PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: A Summary Guide

 

Introduction:  

Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's most popular romantic novel. It was published in 1813, but it doesn't display typical romantic characteristics. Rather it follows the style and characteristics of the upcoming Victorian era. It portrays and comments on the social convention of the period. Austen as a novelist is familiar with the title of this novel also. It has a very interesting plot, and the portrayal of characters in it is, on the whole, very realistic and convincing. The novel has a compact structure which shows a high degree of craftsmanship. There are several passages of psychological analysis in the novel to lend depth to it, the novel is rich in comedy with irony as a most striking ingredient of it.   Austen began the book, originally titled the “First impression”, in 1796. Subsequently, the novel was revised and renamed. The theme of pride and Prejudice is very much the same as that of her other novels. The theme here also is love and marriage. A classic of English literature, written with an incisive wit and superb characters delineation it centers on the burgeoning relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner, upon publication, Pride and Prejudice were well received by critics and readers. The first edition sold out within the first year, and it never went out of print.

Summary:

The novel opens with one of the most famous lines in English literature: " It is a single truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife “, this statement is what Mrs. Bennet thinks as she wishes to marry one of her five daughters (Jane, Elizabeth, Marry, Kitty, and Lydia) to the wealthy Mr. Bingley who arrives to the Netherfield estate. At a Ball court, when Bingley meets Jane, he seems smitten with her. Yet his friend Darcy is rude to Elizabeth. Through the next few social gatherings, Jane and Bingley grow closer, however, Darcy finds himself becoming attracted to Elizabeth s beauty and intelligence.                    

Jane falls ill on her journey to visit Bingley when she is caught in the rain and must stay at Netherfield. To take care of Jane Elizabeth comes to Netherfield and Bingley's sisters are rude and condescending to her. After Elizabeth and Jane returned home, Mr. Collins proposes to marry Elizabeth but she rejects him. Collins then proposes to Elizabeth's friend Charlotte Lucas who accepts his proposal.  Bingley suddenly departs for London Caroline informs Jane that her brother, Bingley is planning to marry Georgina, Darcy's sister. Jane's aunt and uncle invite her to London hoping that she will get over her disappointment. Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr. Collins where she encounters Darcy's relative Lady Catherine and she learns that Darcy advised Bingley against marrying Jane. Darcy arrives and proposes to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth refuses his proposal, accusing him of ruining Jane’s marriage and mistreating Wickham. In a letter, Darcy explains that he intervened because he felt Jane did not truly love Bingley and Wickham as a Lier and scoundrel. The letter causes Elizabeth to re-evaluate her feeling for Darcy. Shortly, thereafter Elizabeth is informed that Lydia has eloped with Wickham. The news alarms Bennet and the search for Lydia begins in London when they are found, Wickham demands his debts be paid off in return for marrying Lydia. Soon, Wickham and Lydia return, behaving like newlyweds. Elizabeth learns that Darcy had paid off Whickham debts out of their love for Elizabeth. Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield and Bingley proposes to marry Jane. While Darcy goes to London on business Lady Catherine visits Elizabeth warning her not to marry Darcy which Elizabeth refuses. After that Darcy returns, and he again proposes to Elizabeth to marry him. This time she accepts telling him that her blind. Both Jane and Elizabeth are married and the Bennet family rejoices in their daughters' happiness.

Themes:

PRIDE:  Pride is a contrasting presence in the characters' attitudes and treatment of each other, coloring their judgments and leading them to make rash mistakes. Pride blinds Elizabeth and Darcy to their true feelings about each other, Darcy's pride about his social rank makes him look down on anyone, not in his immediate circle. Elizabeth, on the other hand, takes so much pride in her ability to judge others that she refuses to revise her opinion even in the face of clearly contradictory evidence. This is why she despises the good_ hearted Darcy for so long but, initially admires the lying Wickham. Pride and Prejudice imply that no one is ever completely free of pride, it makes it clear that with the proper moral upbringing, one may overcome to lead a life of decency and kindness. In the end, the two lovers are able to overcome their pride by helping each other see their respective blind spots. Darcy sheds his snobbery, while Elizabeth learns not to place too much weight on her own judgments.

