By Rachael Bentley
After reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (for the third time) I stand by my opinion that she is one of the greatest writers of romantic fiction to this day. Her ability to take the everyday events that preoccupied so many women in her era, and turn it into one of the greatest romance novels of our time is one of many reasons why her works are studied in colleges and universities around the world. Some believe her work to simply be good romance novels, whiles others like my self interpret her narrow focus as a critique of nineteenth century vanity, and cruelty that many upper class families fostered during that era. This novel surrounds itself around the everyday events of The Bennet family, which include Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth and her four sisters.
It also surrounds Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Mr. Bingley, who are both highly sought after, wealthy bachelors that Mrs. Bennet constantly tries to get her daughters betrothed too through out the novel, for advantageous reasons. Elizabeth is the main character of this novel, as she is by far one of the most dynamic roles. She finds herself falling in love with Mr. Darcy, a man who she seemingly dislikes for being pompous and arrogant, and he finds him self falling in love with her, despite her lower class and awkward tendencies.
Throughout the novel they constantly butt heads regarding Jane and Mr. Bingley, who are madly in love but are too shy to tell each other. They also argue about each other’s obvious flaws and how their families treat each other. But when Elizabeth’s family is faced with a real crisis, Darcy comes and saves the day. Soon afterward Darcy shows up again at the Bennet household with Mr. Bingley, much to Jane’s surprise. He admits to being a fool and humbly asks to for her hand, to which she replied “Yes, a thousand times yes”.
A few days later when Darcy’s aunt the Lady Catherine declares that he will marry her plain and sickly daughter, it becomes obvious to her that he had someone else in mind. She realizes that it is Elizabeth who has won over her nephew and corners Elizabeth and says that she has heard that her nephew is planning to marry her. Since she considers a Bennet an unsuitable match for a Darcy, Lady Catherine demands that Elizabeth promise to refuse him. Elizabeth spiritedly refuses, saying she is not engaged to Darcy, but she will not promise anything against her own happiness. Soon after telling Lady Catherine to leave her house, Mr. Darcy shows up at Elizabeths door, outraged that his aunt would behave in such a manor.
A little later, Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he tells her that his feelings have not altered since the spring. She tenderly accepts his proposal, and she and Jane both get married. One may assume that because this story is set in the 19th century, the content would be dry and uneventful, but it is in fact the complete opposite. Austen’s ability to capture and describe the real reactions and sentiments between her characters is one of the reasons her works are so notes in todays literary society. Though this novel was written in the turn of the 19th century, it still retains relevance for modern readers with issues like morality, education and marriage. This is obvious in modern day culture as there have been numerous movies adaptions released, the most recent featuring Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfayden in 2005. What many may not know (and may be shocked to learn) is that Austen was never married. Yet, she was still able to write such moving and deep scenes between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
She also had a great way of capturing the humor in many situations, such as how many of the Bennet girls had a tendency to laugh and giggle in inappropriate situations and how their insane mother always said the wrong thing at the wrong time. With so many modern vampire romance novels being published these days, it was seriously a breath of fresh air to read about a perfectly normal young woman trying to find and fall in love with the right man. There were some obvious bumps in the road like a family that did not approve of her, and coming from a lower class background, but those are situations that many of us can relate to and that’s what makes this such a great book. Jane Austen died in 1817, at the age of 41 from tuberculosis, but not before she created a name for herself and left her footprint on the literary world.
