A Brief Introduction to Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
The Pride and Prejudice is a masterpiece written by the famous English writer, Jane Austen, who earns her own place as one of the most famous writers in English literature. The novel is so well organized that it appeals to a large pubic audience. Now let me introduce it to you.
Mrs. Bennet, who has five unmarried daughters, is always busying choosing the right person for her beloveds. And she thinks her daughters should marry with the wealthy or the one who with high rank. The story begins with Bingley's arrival. One day when Mrs. Bennet hears that Netherfield has been taken by a wealthy young man, she becomes so excited because she thinks he may come here with the aim of marrying one of her daughters. As we know, Charles Bingley is a gentle, sincere man, and the most important thing is he possesses a large fortune. So he immediately becomes an ideal prey of Mrs. Bennet. To Mrs. Bennet's great joy, Bingley meets her elder daughter Jane and falls in love with her at the first sight at a ball held some time after his coming. Among the people presenting at the party, there is a young man called Darcy. He has a handsome appearance and his income is even several times higher than that of Bingley. Many girls admire him with eyes glaring. How they wish they could just dance with such a perfect man, not to mention marrying with him. To their disappointment, he is so proud that he thinks they are not capable to be his partner, including Jane's sister Elizabeth. He says
her appearance is just tolerable. Elizabeth's self-respect is so great that she decides not to pay any attention to this arrogant fellow. At another ball, he invites Elizabeth to dance with him, and she agrees. And soon, Darcy gradually fixes his affection on her because of her lively manner. Although Darcy loves Elizabeth, but he can't put up with the vulgar and rude behaviors of her mother and sisters' and worries about that Jane may love Bentley just owing to his income and family. After his sister and Darcy's persuasion, Bentley leaves for London without saying goodbye.
Having no son, what Mr. Bennett possesses must be passed down to one of his distant relative called Collins according to the law, while Bennet's daughters only get 5000 pounds as a dowry. Collins is actually a mean but flatter man. So finally he manages to become a pastor. After Elizabeth refuses his request of marring with him, he quickly turns to her close friend Charlotte. There are some militia groups near the small town. And a handsome young officer called Wickham services in the army. Everyone speaks highly of him and later does Elizabeth. One day, he tells Elizabeth that his father used to be a housekeeper of Darcy's. Darcy's father treats him as his own son. But Darcy swallows up all belongs to him out of his envy. On hearing these words, Elizabeth grows more offensive toward Darcy.
Later on, Collins and his wife invite Elizabeth to visit their house. There Elizabeth encounters Darcy's aunt Catherine Lady. And Darcy
happens to pay a visit to his aunt. So the two meet again. Darcy can not restrain himself from tracing Elizabeth's affection, so he asks her to marry him. But what he receives is her rejection. One reason for this is his arrogant attitude, and the other is Elizabeth's prejudice to him. This makes Darcy comes to realize what the pride has brought to him. Before his leaving, he sends a long letter for some explanation. He admits that it is he who persuades Bentley to leave because he doesn't think Jane love Bentley, she and her mother may be keen on the estate of Bentley. But what Wickham says are all lies, the fact is that he squanders away the legacy; what's more, he even attempts to seduce Darcy's sister into eloping with him just for what she owns. After reading this letter, Elizabeth feels ashamed of her misunderstanding about Darcy and the series of inappropriate manner of her mother and sister.
The next summer, Elizabeth goes to the Burleigh Manor with the brother of her mother's. Judging from what the housekeeper has said, Darcy not only takes good care with his sister but enjoys a good fame at the local. In the Woods, Elizabeth meets Darcy by coincidence. Her bias on him has gone when she sees Darcy behaves politely to her relatives. Soon Elizabeth receives a letter informing her that her little sister Lydia has eloped with Wickham who is in numerous gambling debts. This message makes Elizabeth very awkward, she thinks she wound be more looked down upon by Darcy. But what Darcy does actually surprises her
a lot. On hearing the news, he tries to solve the problem for her — not only helps Wickham pay off all the gambling debt but also gives him a large sum of money to marry with Lydia. Since then, Elizabeth's old prejudice against Darcy has become sincere love. Bentley and Jane after some trouble make up a pair and lead a happy life. It is quite out of our expectation that Catherine should rush to Elizabeth's "ugly" house just to make her promise not to get married with Darcy. Elizabeth rejects the unreasonable demands categorically. When Darcy hears the words of Elizabeth, he knows that she has changed her views toward him. So he sincerely asks her to marry again. This time, Jack has his Jill.
In this novel, the different views on marriages of the five daughters represent the different attitudes of the middle class. And it reflects the author's own perspective on marriage. She thinks it is definitely wrong to marry for property, money, or the status. It is also silly, however, not to take the factors above into consideration. Therefore, she is opposed to marrying for money or treating the marriage as a trifling matter. She stresses the importance of an ideal marriage and comes to the conclusion that the feelings of both side is a cornerstone of the ideal marriage.
The heroine Elizabeth, born in a small landowner family, is run after by a wealthy man Darcy who ignores the gap of wealth and class. When he asks her to marry him the first time, Elizabeth turns down his offer due to her prejudice to him as well as his pride. Because this pride is actually
a reflection of their different status. As long as there is such a pride, he and Elizabeth will have no much common feelings and it is impossible to have the ideal marriage. After Elizabeth witnesses the great change of Darcy's social skills and series of actions, in particular the disappearing of his pride manner, she eliminates all the misunderstanding and prejudice. So finally ends happily..
The two different attitudes to which Elizabeth responses marrying Darcy represent women's eager for independent personality and equal rights. Elizabeth is good at thinking and has not doubt with what she wants. Her independent mind contributes to the perfect ending with Darcy. In the Pride and Prejudice, Austin also creates several marriages of Elizabeth's sisters and her close friend, which are used to make the heroine's ideal marriage more distinguished. Although Charlotte and Collins marry and live a comfortable material life, but there is no love between them. Such a marriage is actually a kind of social tragedy.
In my view, the marriage bases on social position and money can’t bring happiness in life. Aimless marriage and love are unpractical. Happiness needs to be managed by ourselves. No matter which person you choose out of whatever reasons, you should be keen to him/her and make life more colorful. Believe it or not, it's not use to crying for the spilt milk, so you should take responsibility of your own choice.