Title: Pride and prejudice Author: Jane Austen

Name: Reymbaeva Aygul Date: 06/02/2023 Group:402

Plot elements

Title: Pride and prejudice Author: Jane Austen

Setting:

Pride and Prejudice is set in England at some point in the very late 1700s-early 1800s. The exact dates are unclear, but we know the action takes place some time during the Napoleonic Wars (1797-1815) because Austen references soldiers and regiments. Since the novel was written and revised between 1796 and 1813, we can assume Austen sets the novel at about the same time she was writing. The action moves between a few different locations in England, including Brighton, London, and the counties of Hertfordshire, Derbyshire, and Kent, but there is little detailed description of the geographic settings. For women like the Bennet sisters, opportunities to experience the world around them were relatively limited, and most of their lives were confined to the residences and private parties of a small circle of family and friends. In confining the action of her novels to these settings, Austen implies that intense psychological drama can still unfold even within a small and seemingly uneventful world.

Conflict:

Elizabeth Bennet
The protagonist, and the major conflict revolves around her struggle to find a compatible husband despite the obstacles presented by both social conventions and her own lack of self-awareness. She encounters a number of antagonists who create obstacles between her and a happy marriage.

Elizabeth Bennet

The novel’s protagonist. The second daughter of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth is the most intelligent and sensible of the five Bennet sisters.

Fitzwilliam Darcy

A wealthy gentleman, the master of Pemberley, and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though Darcy is intelligent and honest, his excess of pride causes him to look down on his social inferiors. Over the course of the novel, he tempers his class-consciousness and learns to admire and love Elizabeth for her strong character.

Jane Bennet

The eldest and most beautiful Bennet sister. Jane is more reserved and gentler than Elizabeth.

Charles Bingley

Darcy’s considerably wealthy best friend. Bingley’s purchase of Netherfield, an estate near the Bennets, serves as the impetus for the novel. He is a genial, well-intentioned gentleman, whose easygoing nature contrasts with Darcy’s initially discourteous demeanor.

Mr. Bennet

The patriarch of the Bennet family, a gentleman of modest income with five unmarried daughters. Mr. Bennet has a sarcastic, cynical sense of humor that he uses to purposefully irritate his wife. Though he loves his daughters (Elizabeth in particular), he often fails as a parent, preferring to withdraw from the never-ending marriage concerns of the women around him rather than offer help.

Mrs. Bennet

Mr. Bennet’s wife, a foolish, noisy woman whose only goal in life is to see her daughters married.

George Wickham

A handsome, fortune-hunting militia officer. Wickham’s good looks and charm attract Elizabeth initially, but Darcy’s revelation about Wickham’s disreputable past clues her in to his true nature and simultaneously draws her closer to Darcy.

Lydia Bennet

The youngest Bennet sister, she is gossipy, immature, and self-involved. Unlike Elizabeth, Lydia flings herself headlong into romance and ends up running off with Wickham.

Point of view:

First of all, Charlie is narrating this story through his progress reports, which basically amount to diary entries. Fair enough. But you might notice the point of view shifting after Charlie's surgery starts to take effect—we've got less misspelled words, for one: "That's why I got to do these progris progress reports," he writes as he puzzles through his newfound ability to write sophisticated stuff. We get to see Charlie correcting himself as his intelligence evolves. It's not even clear if the same Charlie is breaking things down for us, since he's got a whole new fancy vocabulary. There's no sudden transition, but check when he talks about a movie with Alice: "The parts have to be consistent and belong together. This kind of picture is a lie" (11.77). Color us surprised—Charlie couldn't form a complete sentence one progress report ago, and here he is discussing film theory. We get the sense that adult Charlie is always lurking somewhere around, trying to figure out the messed-up events that took place when he was a kid. Although it's not always possible to tell one Charlie from another, the general rule is that first-person indicates current Charlie, third-person is little-kid Charlie, and pre-surgery Charlie is in limbo-land.