PREJUDICE:   Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice refers to the tendency of the characters to judge one another based on preconceptions, rather than on who they really are and what they actually do. As the book's title implies, prejudice goes hand in hand with pride, often leading its heroine and hero into making wrong assumptions about motives and behavior. Austen's gentle way of mocking Elizabeth's and Darcy's biases gives the impression that such mistakes could, and indeed do, happen to anyone; that faulting someone else for prejudice is easy while recognizing it in yourself is hard. Prejudice in the novel is presented as a stage in a person's moral development, something that can be overcome through reason and compassion. Austen only condemns those people who refuse to set aside their prejudice, like the class-obsessed Lady Catherine and the scheming social climber Caroline. Though Pride and Prejudice is a social comedy, it offers a powerful illustration of the damaging effects on people and society that prejudice can inflict.

REPUTATION:  Pride and Prejudice depicts a society in which a woman's reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism. This theme appears in the novel, when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield and arrives with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation conscious Miss Bingley and her friends. At other points, the ill-mannered, ridiculous behavior of Mrs. Bennet gives her a bad reputation with the more refined (and snobbish) Darcy and Bingley.

INTEGRITY: Elizabeth Bennet considers herself to have very high standards of integrity, and she is often frustrated and disappointed by the way she sees others behaving. She complains bitterly to her sister. The more I see the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it, and every day confirms my belief in the inconsistency of all human characters, She behaves in ways she considers consistent with her definition of integrity by refusing to marry both Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy (when he proposes the first time): Elizabeth thinks it is very important to only marry a man she loves and respect, despite the pressure to achieve economic security.

By the end of the novel, Lizzy's commitment to integrity has been rewarded because she marries a partner who will truly make her happy. She has also come to see that she can sometimes be too rigid and judge too quickly. Since she was initially mistaken about the nature and ethics of Wickham and Darcy. The novel endorses the importance of integrity, but it also reminds readers not to be too quick to pass judgment on who has it and who doesn't.

GENDER: Gender is a key theme in pride and prejudice. The story takes place at a time when gender roles were quite rigid, and men and women had very different sets of options and influences. Marriage is a pressing question for female characters like Charlotte Lucas and the Bennet sisters because marriage is the only way a woman can achieve economic stability and autonomy. As upper-class women, they would not have been able to work to earn a leaving or leave independently. Marriage offered one of the only ways to move beyond their birth families. However, a women's Marriageability relied on an impeccable reputation for chastity, and for women like Georgiana Darcy or Lydia Bennet, a reckless decision to trust the wrong man could permanently ruin their future prospects. Lydia's elopement causes Lizzy to exclaim with horror that "she is lost forever". If Lydia is living with Wickham without being married to him, her reputation will be destroyed.

 CLASS: Class is the target of much of the novel's criticism of society in general. Austen makes it clear that people like Lady Catherine, who are overly invested in their social position, are guilty of mistreating other people. Other characters, like Mr. Collins and the scheming Caroline, are depicted as thoroughly empty, their opinions and motivations completely defined by the dictates of the class system. To contact them, Austen offers more positive examples in Bingley and the Gardiners. Bingley is someone from the upper class who wears his position lightly and gallantly. The Gardiners represent the honest, generous, and industrious middle class and are examples of how to be wealthy without being pretentious.

FAMILY:   The family is the predominant unit of social life in pride and prejudice and forms the emotional center of the novel. Not only does it provide the Bennet daughters with their education and manners, but the social ranking of the family determines how successful they may reasonably expect to be in later life. Austen skillfully reveals how individual character is molded within the family by presenting Jane and Elizabeth as mature, intelligent adults and Lydia as a hapless fool. The friction between Elizabeth and her mother on the one hand and the sympathy she shares with Mr. Bennet on the other illustrate the emotional spectrum that colors the family's overall character. The influence of Elizabeth's aunt and uncle shows how the family works in an extended sense, with the Gardiners acting as substitute senses, providing much-needed emotional support at key moments of stress.

LOVE & MARRIAGE:   Jane Austen is famous for talking about love relationships. Her novels start with love and end with a marriage. She gives every novel a happy ending. “Love and Marriage “is a common theme in her novels including family life and class besides other themes of Pride and Prejudice. She depicts a good and bad marriage in this novel. In fact, each type of marriage has been presented by her. Ironically, she sheds light on the pros and cons of all types of marriage as she uses irony in pride and prejudice. The novel is about a society in which women are dependent on men. They are bound to household activities. Every girl of her era including Jane Austen spent her life serving her family. Pride and Prejudice is a clear representation of her own society with an additional theme of "love and marriage". Every love relationship and marriage depicted in Pride and Prejudice is distinct. First marriage is old , second is based on compulsion, third is based on a disrespectful love affair, fourth is settled and fifth is based on pure love. Let's discuss them in detail to know more about the primary theme of "love and marriage" in Pride and Prejudice.

