Pride and Prejudice

By Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

"I have been interacting with Pride and Prejudice in one form or another since I was 15. To explore my extensive experience with Pride and Prejudice adaptations is a topic for another post (coming soon!). For now, I’ll focus on the novel itself."

For the uninitiated, Pride and Prejudice follows Elizabeth Bennet, the second oldest of the five Bennet sisters, as she navigates the rules of early 19th century courtship. It kicks off with the arrival of Mr. Bingley, a rich single man (who must be in want of a wife), to their quiet neighborhood in Hertfordshire. This love story focuses on Lizzie and (the swoon-worthy) Mr. Darcy. Her mother, Mrs. Bennet desperately wants her daughters to marry well, as their family estate will be entailed away from them upon Mr. Bennet’s death, leaving her and her daughters in poverty. This possible future is ever fully explained, but the fear of it permeates the book. This is one of Austen’s strengths, as she lives in the society about which she writes, she doesn't feel the need to expound on every detail, instead, the emotional aspects of their circumstances are given time to develop.

This endears the character to the reader (me), particularly Lizzie. She’s intelligent and funny, both aware of the rules of courtship and willing to break them. She wants to marry a man she loves, but not live in squalor if she does. Reading the novel, I like her, and I want that for her as well. Similarly, I like most of the sisters, and Elizabeth’s best friend, Charlotte Lucas, so I want to see them happy as well.

The trials of Lizzie, her sisters, and her friends as they enter into the game of finding husbands may appear to be trivial, or an insultingly cliché depiction of womanhood. But to these women, marriage is their only acceptable goal in life; their home life will be the center of their focus once they are married. The right husband determines their happiness or misery for the rest of their lives. Their concern is a concern for their future, and Austen excels at making me sympathetic to their goals.

Mr. Collins Embarrassing Himself in Public

As the book continues, Austen depicts less-than ideal marriage lives in the Bennets and the Collins. The Bennets, Elizabeth’s parents, do not get along. Mrs. Bennet spends all her time worrying about her daughters. Mr. Bennet avoids the family as much as he can and laughs at anything ridiculous- including his wife. The Collins’ marriage is particularly depressing, as the the regard given to Charlotte recommends her to me and any other reader. Mr. Collins, the cousin who will inherit the estate, is insufferable, but Charlotte knows that even before they are married. When they are married, Charlotte manipulates her husband to avoid him as much as possible. From these two examples, I get a close look at dysfunctional marriages, brought about because the two people involved do not actually like each other. This is what is at stake for Lizzie. If she and her sisters remain unmarried, they will fall into poverty, but marry the wrong man, one she doesn’t love or respect, and this will be her life.

As I mentioned, since single women’s lives revolve around marriage, and marriage will also define them when married, Lizzie’s choices involve the trajectory of her life. I’m stressing this point because the focus of Austen’s books, on women and their romantic entanglements, is a common point of critique. It is easy to say that her stories aren’t “important” or that they’re regressive because the women’s ambitions mainly involve becoming a wife. And to that I say: How do you decide what’s important? How do you decide who is worth writing about? Yes, these women’s lives revolve around domesticity and marriage, but that’s because they live in a society that denies them any other ambitions (at least, in the social class Austen writes about). But the patriarchal forces that limit their lives do not necessarily lessen these women. They are still complex people, and their stories are still worth telling. Their lives are interesting because the women who lead them are worthy objects of interest.

I recommend this book to people with a genuine interest in women’s lives and emotions and who are looking for a dopamine rush of a happy ending.

---

Image: "Mr. Collins Prefaced His Speech with a Solemn Bow" by C.E. Brock, 1895. From the Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice (Chapter 18).