Elizabeth, the most admirable and endearing heroine

ELIZABETH BENNET

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet is the 20-year-old second sister and the protagonist of the story. She is her father's favourite daughter who inherits his intelligence and wit. She is generally regarded as one of the most enduring and popular female protagonist in English literature.

An intelligent and sipirited young woman who possesses a keen wit and enjoys studying people's characters. Although she initially dislikes Darcy, circumstances cause her to change her mind and her first negative impression of him making her falling totally in love with Darcy.
 Elizabeth is considered to be a beautiful and charming young woman, with "fine eyes" to which Mr. Darcy is first drawn. He is later attracted more particularly to her "light and pleasing" figure, the "easy playfulness" of her manners, her mind and personality, and eventually considers her "one of the handsomest women" in his acquaintance. She is Mr Bennet's favourite daughter, intelligent and lively, and her "quickness" of mind is made evident in her taste for witty and teasing conversation, where she likes to adopt striking and independent views.

 Elizabeth`s conception of marriage in Pride and Prejudice is based on a love marriage, not an arranged marriage but a true and a pure marriage, refusing her cousin Mr Collins because she is not in love with him and she is not resigned herself to accept him only because that is the only way of not being alone. This is totally opposite to the thought of the society of the time in which women had only a way to survive, and that way was getting married with a man of fortune.

Darcy, our favorite male character

Fitzwilliam Darcy

We can consider Darcy as the main male character. He is an english gentleman 28 years of age, son of a very rich and important family and he owns the estate of Pemberley.

At first we see Darcy as an introvert, arrogant and egocentric man but later Darcy’s personality is stripped to the point of feeling sympathy for the character and we can understand why he is so quiet and observant ( maybe he consider the society and situations so absurd that he prefer not to take part in them) and we see that he has inside an honest and kind man..

Initially, he consider Elizabeth inferior to him for her social class and family and not very pretty but he can’t deny that he feels interest by this intelligent and ironic woman that looks him most that he think.

When Darcy was first declared to Elizabeth, he is rejected because of the pride and prejudice that Elizabeth feels, but later, Elizabeth realizes that was really wrong about him and she accepts the second preposition.

Through this couple, where love overcomes the social prejudices, Jane Austen manages to convince us of the perfection of this couple.

Marriage in Jane Austen’s time.

            In time of Jane Austen, woman could not be independent. Professions were not open to women. Few occupations were open to them, and those were not highly respected, they did not earn enough money or the working conditions were not good. Only a few number of women though their own efforts earned an income sufficient to make them independent, or had a recognized career. (Jane Austen was not one of these few women professionals).

            Most graceful women could not get money unless she decides to marriage. A woman could only be a "heiress" if she had no brothers. Unmarried women had to live with their families, or with family-approved protectors. Therefore, a woman who did not marry had to live with her relatives as a `dependent' (more or less Jane Austen's situation), so marriage is the only way of getting out from under the parental roof; unless, her family could not support her, in which case she could face the unpleasant necessity of going to live with employers as a `dependent' governess or teacher, or hired "lady's companion

            When a young woman left her family without their approval, this spawned an enormous problem, such as running away to marry a disapproved husband, or entering into an illicit relationship. Because all this reasons, some women were willing to marry just because of the fact that it was the only allowed route to economic security and a better quality of life.

            In Pride and Prejudice, this theme is expressed by the character of Charlotte Lucas: "Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want." She is 27, not especially beautiful (according to her and Mrs. Bennet), and without an especially large "portion", and so decides to marry Mr. Collins "from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment".

            According to Mr. Collins: "This young gentleman [Darcy] is blessed with everything the heart of mortal can most desire, -- splendid property, noble kindred, and extensive patronage". Mrs. Bennet's on Elizabeth's marriage exclaims: "What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! ... A house in town! ... Ten thousand a year! ... I shall go distracted!"

              Jane Austen expresses her opinion clearly enough by the fact that only her silliest characters have such sentiments.