Characters :

Elizabeth Bennet

Bennet is second among the five daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. She is the heroine of the novel. Her character in the novel is not simple in the sense that different people have a different opinions about her character and personality. Her character is so complex that even her parents do not have a unanimous opinion about her. Mr. Bennet holds a very high opinion of her. She is his most favorite daughter. When she is away at Hansford Parsonage and on tour with the Gardiners, Mr. Bennet feels her absence very much. Mrs. Bennet does not like her because she is not like her. She finds her most unmanageable because she does not try to understand her own daughter. Elizabeth’s character has been called complex because she cannot be comprehended easily.

·    Physical Personality: When we talk of Elizabeth’s physical, personality, we immediately remember Mrs. Bennet and Darcy who have an identical view about her physical charms. Mrs. Bennet says about her “Lizzy is not a bit better than others; and I am sure that she is not half so handsome as Jane “. Similarly, Darcy remarks about her that “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me” Whereas, we can’t disbelieve the evidence of the above two statements, It is almost established that Elizabeth is not a beauty in the romantic or the accepted sense of the term, in the sense, Jane is beautiful. Still, we have the evidence of the entire novel to the contrary. We find that in any company Elizabeth becomes conspicuous. So, there is some magnetism, something evasive, indefinable, and yet effective and comprehensible at least to one person who could give expression to it.

·     Lively, Witty, and Intelligent: Elizabeth is a girl of great spirits, wit, and intelligence. These qualities give her rare vivacity and render her face uncommonly intelligent and charming The humiliation which she suffers at the hands of Darcy rouses her own ‘pride’ and engenders in her such a deep-rooted ‘prejudice’ against Darcy that she retaliates, time and again, against Darcy whenever an opportunity presents itself. But even this humiliation does not dampen the liveliness and spirit of irrespective Elizabeth and she told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition that delighted in anything ridiculous. Walking three miles through dirt, ditches, and puddles, after heavy rains, to Netherfield Park to visit her ailing elder sister is evidence of the same liveliness of spirits that she is witty, wise, and intelligent.

·       Confidence and Self-Respect: Elizabeth is different from others. She is wise, witty, and intelligent and she knows it. This knowledge has given her confidence which enables her to hold her own against anyone. It is this virtue which impresses Darcy and rattles and exasperates Lady Catherine. She does not easily forget when anybody tries to treat her lightly. Darcy may be rich but he has no right to humiliate anybody who is less rich or poor and certainly not Elizabeth, of all persons when Darcy contemptuously turns down Bingley’s suggestion of a dance with Elizabeth with an unbecoming remark out of pride and in Elizabeth’s hearing, she takes a mental note and does not feel easy unless she has turned down his offer of a dance with her.

·     Perceptive: Elizabeth is a talented lady. She does not make mistakes about Collins, Charles Bingley, Caroline Bingley, Mrs. Hurst and about Lady Catherine. She has equally correctly perceived her parents and the malady that plagues their relationship and the consequences of such a relationship on the children. Her assessment of Jane and her other three sisters is also correct. Different from her mother and sisters: Elizabeth is in a class by herself. She is different from her mother and sisters, who are immature, tactless, vain, and foolish. She is different from Jane, who is so sweet, simple, and trust. She is different from Marry who is silly and pedantic and also different from Kitty and Lydia, who are frivolous, flirtatious, and foolish.

·       Understanding: Elizabeth is neither romantic nor emotional. When she is happy, she does not feel it but she knows it. Her love is on the intellectual plane. She discusses, analyses, and realizes and not feels. Through reason and logic, encounters and discussions, she comes closer to Darcy. Whenever they are alone, they do not talk of love. They try to know more and more about each other. This brings them so close that they decide to accept each other.

·     In view of the above characteristics, it is rightly remarked: “Elizabeth is the wittiest and the most brilliant of all Jane Austen’s heroines.” The close contact between Elizabeth and Darcy is the contact of minds. Elizabeth is given consciousness and an awareness of herself as a rational experiencing mind. She may be, like Jane Austen herself, called a satirist, a study of character. She tells Darcy, there is no disadvantage in being stuck in a country neighborhood since people themselves alter so much that something new to be observed in them forever.”

