and marriage.

Conclusion on chapter I

Austen wrote her books at the dawn of the nineteenth century, when vast social changes were already encroaching on the way of life she so loved and rendered with such exquisite artistry. We read her books today on the cusp of a new century, with an unfathomable world creeping up on us, too--one globally interconnected, technologically complex, economically uncertain. Perhaps we find on Austen's rural estates and in her charming, insular society the same peace and pleasure she found there; and an analogue for the simpler, more circumscribed world of our own childhoods, itself passing quickly away into history. The time in which Jane Austen wrote her novels was a period of great stability just about to give way to a time of unimagined changes. At that time most of England's population (some thirteen million) were involved in rural and agricultural work: yet within another twenty years, the majority of Englishmen became urban dwellers involved with industry, and the great railway age had begun. Throughout the early years of the century the cities were growing at a great rate; the network of canals was completed, the main roads were being remade. Regency London, in particular, boomed and became, among other things, a great centre of fashion. On the other hand, England in the first decade of the nineteenth century was still predominantly a land of country towns and villages, a land of rural routines which were scarcely touched by the seven campaigns of the Peninsular War against Napoleon. But if Austen's age was still predominantly one of rural quiet, it was also the age of the French Revolution, the War of American Independence, the start of the Industrial Revolution, and the first generation of the Romantic poets; and Jane Austen was certainly not unaware of what was going on in the world around her. She had two brothers in the Royal Navy and a cousin whose husband was guillotined in the Terror. And although her favourite prose writer was Dr. Samuel Johnson, she clearly knew the works of writers like Goethe, Worsdworth, Scott, Byron, Southey, Godwin and other, very definitely nineteenth-century, authors.