Pride and Prejudice was written by the first major woman novelist, Jane Austen, and published in 1813. Yet its first title was First Impressions. It is considered a novel of manners: the author is a satirist who is interested in manners as they reflect morals, she creates a complex social society thanks to detailed descriptions. The novel is set in rural England in the early 19th century.
She depicts her characters with realism and her dialogues are often marked with humour; along the novel we follow the life of the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet who has four sisters. Most of the events and other characters are seen through her point of view. She is a strong-willed young woman who makes hasty judgements and comes to regret them eventually, just like Darcy she displays pride and prejudice but hopefully for the reader they will become a couple in the end.
The story focuses on the Bennet family in their quest for husbands for their five unmarried daughters. Mr Bennet’s property is entailed and can only be passed to a male heir: that is why Mrs Bennet is desperate to marry her daughters to a wealthy neighbour recently settled nearby, in the name of Mr Bingley. Jane Austen shows us that wealth and social standing are not always seen as advantages but morality prevails in her work.
Jane Austen’s novel features in the top list of the most loved novels in English literature. Her novel is entertaining, its characters are delightful and the dialogues are witty. It encountered immediate success as a “fashionable novel”. It contained all the ingredients to arouse people’s attention. No wonder it inspired the cinema industry as soon as 1940 and thereafter many films and TV versions were released. It was also a source of inspiration for contemporary authors in the form of novels, films, plays or comics.
To depict : dépeindre
Strong-willed : de caractère
Hasty : hâtif
Pride : la fierté
Heir : héritier
To prevail : prendre le dessus
To feature : figurer
Witty : plein d’esprit
To arouse : susciter
To be released : être sorti