§       Fitzwilliam Darcy: 

       Darcy, the proprietor of the Pemberley estate, strikes most of the other charge as proud and conceited. But from the middle of the novel he changes and wins over not only Elizabeth but the readers of the novel also.

Mr. Darcy (Fitzwilliam Darcy) is one of English fiction’s top romantic heroes.  Jane Austen’s best realized male character displays all the worst, and the best, qualities of gentlemen at the upper end of the landed gentry class. Being a gentleman at the time   Pride and Prejudice are set – the last decade of the 18th century – has a specific meaning. Darcy is, of course, of the gentleman class, but when the community of main females first meet him, they do not rate him highly as a gentleman, in spite of his ten thousand pounds a year and the rapidly circulating reports of his magnificent stately mansion, Pemberton: he does not behave in the way they expect a gentleman to behave. Manners are so important that they seem almost more important than the wealth of this single young man.

At the beginning of the novel Darcy arrives in Meryton with Bingley, who has rented Netherfield, and they both attend a local public ball. The communal opinion of Mr Bingley is highly favourable, whereas Mr. Darcy gets the thumbs down. The ladies of Meryton have expectations of how a gentleman should behave and if he lives up to them, he is approved. Bingley is polite, effusive, conversational, and attentive. There is a smile on his face throughout. He is consequently adored by the ladies of Meryton. In contrast, it doesn’t take long for Darcy to be condemned as ungentlemanly, and in the following days, their conversation is as much about his sullenness, haughty reserve, and downright rudeness as is their raving about Bingley. Certainly, Darcy is proud and reserved and during the course of the novel, that aspect of his personality becomes unravelled. Jane Austen focuses on females in her novels and there is a heroine in each one who commands the point of view. As the female perspective is explored the male characters tend to be less developed. However, Mr. Darcy is the exception. In this case, while still focusing on the heroine’s progress, Jane Austen engages in a parallel process. The novel explores Darcy’s developing yet conflicted feelings about Elizabeth as he struggles with his attempts to either forget her or secure her affection. His haughty, arrogant manner, instilled in him through his upbringing by aristocratic parents, misses the expected gentlemanly mark. It struggles against his deeper and truer decency and obscures his generosity and nobleness of character. In the world of Jane Austen’s novels – that is the English landed gentry at the beginning of the 19th Century – a man’s masculinity is a matter of the judgment of the ladies in any community. In that sense, masculinity is tied up with gentlemanliness, regardless of any unexplored, deeper good qualities that there may be. Most important, though, is a man’s ability to attract a woman into marriage. Darcy can do that, of course, because of his wealth and social position, but he is judged less of a man than Mr. Bingley because he tends to repel women with his ungentlemanly behavior, whereas Bingley has everything – wealth, social position, and a high degree of the ability to attract women into marriage with his good manners. He is therefore the more attractive, and so more masculine. Darcy’s masculinity is in question because even though he is handsome and rich, he is less attractive to single young women because he doesn’t have the manners expected of a gentleman. To say, within the hearing of a young woman at a ball, that she is not attractive enough to tempt him to dance with her, is definitely the opposite of gentlemanly. The word soon gets around that he is to be avoided. And from their first appearance in the community “Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared; Darcy was continually giving offense.” The first impression of Darcy, with everyone wondering who he is, whispering about his great fortune, and declaring him handsome, evaporates and by the end of the evening of the ball “his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased”

Even Mr. Collins is more masculine than Darcy because he makes up his mind to go on a short visit and return to his home with a bride. He applies himself aggressively to that task and succeeds. It doesn’t matter how repulsive and ridiculous he is, he has proved his masculinity by showing his ability to secure a wife.

The man judged to be the most masculine is George Wickham – fortune-hunter, sex predator, liar, and con man. Women love him for his charm and good manners and he proves his ability to attract the commitment of women by getting young women to agree to elope with him. He would have no difficulty securing a wife, should he so desire.

When we first meet Darcy, as we go through Elizabeth’s eyes, he is a snob. However, he is ripe for that to be modified by the right woman. He is arrogant, again, ready to temper that through love. His ability to change is because of his greatest qualities – his honesty and his willingness to think independently in spite of all the pressures to make him think in terms only of class and money. He is one of Jane Austen’s best male characters because we see his mind develop from the blinkered thinking of his upbringing to the softening of that as he encounters love for the first time. We are used to seeing Jane Austen’s heroines change as their experience broadens but the men are usually static. Darcy is refreshingly different.

