Pride and Prejudice Group
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bobolin Teacher
High School - 12th GradePosted by bobolin on Thursday May 8, 2008 at 6:03 AM“PRIDE & PREJUDICE” is the greatest work. It shows greatness, limitations and aesthetical view on different colours and aspects of human life. The novel takes readers to an abstract idea, the idea of pride in one character and that of prejudice in another. So the novel is primarily concerned with ideas. The characters of novel show different kinds of humour, various traits of human behaviour.“PRIDE & PREJUDICE” is the love story of a man and a woman and the man being held back by unconquerable pride and the woman blinded by prejudice.It’s a satire upon life in a small village called Longbourn in the southern England.The novel’s important in more than one-way. It’s important both historically and criticall.It introduced a new kind of fiction. Eighteenth century was an age of picturesque romances with splendid places, high towers, and underground passages.It was an age of the stories of terror, horror and mystery.As opposed to such romances, sentimental novels full of tears and sorrow were written. Austen’s novel struck a middle path between the two.It may be said to be the first English novel in the real sense of the term. Jane follows none of the traditions of her predecessors.She rightly started her own tradition of fiction, which was followed by other succeeding novelists of England.
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lit24 Teacher
DoctoratePosted by lit24 on Thursday May 15, 2008 at 2:18 PMJane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" raises important moral issues concerned with the institution of marriage.
The most important one being how much money is necessary for a happy and successful marriage:"Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end and avarice begin?" (Ch.27)
Jane Austen does not explicitly answer this question by preaching a moral to her readers;but she puts things in perspective by revealing to us the importance of money in marriage and then leaving it to the readers to decide for themselves what is 'moral' or 'immoral'.
In Ch.33 Col Fitzwilliam Darcy the younger son of an earl and obviously a very rich man hints to Elizabeth that he can't marry her: "Our habits of expense make us too dependent, and there are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marrywithout some attention to money." Was he being prudent or avaricious in not marrying Elizabeth? Jane Austen leaves it to the readers to decide.
On the contrary, Darcy also a very rich man overlooks Elizabeth's impoverished financial status and goes out of the way to ensure that Wickham marries Lydia so that the Bennet's family honour is intact. His love for her compels him to virtually bribe Wickham his worst enemy into doing so. This clearly establishes that he is a noble and generous person and Elizabeth readily accepts his second marriage proposal in Ch.58.