AN EASY AND AUTHENTIC OVERVIEW OF THE FAMOUS VICTORIAN NOVEL PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY JANE AUSTEN

1. PRESENTATION: NOVEL
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY
JANE AUSTEN

4. Jane Austen (1775-1817)
• She was a famous English novelist.
• She was considered a paragon of
Romantic fiction.
• One of the most widely read writers in
English literature.
• She was educated primarily by her father.
• Her works include Sense and Sensibility,
Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and
Emma.
• Dependence of women on marriage.

5. PLOT LINE / SUMMARY
• The novel opens with the news that Netherfield Park
is let to Mr. Bingley.
• The Bennet household is in frenzy-especially Mrs.
Bennet.
• She tries to convince Mr. Bennet , her husband , to
visit Mr. Bingley so that their five daughters may
have a chance to meet him. Her hope is that the
wealthy Mr. Bingley will marry one of the girls.
• Mr. Bennet has already visited Mr. Bingley to Mrs.
Bennet's Satisfaction. The Bennet sisters attend a
ball thrown by Mr. Bingley.

6. • There they also meet his Friend Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy
slights Elizabeth in a dance and that turns Elizabeth's Heart
against him.
• Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley fall in love. When the news of
Jane and Mr. Bingley's romance spreads, his mean sisters
break them apart by sending Mr. Bingley away.
• Mr. Darcy is falling in love with Elizabeth but can't seem to
overcome his initial offence at the dance.
• By the end of the story, Jane marries Mr. Bingley after he
returns. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth make amends and marries
and all ends happily for everyone ( except for Charlotte
Lucas who marries Mr. Collins for money ).

7. SETTING
• This novel is set in England and the scenery that
has been portrayed in the novel is very
captivating as in the novel Pride and Prejudice
beautiful descriptions of rural imagery has been
portrayed by the author.
• There are lush green fields that surround the
house of the Bennet family, The detailing of the
spring season embellish the novel.
• There are detailing of the flowers, spring, lush
green fields, grazing animals, fragrance etc.

8. • Longbourn: The Bennet family estate
near the town of Meryton. It will be
inherited by Mr. Collins when Mr. Bennet
dies.
• Netherfield: Bingley's estate near
Longbourn and near the town of Meryton.
• Meryton: Town near Longbourn where
Mrs. Phillips and the soldiers
live.

9. CHARACTERS

10. MR. BENNET

11. • The patriarch of the Bennet family. He has very
little interest in the duties of polite society or in
raising his daughters.
• He is closest to Elizabeth because they are the
two most intelligent Bennets.
• 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.

12. MRS. BENNET

13. • Mrs. Bennet is a garrulous, annoying and
disinteresting character (woman).
• She is a foolish, noisy woman whose greatest
aspiration is to have her five daughters married
off.
• Mrs. Bennet does not approve of Elizabeth's logic
and practicality, and Elizabeth is her least favorite
daughter.
• Elizabeth was the least dear to all of her children.

14. ELIZABETH BENNET

15. ELIZABETH BENNET
• The novel’s protagonist.
• Second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.
• Most intelligent and sensible.
• Her realization of Darcy’s essential goodness
eventually triumphs over her initial prejudice against
him.
• She is well read and quick-witted, with a tongue that
occasionally proves too sharp for her own good.

16. FITZWILLIAM DARCY

17. • A wealthy gentleman, the master of Pemberley,
and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
• Though Darcy is intelligent and honest, his
excess of pride causes him to look down on his
social inferiors.
• Over the course of the novel, he tempers his
class-consciousness and learns to admire and
love Elizabeth for her strong character.

18. JANE BENNET

19. JANE BENNET
• The eldest and most beautiful Bennet sister.
• Jane is more reserved and gentler than
Elizabeth.
• She is later married to Mr. Bingley.

20. CHARLES BINGLEY

21. • Mr. Charles Bingley is a wealthy, young bachelor
who moves into the Bennet's neighborhood.
• His purchase of Netherfield, an estate near the
Bennets, serves as the momentum for the novel.
• His friendly nature contrasts with Darcy's initially
rude behavior. He is uncaring about class
differences.

22. MARY BENNET
• The middle Bennet sister who is very bookish. Mary Bennet is the
only one of the Bennet girls who remains unmarried.

23. CATHERINE BENNET
THE FOURTH BENNET SISTER.
LIKE LYDIA, SHE IS GIRLISHLY
ENTHRALLED WITH THE
SOLDIERS.

24. LYDIA BENNET
• The youngest and fifth Bennet sister.
• She is gossipy, immature and self-involved.
• In the end, she marries George Wickham.

25. GEORGE WICKHAM

26. • A handsome, fortune-hunting militia officer.
Wickham's good looks and charm attract
Elizabeth initially.
• He convinced her that he was greatly wronged
by Mr. Darcy, but soon she learns of his true
character, and realizes that she has been
mistaken.
• Wickham later marries Lydia after they run
away together.