Even his worst enemy, Mr. Wickham, who has known him from childhood, owns, “His pride never deserts him; but with the rich, he is liberal-minded, just, sincere, rational, honorable, and perhaps agreeable  allowing for fortune and figure.” When we first meet Darcy though, that applies only to the very narrow social band of the richest gentry – basically his family and their connections. It is only later in the novel that he begins to exhibit those positive qualities in a more general way. It is when Elizabeth turns down his marriage proposal and tells him that it is offensive, that Darcy is shocked into realizing just how arrogant and entitled he has been. He admits to himself that it was his parents who taught him to be arrogant and snobbish and that he didn’t have to be those things. Elizabeth’s response to his behavior makes him sensitive to other people’s feelings for the first time. By the end of the novel, he is so transformed that he is willing to marry into a family that is on the bottom rung of the gentry ladder, with their three silly daughters, a vulgar, embarrassing mother, and Wickham as his brother-in-law. Being aware of his own shortcomings he is finally prepared to accept the faults of other's.

Jane Bennet

Jane is the oldest daughter in the family and the most beautiful. The best friend of Elizabeth and a favourite of Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Bingley was in love with her and adored her appearance. She is an embodiment of tenderness and effeminacy. Her perfect blond hair and slim bode attract the men’s attention. She is too kind, and people make use of it. She sees only the best in people. Compared to the complex personality of Elizabeth Bennet, Jane is a weaker woman that is not able to defend her point of view. Her emotional personality adds a special colouring to the novel.

 Jane Bennet is so beautiful, physically and by nature, that she is beyond the criticism of even Darcy and Caroline Bingley. Her ‘sweetness and disinterestedness’ may be ‘really angelic,’ but this often makes her naïve in her judgments. She is too good-natured in herself to discover harm or bad nature in others. She has genuine modesty and humility and this prevents her from giving enough positive encouragement to Bingley, as the shrewd Charlotte Lucas is quick to see; indeed, her character lacks forcefulness of any kind, and her sufferings and delights are passive, never the result of any action on her part. In sharp contrast with Elizabeth, Jane has the simplest of natures. She is far less conscious of the vulgarity and shortcomings of her family than Elizabeth, who agonizes over them, and she is painfully slow in forcing to recognize what Elizabeth sees at a glance: that Caroline Bingley is two-faced and no real friend. Her courtship and marriage belonged to the tradition of the sentimental novel. Hers is love at first sight, as is Bingley’s. External difficulties prevent it from running its smooth course, but in itself, it is an unclouded romantic love. It has something childlike about it, but Jane herself is in many ways childlike.

 Mrs. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet is a miraculously tiresome character. Noisy and foolish, she is a woman consumed by the desire to see her daughters married and seems to care for nothing else in the world. Ironically, her single-minded pursuit of this goal tends to backfire, as her lack of social graces alienates the very people (Darcy and Bingley) whom she tries desperately to attract. Austen uses her continually to highlight the necessity of marriage for young women. Mrs. Bennet also serves as a middle-class counterpoint to such upper-class snobs as Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley, demonstrating that foolishness can be found at every level of society. In the end, however, Mrs. Bennet proves such an unattractive figure, lacking redeeming characteristics of any kind, that some readers have accused Austen of unfairness in portraying her—as if Austen, like Mr. Bennet, took perverse pleasure in poking fun at a woman already scorned as a result of her ill-breeding.

Mr. Bennet

Mr. Bennet is the patriarch of the Bennet household—the husband of Mrs. Bennet and the father of Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kitty, and Mary. He is a man driven to exasperation by his ridiculous wife and difficult daughters. He reacts by withdrawing from his family and assuming a detached attitude punctuated by bursts of sarcastic humor. He is closest to Elizabeth because they are the two most intelligent Bennets.

Initially, his dry wit and self-possession in the face of his wife’s hysteria make Mr. Bennet a sympathetic figure, but, though he remains likable throughout, the reader gradually loses respect for him as it becomes clear that the price of his detachment is considerable. He is in fact a weak father who, at critical moments, fails his family. In particular, his foolish indulgence of Lydia’s immature behavior nearly leads to general disgrace when she elopes with Wickham. Further, upon her disappearance, he proves largely ineffective. It is left to Mr. Gardiner and Darcy to track Lydia down and rectify the situation. Ultimately, Mr. Bennet would rather withdraw from the world than cope with it.

