Book: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen. Publisher: Thomas Egerton, Whitehall
Pages: 252. Price:
397Pride and Prejudice can be safely called Jane Austen’s most charming novel. Set in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century the novel fascinates readers till date and is often seen in the list of “most loved books”.
It is a work of fiction which has a certain resemblance to Austen’s life. The key women characters are seen struggling with a certain amount of poverty that Austen had to deal in her own life. The bonding between two elder sisters Jane and Elizabeth has been depicted as strong which stands true for Jane and her sister Cassandra.
The book starts with Mr. Bennet who is living with his wife and five daughters: the beautiful Jane, the clever Elizabeth, the bookish Mary, the immature Kitty and the wild Lydia in Hertfordshire.
There is a constant worry Mrs. Bennet portrays to get her daughters married to rich men. Through an invitation to a ball, the family gets introduced to wealthy and cheerful Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy who is twice as affluent than Bingley but aloof in nature. Through a series of incidents, the story weaves into a conflict between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth where she speaks of him as “I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine”
The book gives into the fact that goodness and truth prevails. After a series of emotional involvements, the story surrenders to the love Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth felt for each other where the former overcomes his pride and the later overcomes her prejudice.
The book gives certain quotes that can be taken as life lessons like when Caroline Bingley says “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
Throughout the book, we come across clashes between different social strata, genders, desires that are nurtured yet resulted in consensus. Like most love stories we reach to a definite ending which as a reader gives us peace, however, if the author had chosen not to give a definite ending to the story it could have catered to a different aspect. What if Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth did not agree to marry it would have been interesting to see how Austen would have dealt with that.