Theme:

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a classic comedy of manners that satirizes 18th-century society and, particularly, the expectations placed on women of the era. The novel, which follows the romantic entanglements of the Bennet sisters, includes themes of love, class, and, as one might guess, pride and prejudice. These are all covered with Austen’s signature wit, including the literary device of free indirect discourse that permits a particular style of in-depth, sometimes satirical narration.

Love and Marriage

As one might expect from a romantic comedy, love (and marriage) is a central theme to Pride and Prejudice. In particular, the novel focuses on the different ways love may grow or disappear, and whether or not society has room for romantic love and marriage to go together. We see love at first sight (Jane and Bingley), love that grows (Elizabeth and Darcy), and infatuation that fades (Lydia and Wickham) or has faded (Mr. and Mrs. Bennet). Throughout the story, it becomes apparent that the novel is arguing that love based on genuine compatibility is the ideal. Marriages of convenience are presented in a negative light: Charlotte marries the obnoxious Mr. Collins out of economic pragmatism and admits as much, while Lady Catherine’s imperious attempts at forcing her nephew Darcy to marry her daughter to consolidate estates are presented as outdated, unfair, and, ultimately, an unsuccessful power grab.
Like several of Austen’s novels, Pride and Prejudice also cautions against infatuation with overly charming people. Wickham’s smooth manner easily charms Elizabeth, but he turns out to be deceitful and selfish and not a good romantic prospect for her. Real love is found in compatibility of character: Jane and Bingley are well-suited because of their absolute kindness, and Elizabeth and Darcy come to realize that both are strong-willed but kind and intelligent. Ultimately, the novel is a strong recommendation of love as a basis for marriage, something that was not always the case in its era.

The Cost of Pride

The title makes it pretty clear that pride is going to be an important theme, but the message is more nuanced than just the concept itself. Pride is presented as perfectly reasonable to some degree, but when it gets out of hand, it gets in the way of the characters’ happiness. Thus, the novel suggests that an excess of pride is costly.

Exposition:

Austen introduces an array of characters in her exposition, including Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters. The arrival of Mr. Bingley and his friend, the brooding Mr. Darcy, to the Bennets' hometown of Longbourn serves as the inciting incident. As a wealthy bachelor, Bingley causes excitement among the town's women. Darcy’s arrogance and aloofness inspire distaste in Elizabeth, and the two characters’ ingrained social prejudices inform the novel’s title and themes.

Rising action:

The rising action contains the quickening elements of the plot as the story gains momentum. Bingley develops a rapport with Elizabeth’s eldest sister, Jane, to the extent that a marriage proposal seems imminent. Instead, Bingley and Darcy abruptly return to London, thus complicating the expected sequence of events. Throughout this, Elizabeth has become enamored of Mr. Wickham, a dashing officer with a long-standing grudge against Darcy. Elizabeth's dislike of Darcy deepens over her suspicions that he conspired to ruin Bingley's relationship with Jane.

Climax:

A story’s climax is the seminal event that stands as the narrative’s greatest moment of tension and culmination of the developed plot. In “Pride and Prejudice,” the climax occurs during Elizabeth’s visit to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, who live near Darcy's aunt, Lady de Bourgh. When Darcy arrives to visit his aunt, he and Elizabeth are once again thrown into proximity. Mr. Darcy shocks Elizabeth, and provides the novel’s climactic moment, with an unexpected marriage proposal. The arrogant nature of the proposal causes Elizabeth to not only refuse but also lambast Darcy for his previous behavior.

Falling action:

A narrative’s falling action recounts the events that result from the climax, while the resolution solves the story’s conflicts and ties together thematic elements. Darcy writes Elizabeth a letter that clears up confusion around the relationship of Bingley and Jane and reveals Wickham as a scoundrel. Months later, a chance reunion between Elizabeth and Darcy is complicated by the elopement of the youngest Bennet sister with Wickham. Elizabeth learns that Darcy, at great expense, tracked the pair down and convinced them to marry. Mr. Bingley returns to Longbourn and, convinced of the veracity of Jane’s affection, proposes marriage. Darcy arrives and renews his proposal to Elizabeth, who enthusiastically accepts. The novel’s resolution comes from the principal characters’ renunciation of pride and prejudice and their attainment of happiness.