·       Colonel Fitzwilliam

     He is a character in Pride and Prejudice. He is the younger son of an earl and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy, making him a cousin of Anne de Bourgh and the Darcy siblings, Fitzwilliam and Georgiana. Fitzwilliam and Darcy have been the guardians of Georgiana since her father's death five years earlier, and he is aware of her aborted elopement with George Wickham. He joins his cousin Darcy when they visit Rosings over Easter. He forms a friendship with Elizabeth Bennet that verges on flirtatious, but he warns her that he must marry for money in order to support himself, meaning they can never be more than friends. He accidentally reveals to Elizabeth that Darcy separated Bingley and Jane due to her low birth and lack of fortune. He did not know that Elizabeth and Jane were sisters.

·      Carolina Bingley

     Charles Bingley's sister and the sister-in-law of Mr. Hurst (through his marriage to Louisa) and Jane Bingley. She cares only about social status and tries to undermine Elizabeth because she wants Darcy for herself.

She is self-obsessed, antagonistic, and oftentimes snobbish. She disapproves of her brother's admiration towards the compassionate Jane Bennet because of her connections. She also seems to hold a grudge of jealousy against Elizabeth Bennet throughout the story, due to Mr. Darcy's affection towards Elizabeth, when Caroline seeks to marry Darcy herself.

·       Lydia Bennet

     Lydia Bennet is one of the secondary characters in Pride and Prejudice. Lydia Bennet is just fifteen years old when the novel begins. She has four older sisters named Kitty (Catherine), Mary, Elizabeth, and Jane. Although she is the youngest, she has a big personality and likes to take charge of situations. She is described as ''a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion and good-humored countenance''. She is very confident and she points out that ''though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest'' in (chapter- 2). Despite her youth, or perhaps because of it, Lydia is very interested in flirting with men. She has ''high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence'' (Chapter 9) and as a consequence, she loves to attend balls and other social events. Lydia is quite silly and shallow, and she does not always think through the consequences of her actions. She does not have a particularly strong regard for propriety and is more interested in having fun. Lydia is allowed to be out in society even though none of her older sisters are married, which means that she has less parental supervision than she might really need to keep her on the right track. Essentially, Lydia is an ordinary teenager who wants to have fun and does not always follow the rules or think carefully about her future. Unfortunately, she is living in a society where her immaturity puts her at great risk. Lydia does not undergo significant personality change over the course of the book and she ends up in a terrible marriage as a result.

 Lydia's relationships with the other characters in the book are important both to her personality and to the plot. When the book begins, her most important connections are with the members of her immediate family. Later in the book, she develops a connection with Mr. Wickham that causes her to get caught up in a scandal, the resolution of which saves her family's reputation while also leaving her, still just fifteen years old, to deal with the consequences of the rest of her life.

·      George Wickham

     Wickham is one of the most significant characters in the novel, "Pride and Prejudice". Like Darcy and Elizabeth, Wickham also is a complex character. He is such a character that can’t be comprehended easily, but his class is entirely different from both Elizabeth and Darcy. His first appearance in the novel is quite dramatic. He has been described as “A young man, never seen before, of a most gentleman-like appearance.” All were struck with the stranger’s air.” His appearance was greatly in his favor; he had all the best parts of beauty, a fine countenance a good figure, and a very pleasing address.

Wickham is a very clever man. As he is introduced to the Bennet sisters by a fellow officer, he sees Darcy with Bingley. Since he notes the intimacy existing between them, he losses no time in determining his course of action which is certainly decent and gentlemanly. Wickham is a very shrewd and sinister schemer. He sows the seeds of discord against Darcy. Who he learns, is accused of pride and haughtiness by the young ladies of the Meryton neighborhood. He like another villain worth his salt, decides to exploit the current wave against Darcy to his own advantage. He describes his close relationship with the Darcy household and the provisions made by late Mr. Darcy for his welfare with great accuracy and truth, but only up to a certain point, so that it may make him look an aggrieved person, unjustly deprived of his legitimate share by the whim and high handedness of young Darcy. Wickham is conscious of his charming personality and manners and exploits these to the maximum in seducing young ladies for his nefarious ends.

