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//Pride and Prejudice ~// Jane Austen

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps fom admiration to ove, from love to matrimony, in a moment" (Jane Austen, //Pride and Prejudice,// 28).

** J ** ane Austen lived from the year of 1775 to 1817 and was born and raised in England. Throughout her life she had a few writing styles that she tried, one being epistolary which she shortly abandoned, her later novels, including //Pride and Prejudice//, //Sense and Sensibility//, and //Mansfield Park//, all have the same style of realism. Austen's family growing up was very close and open. Her father taught her as she got older, along with some help from her brothers. Austen also acquired a lot of knowledge from the books she read. She relied heavily on approval and support from her family, not only in her writing, but also in her daily life. Interestingly enough, Jane Austen was not extremely noticed or appreciated as a writer until the twentieth century after her nephew wrote a book entitled: //A Memoir of Jane Austen,// this book helped the public open up to Austen, her novels, and writing technique. In the year of 1817 Jane Austen died of what is thought to be Hodgkins Lymphoma, however, doctors have are not absolutely certain that this is the disease that caused her death.

Main Characters:

__Elizabeth Bennet__ is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. She comes from a home that is more middle class, but has many connections to those of higher rank, like Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth is intelligent and a very quick thinker who often says what is on her mind. She is also caring, throughout the book she constantly looks out for her sisters, especially Jane, showing them much love. However, Elizabeth is also very capable of holding grudges and is very //prejudice// against others. She is also one who doesn't hesitate to judge those around her. This quality holds her back and stops her from getting to know a lot of people, one unparticular is Mr. Darcy. __Mr. Darcy__ is a young man who was raised in a wealthy home. He keeps to himself and although his feelings and affection toward Elizabeth Bennet are growing, he lets her social status stop him from asking for her hand, for quite some time. This shows how proud and full of //pride// Mr. Darcy truly is. Mr. Darcy too, is very judgmental and forms opinions of others extremely fast. However, Darcy is persistent, not only in the way that he tries to win Elizabeth's approval, but also the way in which he is constantly making good first impressions, so those surrounding him will also develop high opinions of him. __Jane Bennet__ is Elizabeth Bennet's sister, and also the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Like Elizabeth, Jane is loving and caring. However, in every other single way, she is different from her sister. Jane is very calm, and shows no sign of prejudice what-so-ever. She is not conceited and always puts others before herself. Jane brings peace to the book because she is so calm and reserved. Later in the story she marries Mr. Bingley and demonstrates a marriage that some may call perfect. Mr. Bingley is also nothing like his friend Mr. Darcy, he is just like Jane. Their marriage shows neither //pride// nor //prejudice,// making up an ideal relationship. Although Jane is a major character, Austen does not clearly define her or make her opinion strong (such as Elizabeth's) or complete personality known throughout the book, she simply outlines Jane's character for the reader. __Mr. and Mrs. Bennet__ are again, two characters who are only outlined, yet make up and majorly influence the story. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five daughters, each who are drastically different in character. They are a middle-class family who do all they can to make their daughters lives the best they can. Mr. Bennet is much more distant in his daughter's lives than his wife is, and this creates a problem for his daughters as they begin to lose the love that only a father can provide for his children. Mrs. Bennet is consumed with marrying off her daughters, mainly Jane and Elizabeth because they are the eldest of the five. She is completely aware of her social status, and still she tries giving her daughters off to men like Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley (who are both wealthy and highly thought of). What she doesn't realize is that her continuous push to make the men fall in love with her daughters actually pushes them to dislike her and the family even more.