27. MR.COLLINS
• A pompous clergyman who is Mr. Bennet's cousin and will inherit his
estate when Mr. Bennet dies.

28. LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH

29. • A rich, bossy noblewoman who is Darcy’s wealthy aunt and
Collins’ patroness.
• She greatly illustrates class snobbery as she is a forceful lady
who expects everyone to appreciate and follow her advice on
every topic.

30. MAJOR THEMES

31. 1- PRIDE
• As said in the words of Mary at the beginning of the novel , "
human nature is particularly prone to (pride) ". In the novel ,
pride prevents the characters from seeing the truth of a
situation and from achieving happiness in life.
• Pride is one of the main barriers that creates an obstacle to
Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage . Darcy's pride in his position in
society leads him initially to scorn anyone outside of his own
social circle .
• Elizabeth's vanity clouds her judgment, making her prone to
think ill of Darcy and to think well of Wickham. Darcy's letter
shows Elizabeth that her judgments were wrong and she
realizes that they were based on vanity, not on reason.

32. 2- PREJUDICE
• Pride and prejudice are intimately related in the novel. As critic
A. Walton Litz comments, "in Pride and Prejudice one cannot
equate Darcy with Pride, or Elizabeth with Prejudice. Darcy's
pride of place is founded on social prejudice, while Elizabeth's
initial prejudice against him is rooted in pride of her own quick
perceptions.
• However, Darcy tries to overcome his prejudice as it is
demonstrated when he treats the Gardiners with great civility.
• The Gardiners are a much lower class than Darcy, because
Mr. Gardiner is a lawyer and must practice a trade to earn a
living, rather than living off of the interest of an estate as
gentlemen do. From the beginning of the novel Elizabeth
prides herself on her keen ability for perception.

33. 3- WOMEN AND MARRIAGE
• Austen Is critical of the gender's injustices presented in 19th
century English society. The novel demonstrates women
such as Charlotte need to marry simply in order to gain
financial security. The entailment of the Longbourn Estate is
an extreme hardship on the Bennet family and quite
obviously unjust.
• Clearly, Austen believes that woman are as intelligent and
capable as men, and considers their inferior status in
society to be unjust.
• Austen is certainly critical of the gender injustices present in
19th century English society, particularly as perpetrated by
the institution of marriage.

34. 4- FAMILY
• Austen portrays the family as primarily responsible for the
intellectual and moral education of children. Mr. and Mrs.
Bennet's failure to provide this education for their
daughters leads to the utter shamelessness, foolishness
and immorality of Lydia.
• Elizabeth and Jane have managed to develop virtue and
strong characters in spite of the negligence of their
parents, perhaps through the help of their studies and the
good influence of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner.
• Elizabeth and Jane are constantly forced to put up with
the foolishness and poor judgment of their mother and the
sarcastic indifference of their father.

35. 5- CLASS
• Considerations of class are omnipresent in the novel. Darcy's
inordinate pride is based on his extreme class-consciousness.
• Yet eventually he sees that factors other than wealth
determine who truly belongs in the aristocracy. Those such as
Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, who are born into the
aristocracy, are idle, mean - spirited and annoying, Mr. and
Mrs. Gardiner are not members of the aristocracy in terms of
wealth or birth but are natural aristocrats by virtue of their
intelligence, good - breeding and virtue.
• The comic formality of Mr. Collins and his obsequious
relationship with Lady Catherine serve as a satire class
consciousness and social formalities.

36. 6- INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
• The novel portrays a world in which society takes an interest in the
private virtue of its members.
• When Lydia elopes with Wickham, therefore, it is scandal to the
whole society and an injury to entire Bennet family.
• Darcy considers his failure to expose the wickedness of Wickham's
character to be a breach of his social duty because if Wickham's true
character had been known others would not have been so easily
deceived by him.
• According to critic Richard Simpson Austen has a thorough
consciousness that man is a social being and that apart from society
there is not even the individual.
• Austen has a profound sense that individuals are social beings and
that their happiness is found through relationships with others.

38. ELIZABETH FLAW
• Elizabeth's main flaw is an exaggerated prejudice.
• Her first negative impression of Darcy at the Netherfield ball,
Wickham's tall story about him, and Darcy's influencing Bingley
against Jane fuel her prejudice.
• She spends most of the novel truly disliking her future
husband.

39. DARCY’S FLAW
•Mr. Darcy is flawed, still arrogant, and
prideful, though his love for Elizabeth
outweighs his faults in the end.

40. CONFLICTS
Conflicts in pride and prejudice
• The plot of Pride and Prejudice follows a linear,
chronological structure.
• Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist, and the major conflict
revolves around her struggle to find a compatible
husband despite the obstacles presented by both social
conventions and her own lack of self-awareness.

41. Conclusion
• At the end of the novel, Elizabeth and Darcy get
married and go to live at Pemberley, while Jane and
Bingley move to an estate nearby.
• The other assorted family members gradually reconcile
themselves to the relationship and in most cases, end
up on friendly terms.
• The ending reflects the culmination of Elizabeth and
Darcy’s relationship, since they finally understand and
respect each other enough to live together happily.

42. WORKS CITED
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York:
Penguin Classics, 2003.

43. THE END
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