             He was prepared for a career in the Church but he refused to take orders after completing his university education and instead demanded three thousand pounds to study law. He squandered the amount through immoral deeds and forfeited his share in the will of late Mr. Darcy. With the connivance of Mrs. Young, the governess of Georgiana, he attempted to elope with Georgiana, Darcy’s sister, when she was not even of fifteen. His elopement with Lydia exposes him fully and his many other scandals were appeared on surface. The terms, on which he agrees to marry Lydia are also indicative of his character.

          After his marriage with Lydia and during his visit to Longbourn, he does not show any sign of repentance or shame on account of his immoral act. He is quite brazen faced and still tries to play the old game with Elizabeth, who has, unluckily for him despite by now known the whole truth about him through Darcy and her own experience.

        His character is complex and ironical. He plays a very significant role in the novel. He serves as an admirable foil to the character of Darcy in order to put the novel character of Darcy in bold relief. There is nothing sterling about him. He is an instrument, with Lydia, to further the action of the main plot. Elizabeth and Darcy affair. At last, it may be said that. it was Wickham who had earlier succeed in heightening the prejudice of Elizabeth against Darcy and thus created a crisis in their affair so, it is in fitness of the things that it is ultimately he who is instrumental in resolving the crisis and bringing them to the most intimate relationship.

·       William Collins 

      Mr. Collins is a main-supporting character in Pride and Prejudice. He is married to Charlotte Lucas, the daughter of Sir William and Lady Lucas of Lucas Lodge in Hertfordshire. He is a distant cousin of Mr. Bennet's and the heir presumptive of the Bennet family home, Longbourn. He is twenty-five years old at the beginning of the novel. Mr.Collins is best described by Elizabeth, as "conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly". Mr. Collins is a man of the church, yet he seems more concerned with his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, than God. Mr. Collins is ridiculous and insensible. The narrator describes him as "a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility." He tends to be very impressed with himself and his own ideas and rather obtuse or inconsiderate of the feelings of others, with the exception of his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh of course. To most people of rank or title he is a fawning toady, to speak bluntly, behaving been taught that connections are everything in his childhood.

           He is obviously a social climber, easily impressed by a title. This leads him to be easily manipulated by Lady Catherine. He also has the tendencies of a name-dropper, mentioning Lady Catherine and his ties to her at any opportunity. He is obviously quite self-absorbed, and is often viewed as bothersome to others. Jane Austen weaves a humorous and cringe-worthy character in Mr. Collins. His marriage is used to contrast against the marriages of Darcy and Elizabeth and Bingley and Jane, which were done for love.

            Mr. Collins is an important character in the story. He represents the eventual loss of Longbourn for the Bennet family, and the need for the Bennet sisters to marry as high up as they can, so they will be able to care for their unmarried sisters and widowed mother. Although made to look ridiculous, his position in life is anything but that. Mr Collins always ends up humiliating himself when trying to do what society expects him to do.

·       Catherine Bennet

       Catherine or Kitty is the second youngest *daughter* of the Bennet family, and she is not quite as bad a flirt as Lydia. Kitty and Lydia are partners in crime, but Kitty doesn't get into nearly as much trouble as Lydia. Kitty is two years older than Lydia, making her seventeen or eighteen during the events of the novel. She is pretty, unlike Mary, but slight and delicate and apparently sickly. She coughs frequently enough that her parents complain, gets sick in carriages, and her aunt Phillips believes sea-bathing would do her a great deal of good.

           During the course of the novel, Kitty was confirmed to be one of the sources of embarrassment for the Bennet family. Though she is two years older than Lydia, she was completely under her youngest sister's guidance, and was considered weak-spirited and irritable. Together, Kitty and Lydia were described to be "ignorant, idle, and vain".Her oldest sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, had tried to advise her, but she was always mortified by their advice, and never listened. Fortunately, after her oldest sisters' marriages, Kitty's personality improved drastically - no longer under Lydia's influence, and with her father's restrictions, as well as the proper attention and management of her oldest sisters, Kitty was said to become "less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid".

Lady Catherine de Bourgh:   She is the wealthy, untitled aunt of Fitzwilliam Darcy, more commonly known as ''Mr. Darcy.'' She is referred to throughout the novel as ''Lady Catherine'' in order to indicate her social status and wealth.

