Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen was born in 1775 in the village of Steventon, England, the seventh child and second daughter in a family of eight. Her father, Reverend George Austen was the rector of the village parish; her mother, Cassandra was very witty and the whole family was keen on acting. Jane evolved in an affectionate family circle and was educated at home like her elder sister. Though the family were not rich the children were well-educated thanks to their readings and had a large network of relationships.

Jane’s sister, named Cassandra like her mother, was Jane’s best friend and confident ; both of them remained single, as it was rather common at the time, and lived together with their mother after their father’s death in early 1805. Jane Austen lived in a stable and lively environment which provided her with the settings of her novels.

She wrote six novels : « Sense and sensibility » (1811), « Pride and Prejudice » (1813), « Mansfield Park » (1814), « Emma » (1815) which were published anonymously, whereas « Northanger Abbey » (1818) and « Persuasion » (1818) were published after her early death at the age of 41. Her younger brother Henry acted as a go-between with her publishers.  In the 19th century publishing was one of the few ways a woman could earn money, although anonymously, to ensure her work sold and avoid gender discrimination.

Austen’s novels are deeply concerned with love and marriage but tainted with irony and satire in their depiction of character and society. An acute observer, she  wrote realist novels that ridiculed romance and sentimentality. She excelled at describing diverting characters which account partly for the success of her novels.

Austen’s father retired in 1801 and then the family moved to Bath but it was a period of financial instability for Jane. Only in 1809 did her brother Edward provided her and her mother and sister with a cottage in the village of Chawton giving Jane a new goal which was to have her two novels published : « Sense and Sensibility » and then « Pride and Prejudice ». She then became an established author even though she used a pseudonym.

In 1817 her health suddenly declined, she was suffering from Addison disease. She died in July 1817 in Hampshire and she was buried in Winchester Cathedral with no recognition of her work. Today Jane Austen is a best-selling classic author ; her characters are ordinary people from the English middle-class society during the early 19th century. « Pride and Prejudice » inspired an American film as soon as 1940 starring  Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, and more recently the 2005 film directed by Joe Wright starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in a romantic comedy.

« Pride and Prejudice » is recognized as a novel of manners since it conveys a detailed observation of a stratified society and its behavioural conventions thanks to Austen’s knowledge of the etiquette. Her narrative is a satire of the societal norms embedded in a specific historical context, and satire underlines the comic depiction of ordinary characters like M. Collins and society in general.

Jane Austen’s second novel was first published anonymously in 1813, though the first version had been written in the end of 1790’s under the title « First impressions » . Her father offered it for publication in 1797 yet it was declined. The author depicted the social hierarchy of the Regency era as well as marriage expectations and gender roles of the time.

The scene takes place in the early 19th century, in rural England and in the drawing rooms of the landed gentry. The story revolves around two main protagonists : Elizabeth Bennet, a spirited young woman from a middle-class family, and Darcy, a proud and wealthy but reticent aristocrat. They will both explore the complexities of love, class and social expectations. 

Whereas Elizabeth Bennet appears proud of herself and mocks Darcy’s snobbery, Darcy, the rich landowner, is proud of his rank and fortune and he views the Bennet family as inferior and beneath his marriage expectations. Jane Austen decides to have them fall in love so that they will grow in wisdom allowing them to understand each other eventually. Elizabeth is an intelligent and high-spirited character and the author’s favourite among all her heroines. Her experience and story represents a voyage to self-discovery on the passage through love to marriage ; the modernity and realism of the narrative together with Austen’s wit helps us understand the enduring popularity and triumph of the well-constructed novel over time.

The very first sentence of the novel, that is the incipit, is one of the most well-known in English literature, I quote : « It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife ». It offers the main idea of the plot yet it must be noticed that the reverse of this sentence is true as well : a woman with limited social expectations, like the Bennets’ daughters, must be in want of a wealthy husband.