Source: http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pptopic2.html

Quotations

Here we have some of the most interesting or famous quotes from Pride and Prejudice that you might find interesting:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Ch. 1, p.3, Ed. The Modern Library, Classics).  

That is the famous opening sentence in Pride and Prejudice that summed up the role that women played in that century. The novel makes a mock out of the rapacious husband-searching in a village where there only seem to be daughters.

Female characters are shown like silly, vain, pride, self-important, not witty… opposite to Elizabeth character, for example Lydia is described as: “She had high animal spirits, and short of natural self-consequence, which the attentions of the officers , to whom her uncle`s good dinners and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance”.  Maybe “animal” hint at her sexuality.

                      

Other example of female weakness is shown when Mrs Bennet knows that Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged, before that she could not stand Darcy and after knowing the news she changes her mind and how handsome and charming the “disagreeable Mr Darcy” turned out to be. She exclaimed: “Such a charming man! So handsome! So tall! Oh, my dear Lizzy! Pray apologize for my having disliked him so much before. I hope he will overlook it” (Ch. 59, p.274, Ed. The Modern  Library, Classics).

Moreover women are represented as very accomplished: “It is amazing to me,” said Bingley, “how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are”.

About Charlotte and marriage at that period:

“Marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at the age of twenty-seven, without having ever been handsome, she felt the good luck of it” (Ch. 22, p. 91, Ed. The Modern Library, Classics).

Lady Catherine de Bourgh, cannot accept the way in which new class boundaries have to be drawn. Darcy`s marriage to Elizabeth Bennet will result in a link between her family and Wickham, but it is Wickham´s origins as much as his bad character that makes her furious at his possibility. Lady Catherine de Bourgh says:

“I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister´s infamous elopement…is   such a girl to be my nephew´s sister? Is her husband, is the son of his late father´s steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth-of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberly to be thus polluted?” (Ch. 56, p.258, Ed. The Modern Library. Classics).

Appearances are really important for Pride and Prejudice, this is shown after Lydia elopement and Mrs Bennet is shown as:

“She was more alive to the disgrace, which her want of new clothes must reflect on her daughter´s nuptials, than to any sense of shame at her eloping and living with Wickham” (Ch. 50, p.223, Ed. The Modern Library. Classics).

These are more quotes from some of the characters:

1.      “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar before-hand, it does not advance their felicity in the least” (Charlotte Lucas)

2.      “I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow” (Darcy)

3.      “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” (Elizabeth Bennet)

4.      “The upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere, in which you have been brought up” (Lady Catherine De Bourgh)

5.      “Ten thousand a year! Oh, Lord! What will become of me! I shall go distracted!” (Mrs. Bennet)

General Information about Jane Austen

Jane Austen (1775-1817) is regarded as the greatest of English women novelists because of her six completed novels, that are specially noted for their sparkling social comedy and accurate vision of human  relationships, in fact, they are still read today.
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon in Hampshire.
Her father, the Reverend George Austen, was an intelligent and sensitive man who encouraged Jane in her love of reading. From too young she was familiar with the works of Henry Fielding, Sir Walter Scott, Richardson and the poet George Crabbe. Her early tries at writing include humoristic viws of popular romances.
When her father retired in 1801, the family moved to Bath, which was later to feature in her novel Northanger Abbey  (1818).
After his death in 1805 the family moved first to Southampton and then in 1809 to Chawton in Hampshire, where Jane Austen is known to have written her last three novels, Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816) and Persuasion (1818).
Although her other novels were written earlier, it was not until 1811 that Sense and Sensibility was first published.
Pride and Prejudice (1813), features Jane Austen’s own favourite heroine, Elizabeth Bennet.
Surrounded by her familly and wholly immersed in her writing and domestic tasks, Jane Austen type of life is noted for its lack of events. However, she attract several admirers.
Jane Austen’s self-contained life often seems reflected in novels. Sir Walter Scott praised Jane Austen for “that exquisite touch which renders commonplace things and characters interesting”, whilse Maugham claimed that she had at her command “the most precious gift a novelist can possess”.
Jane Austen died in 1817.

