Customer Reviews
Pride and Prejudice: An Insightful Romantic Comedy
Tristan Fry of Exodus Books, 10/17/2008
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."
This magnificent first line of Jane Austen’s nineteenth century novel of manners and morality, Pride and Prejudice, immediately sets the stage for one of Austen’s principle themes: courtship and marriage. There are at least four parallel courtships/marriages developed in its three hundred+ pages, but at the center of it all is Elizabeth and Jane Bennet, the eldest of five sisters. If courtship provides the wheels for Austen’s plot, her second theme is revealed by the title: the conflict between witty and clever Elizabeth Bennet (the heroine) who embodies prejudice and a propensity to make swift judgments, and the arrogant and aristocratic Mr. Darcy (the hero) who embodies the characteristic of pride. Taken together, these two elements make for a delightful romantic comedy. Austen’s vivid dialogue, deft characterization, and challenging vocabulary make Pride and Prejudice excellently suited for highschoolers seeking an enjoyable classic read.
First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice opens with the Bennet household of Longbourn in an uproar of excitement over the arrival in the neighborhood of a Mr. Bingley, who with "four or five thousand [pounds] a year" is certainly in possession of "a good fortune". He is taking up residence in nearby Netherfield Hall, and already Mrs. Bennet, ever the scheming mother whose business in life "was to get her daughters married", is already planning his role in one of her daughters’ future. "What a fine thing for our girls….it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them," she exclaims rapturously. Mrs. Bennet is delighted when Bingley is found to be an amiable, handsome young man who shows great attention to her eldest daughter, Jane. However, she is not as impressed with Bingley’s close friend, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, who accompanies him to Netherfield. From the first, Darcy’s cold dignity and uninviting manner repel the people of Meryton (a nearby country village). "Everybody is disgusted with his pride," Elizabeth remarks later in the novel. Darcy holds himself aloof from those he considers beneath him, and Elizabeth dislikes him from the first. Ironically, it is her pride that is injured when she overhears Darcy at a ball remarking to Mr. Bingley that,"[Elizabeth] is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me." Though Darcy begins to notice Elizabeth’s good qualities, her sparkling wit and "fine eyes", soon after this incident, Elizabeth does not revise her bad opinion of him for most of the novel. But has Elizabeth been blinded by her prejudice and misjudged Darcy’s character? The question then, for Austen, becomes whether Elizabeth and Darcy can overcome their mutual pride and prejudice to become man and wife.
Austen is renowned for her mastery of dialogue, and this contributes a great deal to our perception of her characters. One of my favorite dialogues occurs early in the book between Darcy and Elizabeth. Miss Bingley, the sister of Mr. Bingley, has just observed that Darcy’s calmness of temper and presence of mind does not allow them to find something in his character to laugh at:
"Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at!" cried Elizabeth. "That is an uncommon advantage, and uncommon I hope it will continue, for it would be a great loss to me to have much such acquaintance. I dearly love a laugh."
"Miss Bingley," said [Darcy] "has given me credit for more than can be. The wisest and best of men,--nay, the wisest and best of their actions,--may be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke."
"Certainly," replied Elizabeth, "there are such people, but I hope I am not one of them. I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. But these, I suppose, are precisely what you are without."
"Perhaps that is not possible for anyone. But it has been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule."
"Such as vanity and pride."
"Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride—where there is real superiority of mind—pride will always be under good regulation."
Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile.
The reader emerges from this dialogue understanding more about the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy than before. Elizabeth’s wit and playfulness is evident, though she says that she never ridicules what is wise and good, and the reasons for Darcy’s pride and cold dignity become more apparent. Austen’s amusing dialogue is one of the things that I enjoyed most about Pride and Prejudice.
Austen’s unique genius is evident not only in her plot and dialogue, but also in her skill in creating believable characters, often in only a number of pages or paragraphs. A prime example of this is her introduction of Mr. Collins, a clergyman and cousin of the Bennets who is to inherit Longbourn after the death of Mr. Bennet. Before he comes to visit at Longbourn, he writes a long letter to Mr. Bennet reflecting on his estrangement from their family:
"Dear Sir,
The disagreement subsisting between yourself and my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness; and, since I have had the misfortune to lose him, I have frequently wished to heal the breach: but, for some time, I was kept back by my own doubts, fearing lest it might seem disrespectful to his memory for me to be on good terms with anyone with whom it had always pleased him to be at variance…My mind, however, is now made up on the subject; for, having received ordination at Easter, I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, widow of Sir Lewis de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish, where it shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with grateful respect towards her Ladyship, and be ever ready to perform those rites and ceremonies which are instituted by the Church of England. As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds I flatter myself that my present overtures of good-will are highly commendable, and that the circumstance of my being next in the entail [the legal provision by which he is to inherit Longbourn] of Longbourn estate will be kindly overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive branch."
With a few deft strokes, Austen reveals Mr. Collins’ primary characteristics through his own words. "Can he be a sensible man?" asks Elizabeth, to which her father replies: "No, my dear; I think not. I have great hopes of finding him quite the reverse." Collins is, as Austen informs us "a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility," but the reader has already been given enough information to reach that conclusion because Collins’ pompous letter is an accurate revelation of his character. The reader is not surprised that when Collins does make his appearance, he is as self-important as his letter proved him to be.
To demonstrate how useful and challenging Austen’s vocabulary would be for many high school students, it is only necessary to quote a number of passages from the novel: "I have been so fortunate as to be distinguished by the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose bounty and beneficence has preferred me to the valuable rectory of this parish"… "A fortunate chance had recommended him [Mr. Collins] to Lady Catherine de Bourgh…and the respect which he felt for her high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, mingling with a very good opinion of himself…made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility." Austen’s prose is vivid, though not overly descriptive, and would serve well as a model for aspiring writers. In addition to this, looking up any unfamiliar words in Austen’s text would serve excellently as a vocabulary exercise for those intending to take the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) during their junior year of high school.
Though my assessment of Austen was mostly favorable, I have to mention a couple of drawbacks to Pride and Prejudice. One drawback is that Austen is so chary of physical description with her hero and heroine. We learn that Elizabeth has "fine eyes" and Darcy cuts "a fine figure", but that is about all of the physical description of her main characters that Austen provides. Guys, too, will find Pride and Prejudice a little short on derring-do, since there is little or no physical action or violence that occurs in it. I believe though, that Austen almost makes up for the lack of an element of physical peril (a lack strongly felt by many of her male readers,) by her inclusion of strong, principled male characters who would serve as excellent role models for any young man.
Despite these drawbacks, I would still maintain that anyone who enjoys romantic comedies of manners will find Austen (and Pride and Prejudice) a source of great pleasure. Her genius is profound and inimitable. After completing Pride and Prejudice, I was inspired to read the rest of Austen’s six completed novels.
Because of her advanced vocabulary, Pride and Prejudice is best suited to middle and upper high school students (who will also find her portrayal of how courtship ought and ought not to be conducted particularly instructive,) though persevering younger students could also find her work profitable. After all, as J.R.R. Tolkien, celebrated author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, wrote: "A good vocabulary is not acquired by reading books written according to some notion of the vocabulary of one’s age group. It comes by reading books above one."
Note: The illusrations by Hugh Thomson in this special edition of the book add a special texture and feeling to Austen's text. All in all, this is a book well worth having on your shelf.
Like what you read? More book reviews (along with some information for young writers,) are or will soon be available on my blog at:
www.youngchristianwritersclub.wordpress.com.