           In the novel we see that Lady Catherine abuses her familial ties to Mr. Darcy, often using the connection to place herself in a position of authority. She is the sister of Mr. Darcy's mother, and she claims Darcy and Anne de Bourgh have been betrothed to one another since infancy. She believes this gives her the authority to deny a union between Darcy and anyone other than her daughter. Darcy, having no real obligation to please Lady Catherine, ignores her pleads against his marrying Miss Bennet.

·       Mary Bennet

              She is the middle child of the five Bennet sisters. Mary is plain looking and a recluse who enjoys lecturing others about morality, which she learns from books.

·       Charlotte Lucas

         She is a close friend of Elizabeth's. She weds Mr. Collins for security, not love, but nevertheless finds happiness in her situation.

Sir William Lucas

 He is one of the minor characters in the novel. He is Charlotte's father, foolishly obsessed with rank.

·       Mr. Gardiner 

      He is Mrs. Bennet's brother and a successful, warm-hearted, cultivated merchant in the novel.

Mrs. Gardiner

Mrs. Bennet's sister-in-law. Intelligent and caring. In the novel she is presented as the mother that Elizabeth and Jane cannot find in Mrs. Bennet.

·       Maria Lucas 

      Maria is the daughter of Sir William and Lady Lucas, making her also the sister of Charlotte and the other Lucas children.

·       Mrs. Younge  

     She presided over an establishment in London. Mrs. Younge may have been based-off of real-life historical figure, Kat Ashley, governess to Elizabeth I of England; Kat Ashley was rumoured both to have been infatuated with Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, & a facilitator in his attempt to seduce the then-teenaged Elizabeth; though the rumors have not been proven.

·       Mrs. Locus 

     Charlotte is initially described as “a sensible, intelligent woman… who was Elizabeth’s intimate friend.” Because of this intelligence, Elizabeth assumes that Charlotte shares her values, even though Charlotte is actually much more pragmatic and even cynical. For example, after Charlotte makes a series of speeches explaining that “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance” and highlighting the importance of choosing a partner who can provide economic stability, Elizabeth gently rebukes her, explaining that “You know it is not sound and you would never behave in this way yourself.” Because Elizabeth is blind to Charlotte’s true values, she feels shocked and betrayed when Charlotte chooses to marry Mr. Collins. Charlotte’s character is consistent throughout; when Elizabeth goes to visit her after her marriage, she is forced to “meditate upon Charlotte’s degree of contentment… and to acknowledge that it was all done very well.” Charlotte accurately assesses her priorities and what she needs to be happy and chooses accordingly. As a result, she stands in contrast to Elizabeth, who often forms inaccurate assessments of situations and people.

·       Mr. Denny

     Mr. Denny is a minor character in Pride and Prejudice. He is an officer and was good friends with George Wickham. While he was staying in Hertfordshire with the rest of the officers, Lydia Bennet started to fancy him. Mrs. Phillips also seemed to have an obsession with officers and wanted to invite Mr. Denny and Mr. Wickham inside even though it would be a breach of propriety.

Critical Insights

Unlike other Romantic-era writers, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Austen's works were very little impacted by the French Revolution and revolutionary rhetoric. Jane Austin's major novels, including Pride and Prejudice, were all composed within a short period of about twenty years. In the early nineteenth century, when Jane Austin published her first two famous novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen that satirizes issues of marriage and social class. It follows the relationship between the quick-to-judge Elizabeth Bennet and the arrogant Mr. Darcy as both learn to fix their errors in judgment and look beyond markers of social status. First published in 1813, the bitingly funny romantic comedy has endured as both a popular favorite and a literary classic.

Pride and prejudice novel discusses about the issue of feminism and inequality between man and women on the basis of social, economic, and education. In this easily readable novel, Ms. Austen underlines the importance of planning.  Pride and Prejudice as perfectly structured a novel as ever was written: from the initial tension in Elizabeth and Darcy’s meeting to the disastrous anti-climax of the first proposal, the upward trajectory of Elizabeth’s feelings for the man she’d judged poorly, Darcy’s climactic saving of the Bennet family’s reputation, and his subsequent successful proposal of marriage to Elizabeth, the novel moves quickly and deliberately in precisely-plotted chapters.  Austen wastes no time with frivolous details: everything ties together; each scene has a purpose.

Prepared by :

B.A 4th Semester

Department of English

Maryam Ajmal Women's College of Science & Technology, Hojai (Assam)