Marriage, property and intrigue lie at the heart of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s most enduringly popular novel. Met with critical acclaim on its publication in 1813, it is thought to be reworked version of First Impressions, an early work which was refused for publication in 1797.

Irony in Pride and Prejudice: the main feature

We can consider the irony as a fundamental part in this novel. This not only happens in Pride and Prejudice, the presence of irony is repeated in Austen’s more elaborate novels where the ironic layer that covers them superficially (and that makes them be very funny) invites us to think and reflect on how pathetic were some aspects of the time.

Austen manages to make us think through this well-founded irony, and this is a reason why we admire this writer.

In Pride and Prejudice specifically, novel that the writer herself consider “too light, bright and shining”, we can see this irony from the beginning with one of the most typical examples of irony: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.The irony here is twofold because ridicules both those who believe in universally acknowledged truths as mothers desperate to marry off their daughters with a rich man.

The grace of the first episode, in which Mrs.Bennet tries to marry one of his daughters with the newcomer, young and rich, is appeased by a more important idea: Jane Austen understands that Mrs.Bennet is dangerously stupid and she is playing with the most important decision of her daughters’ lives.

We can affirm that Pride and Prejudice is the Austen’s novel that has the most striking irony, irony is part of the novel. However Emma, for example, is characterized by a more subtle, elegant irony.

Film adaptations!

There are numerous film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, but the most notable versions are that of 1940 starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, the BBC version of the novel directed by Andrew Davies (1995) and probably the most famous that of 2005 starring Keira Knightley (who was an Oscar-nominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen.
This post is going to be focus on the 1940 and 1995 versions.

PLOT: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, of Longbourn near Meryton, have five unmarried daughters, and Mrs. Bennet is especially interested in find suitable husbands for them. Then two wealthy single gentlemen move to their neighbourhood and Mrs. Bennet seems to pin her hopes on them. But a number of misunderstandings, unfortunate events, pride and prejudices affect their lives. The lover`s names are Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy.

1940: Pride and Prejudice (look back to the forties)



By courtesy of MGM Studios

 Starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier as Mr Darcy, this film won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White. But what makes especially unique this film is the superb cast.

Here we show you the final scene of the film.

                FINAL SCENE

Prilpril21

 The film was critically well received. Bosley Crowther in a 9 August 1940 review for the New York Times described the film as "the most deliciously pert comedy of old manners, the most crisp and crackling satire in costume that we in this corner can remember ever having seen on the screen." Crowther also praised casting decisions and noted of the two central protagonists: Greer Garson and Laurence Olovier, saying that their acting was stepped right out of the book.

1995: Pride and Prejudice

This is the BBC version which is an excellent film adaptation of the novel by Andrew Davies, starring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet and Colin Firth as Darcy (also known for his role in Bridget’s Jones Diary as Mark Darcy).

As a curiosity, Bridget Jones's Diary is a British romantic comedy film based on Helen Fielding's novel of the same name. She has stated in many interviews that her novel was based on both Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and its popular 1995 BBC adaptation. The decision to cast Colin Firth as Darcy was obviously based on the fact that he played the 'real' Mr. Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. This is not the film's only connection to that serial of six episodes; the screenplay was co-written by Andrew Davies, who had written the adaptation of Austen's novel for the BBC.

But focusing on the 1995 BBC mini-series, it is by no means an exact adaptation of the novel, although it incorporates new dialogues and different scenes, but without altering the final product but improving the final result. Anyways, the film should not be seen as a substitute for the reading novel.

      TRAILER

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If you are interested or you want to re-live the romance and drama of Andrew Davies' lavish adaptation, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, you can also find more information on the BBC official page http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/prideandprejudice/ this is the link.