PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Laia Pi
Pride and Prejudice was written in 1813 by Jane Austen. She was born in 1775 at Steventon, Hampshire, in England. She died in 1817 at Winchester. In her books, she wrote about rich people, who had money and property. These people did not have to work and they met at balls and dances… And people travelled in carriages pulled by horses or walked, but women did not usually go out alone.
At that time, people were very polite and formal, they used Mr, Miss or Mrs. Normally, the eldest boy of the family usually got most of the money and property after his father’s death and the younger sons often went to the church or the army. Daughters stayed at home to learn to read and write, to draw, play music and sew. For a girl, it was important to marry a man who had money and property.
This book is about Bennet’s family. Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters (Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kittie and Mary) and they need to find a husband for each one. The eldest daughter is Jane and she is shy and sensible. Elizabeth is the second daughter and she is intelligent, sensible and lively. Lydia, the third, is lively, silly, noisy and cheerful. Kitty, the fourth, is sensible. And Mary, the youngest, is quiet and silly.
When a gentleman named Charles Bingley arrives at Netherfield Park, Mrs Bennet wants to marry Jane with him. Charles Bingley is sensible, good-humoured and lively and he arrives with a friend named Mr Darcy, who is polite, kind, good-natured and intelligent. A few days later, the Bennet’s assist to a ball. Mr Bingley spends almost all night with Jane, but Mr Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth.
Some weeks later, Jane’s makes friends with Mr Bingley and in a visit in Bingley’s mansion, Jane gets ill. Then Mr Darcy starts to fall in love with Elizabeth Bennet. When Jane gets better, she and Elizabeth return home and they meet with Mr Collins, a polite man. After his arrival, he makes a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth, but she refused. Later, Mr Darcy and the Bingley’s return to London and in winter, Jane visits London to see Mr Bingley again and Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas (a sensible and intelligent woman) get married.
One day, Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr Darcy makes a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth, but she refuses, but after he gives a letter to her. In the letter he says that he tries to distance Bingley from Jane, because he thinks that their romance was not serious. Also, he says that Wickham is a liar, dishonest and deceitful and Wickham wants the money from her sister Georgiana to take revenge on Darcy. This letter makes Elizabeth feel something for Darcy.
Elizabeth and the Gardiners travel to Pemberley. They are relatives of the Bennets and they are cheerful and intelligent. They visit Darcy’s estate when he is away. Suddenly, Darcy arrives and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister. But later, arrives a letter from Mr and Mrs Bennet telling to Elizabeth that Lydia has eloped with Wickham and she returns home. Mr Bennet and Mr Gardiner go out to find Lydia, but they don’t find her and immediately, a letter arrives from Mr Gardiner saying that Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia in exchange for annual incomes. Mr Bennet thinks that Mr Gardiner has paid Wickham.
When Lydia and Wickham get married, they return to Longbourn. Later, Bingley returns to Netherfield and he gets engaged with Jane. When they are celebrating, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, says to Elizabeth that she has heard that Darcy is planning to marry her. Catherine demands Elizabeth to refuse his proposal, but she refuses. The next morning, Elizabeth and Darcy go out for a walk and he proposes marriage and she accepts. Finally, Jane and Elizabeth marry.
I think that this book was very important to reflect some problems of the society, that are still happening nowadays, because especially at that time, society was very sexist and they considered men more important than women. In this story, she talks about it to reflect that problem. A very obvious example is that Mrs Bennet wants a husband for all her daughters.
In conclusion, I liked very much this story and I recommended for all the public, but especially for teenagers and for people who like romantic novels. It has been very interesting, enjoyable and I really like this style of novels. It has an easy vocabulary for me and I understood it very well only with the help of the glossary. I have learned how people lived at that time. My favorite character is Mr Darcy, because at the beginning he looked like a bad person, but at the end of the book, I realize that he is not like that.