//Pride and Prejudice //

//Pride and Prejudice// is a beautiful novel that follows the story of a young woman named Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth grew up with four sisters, in a tightly-knit family. As she grew older however, he father began to break apart from the rest of them and her mother became obsessed with marrying her off. When Mr. Bingley comes into town Mrs. Bennet is overjoyed. They attend a ball where Jane dances with Mr. Bingley twice, and it is there that the fondness they share for one another begins to bloom. After some time Jane is invited to Netherfield park, where she spends the day with Mr. Bingley and his sisters. She becomes very sick and winds up staying for longer than shmedia type="youtube" key="0jTITjkN664" height="385" width="480" align="right"e intended too. While she is there Elizabeth comes to visit and she gets to know Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy much more and Mr. Darcy's liking for Elizabeth also grows as Mr. Bingley's grows for Jane. Finally Jane is permitted to leave and return home, and her mother decides to invite their cousin Mr. Collins to visit because he too is interested in marrying one of the Bennet daughters so he can inherit Mr. Bennet's estate after he passes. Mrs. Bennet tells Mr. Collins that Jane is likely going to be engaged soon (to Mr. Bingley), and this information becomes the deciding factor for Mr. Collins in his choice to ask Elizabeth for her hand in marriage. Elizabeth, however, declines, frustrating Mr. Collins, and also, her mother: "But I tell you what, Miss Lizzy [Elizabeth], if you take it into your head to go on refusing every offer of marriage in this way, you will never get a husband at all - and I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father is dead. //I// shall not be able to keep you - and so I warn you" -Mrs. Bennet (Austen 113). Elizabeth ignores her mothers warning and her mother becomes even more displeased with her choices. Elizabeth the travels to Hunsford to visit Charlotte and her husband Mr. Collins. While she is there she runs into Mr. Darcy and finds that he is the one to blame for ruining the intended engagement between her sister (Jane) and Mr. Bingley. Eventually, Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth (shown in the video clip) while in Hunsford, and Elizabeth rejects his offer very harshly: "It is natural that obligation should be felt, and if I could //feel// gratitude, I would now thank you. But I cannot - I have never desired your good opinion, and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly" -Elizabeth (Austen 189). This is a major turning point in the book because it shows how much pride Mr. Darcy has, and that Elizabeth still holds her first impressions of Mr. Darcy against him. Soon after, Darcy writes Elizabeth a letter explaining his reasoning, and giving her some background information about himself, immediately Elizabeth starts to like him more and feels bad for the strong opinions she first had for him. The story progresses as does the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy.

Symbolism

//Pride and Prejudice// revolves around the ways of the 1800's, both in traditions and in the language style of [|Victorian England]. Austen was very careful not to include symbols in this particular book, and because she did that, it became even more important for the reader to pay attention to feelings and actions of characters. However, the novel throws in many twists and turns. The main focus and point of the story is how pride and prejudice effect relationships and people. Although pride and prejudice may not be considered symbols, they both have a major role in effecting the characters decisions and opinions. There is one symbol that Austen does throw into //Pride and Prejudice// and that symbol is Mr. Darcy's estate. Elizabeth is invited to take a tour of the estate, which she agrees to because Mr. Darcy is not home, and as she arrives and begins her tour she realizes how beautiful the building is and slowly but surely she grows to like it more and more. Everything about the house brings her in, from the architecture to the view. This is parallel to her feelings for Mr. Darcy. At first she isn't too sure about him, and is very hesitant, and then as she gets to know him, she becomes more comfortable with him, and she starts to allow herself to like him.

Recommended...? Most definitely. But why...? This is a book that will constantly leave the reader wanting more. Jane Austen writes beautifully, and in a way that draws emotion from the reader, whether happy or sad, joyous or angering. Not only does the strong sense of emotion and Austens ability to make the reader "addicted" to the story provide strong reasons to read //Pride and Prejudice,// but, they are also reasons why this book is on the __[|Outstanding Books for the College Bound]__ list. Jane Austen wrote this book in England during the 1800's, a time when the writing style (such as language) was drastically different than it is now. However, not only is the way //Pride and Prejudice// was written understandable then, but it is still understood now, which goes to show how great of an author Austen was. The story line in this book is also fantastic and even though it isn't full of symbolism the detail is important enough to make the reader think, which are another two things that make a story great. The character development is very strong throughout the book because Austen depends on dialogue more than description. Her use of dialogue allows for the reader to become more involved with the story, because the characters behavior and personality is revealed faster and with more emphasis.

Want to see more?

[|Click here] if you would like to view the complete movie trailer for //Pride and Prejudice// or if you would like to buy the book [|click here] If you enjoyed this page, you may also like: [|Beauty and the Beast] and possibly [|Les Miserables]

Bibliography

"Jane Austen". Wikipedia. 06/07/2010 [] "Jane Austen: The Anit-Romantic?". Brit-lit-wiki. 06/07/2010  Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice- Rain Scene". YouTube. 06/07/2010 [] "Amazon.com: pride and prejudice". Amazon. 06/07/2010 [] "Victorian England: An Introduction". Victorian England. 06/08/2010 [] Austen, Jane. //Pride and Prejudice//. New York: Fine Creative Media, Inc., 2003.