First
impressions
"It
is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a wife."
Austen’s second novel, Pride and
Prejudice, which she started writing before she was twenty-one, was originally
titled First Impression because
the plot was created by characters’ first impressions and appearances. As with
most first impressions we all have, the author’s talented character took a long
time to be noticed until its publication in January 28, 1813, when she was
almost 36. Frustrating as it was, the Austenites inform us she went on working
on the story, making it popular with the close circle of friends, relations,
and acquaintances she took into her confidence.
The Nineteenth Century satirical love story still
attracts the modern reader, topping several lists of 'most read books’ and gets
a five star rating in English literature novels, besides being a subject of
volumes of varied critical reactions, including a reproving remark from Mark
Twain. It boasts, too, of extensive evaluations from literary scholars, huge
interest from film makers and great sales—almost 20 million copies have been
sold—from booksellers. Not to mention the several dramatic adaptations and fan
fiction inspired by some powerful Austen’s characters, many even emphasizing the overcooked romantic side of the text (to
fit the standards of Hollywood) but downplay the powerful satire intended.
The cynical opening lines "It
is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a wife.”, are just the prejudices of the 18th
Century value of love in the words of Mrs. Bennet to
her husband on the news that a gentleman of fortune has just relocated to
Netherfield Park, a nearby estate. The
eccentric mother must marry off her daughters to wealthy men—and their money—and does
everything in her power to complete this objective. What else could a scrupulous
mother, with five unmarried daughters and no son, do—especially if her husband,
upon his death, has entailed the estate to Mr. Collins, a cousin, and leave his
daughters without home or money?
But let’s focus on the prejudices of Elizabeth
Bennet in her relationship with an aristocrat Fitzwilliam Darcy, and we read a
lot of the rituals of courtship of the English gentry. The stubborn and witty
Lizzy thinks she has the arrogant and despicable
Mr. Darcy's character in her whims, but does she really know all there is to
know about him? Pre-conceived 'prides' and 'prejudices' is the stumbling block
in the pair’s view of their different social classes. Lizzy rises above her
mother's objections to the pomposity and loathing of her erstwhile antagonist,
Mr Darcy, and finds true love. Appearances, looks and first impressions bring
conflicts which, through a subtle satire, Austen makes Lizzy learn that ‘’a man
can change his manners, and a woman her mind.’’
Interested in the balance between pragmatism, or
the necessity of securing a marriage, and idealism, particularly Elizabeth's
romanticism and individualism, Austen dramatizes her heroine's struggle to find
a place within the conservative social institution of marriage. The precise
nature of this balance is not necessarily clear, and despite what seems to be a
happy marriage, it may not be entirely possible to reconcile Elizabeth's
independence and naturalness with Mr. Darcy's conservatism and conventionality.
Nevertheless, the novel seems to work toward an ideological balance and an
alteration in the fundamental aspects of these characters that will lead to a
reconciliation of the themes that they represent.
Through
the novel, Austen harshly exposes hypocrisy in certain aspects of Regency
society. She expertly uses various shades of satire through comical characters
such as Mr Bennet and Lady Catherine, to examine the corruption of the marriage
market, the pride and ineptitude of the ruling classes, and the mercenary of
the clergy. Possibly two of the most celebrated satirised comical characters in
English literature, Mr Collins and Mrs Bennet will always be remembered for exposing
key negative aspects of the Regency Society.
In Pride and Prejudice, Austen satirises gender inequality to prove that
marriages based on money only torture women who submit to this kind of union
and may have to live in tormenting silence as Charlotte does.
She
also denounces the marriage elements distasteful to her while still enjoying
life in the middle of that society, with or without their faults. With her
satiric eye and a ready wit, personified in Lizzy, she accepted the social
order of her day, even when she could recognize its absurdities. Modern
critics often see Lizzie as a pre-feminist heroine, a liberated woman ahead of
her time. But she is not. She lives happily within the social constraints of
Regency England, and she doesn't fight them. She doesn't burn her corset. She
doesn't want a career. She accepts the unfair laws of entail that would rob her
and her sisters of their father's estate, because it had to pass to a MALE
relative. And she figures out how to have a happy, fulfilling life WITHIN those
constraints, not by challenging them. Just like Jane Austen.
Is the work
about matrimonial upheavals? The opening line may suggest so: ‘It is a truth
universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune,
must be in want of a wife," and it’s not surprisingly obvious that Pride
and Prejudice, along with most Austen novels, is consistently regarded as a
marriage plot novel, a romance for female readers. However by categorizing it
as such, the revolutionary literary aspects of Austen's writing are sometimes
marginalized.
Pride and
Prejudice are the major themes if the text's title is used as a basis for
analysis, but could mislead, as Robert Fox cautioned against reading too much
into the title since 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
most 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 (particularly the latter) 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 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.
Austen was one
of the first writers to use free indirect discourse in her novels; her
narration is often complicated by its expressing of the thoughts of her main
characters. Sometimes in Pride and Prejudice it is difficult to tell whose
views the reader is receiving: Elizabeth Bennett's or Jane Austen’s. Or are
they one and the same? This method allows Austen to show ironic perspectives
that are not necessarily to be attributed to her.
Austen's keen
awareness of the world she lives in and its inhabitants is also remarkably
clear in Pride and Prejudice. She mocks the pompous attitude of the upper class
with Mr. Darcy's character, the life of clergymen with Mr. Collins', the idea
of the dashing young officer with Mr. Wickham's, meddling mothers with Mrs.
Bennett, along with other clear mimicking of different social characters.
With so many
intricate lives and plot lines interwoven within this text, it is an easy novel
to get completely engrossed in, and one that you will want to keep reading
until you know the fate of each and every character.
Pride and
Prejudice should be read alongside other Austen’s great novels. Their movie
adaptations would not be enough in themselves, or may even distort your view of
the story and rob you of your reading satisfaction. Though there are some
fairly accurate film adaptations, none can capture the essence of Austen's
quick, clever lines that never cease to amaze and evoke the sense of having a
familiar or similar human experience spread across the ages. Even when read in
the next century, Pride and Prejudice would still be a work that not only
captures the times and manners of a society in which it was written, but also
human natures and personalities that are eternal. It is a truly a novel for
everyone of every time and place. Austen, exhibiting great genius, makes you
laugh, cry, question, and understand with her beautiful and complicated tale of
18th century courtship and daily life.
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