Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy

Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy

For everybody who’s interested in a love story with a rather complex design and a happy outcome, Pride and Prejudice will be a suitable novel. What I refer to in particular, is the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, which is the main topic of the novel.

The novel deals with the members of the Bennet family and especially with the fate of the elder sisters Jane and Elizabeth. They get acquainted with Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, two gentlemen who have recently moved to the neighbourhood, at a ball in the near village of Meryton. While Jane and Mr. Bingley are getting along with each other easily, Elizabeth has the misfortune to overhear a dialogue between Bingley and Darcy, in which Darcy expresses his disregard of the people of Meryton in general and Elizabeth in particular. Because of this incident and Darcy’s stiff manners, her bad opinion of him is quite settled. Elizabeth dislikes Darcy even more when Wickham, who was acquainted with Mr. Darcy, tells her about the

mischief Darcy has supposedly done to him. Therefore Elizabeth is really astonished when Darcy declares his love for her and wants her to become his wife. Due to her knowledge and opinion about him her refusal is quite plain and harsh. After this incident Elizabeth gets some new information from Darcy himself and from other sources and has to realize that she has done him wrong. Burdened with shame and regret she accidentally meets Darcy at his estate later. Perceiving Darcy in a new way now, Elizabeth gradually changes her mind and finally  falls in love with him. As a result Darcy, who’s not too deeply offended by Elizabeth’s former

behaviour and still in love with her, marries Elizabeth.

There are indeed many things in this novel which are likely to please the reader. At first we

have the aspect of language in general. The way in which Jane Austen writes makes the book

easily accessible for the readers. There’s no difficulty in understanding and following the

events of the story.

Another interesting point is the love-story established between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. It is

by no means easy for the reader to predict the outcome of the relationship. Except the small

reference that Mr. Darcy has changed his opinion about Elizabeth, shortly after the incident of

Meryton, there is no hint that they will ever fall in love with each other. Elizabeth in fact

deeply despises Mr. Darcy. That makes the marriage proposal of Mr. Darcy quite surprising

for everybody. But this complexity enlarges the entertaining effect of the novel. The turns in

the story create tension and force the reader to follow the events to the very end. Even when

Elizabeth starts to change her opinion about Mr. Darcy the later outcome is still just one

possibility. If Jane Austen had put the affinity between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth plain and

simple, much of the mentioned effect would have been lost.

Another, quite funny thing is the character of the different people and how they are

contrasted. On the one hand we have people like Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Bennet

who are quite intelligent and witty. On the other hand there are the younger sisters of

Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet and most other members of Meryton’s society. These people are rather

dull and simple-minded. Mrs Bennet and Mrs Lucas for example, are only concerned with the

aim of getting their daughters married. They pursue it with much determination and little

regard to civility and manners. Mrs Bennet especially, is so eager to take part in the

conversation of the ‘noble’ ones, that she makes a fool of herself without being aware of it. In

contrast to this Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth are perfectly aware of the situation. When they join

the conversation they often make comments full of irony. The irony is usually missed by the

other people and the comments are taken seriously. This embarrassing behaviour of many

characters and the dry remarks of Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth make the whole novel quite

funny. The irony, which can be easily detected by the reader, has a really entertaining effect

on the story in general.

Also interesting for the present-day reader is the social and historical aspect of the novel.

Because Jane Austen presents the contemporary society she experienced herself, we may get a

rather accurate picture of, at least, a part of the English society in the early 19th century. And

it’s a society which is striking and confusing for the modern reader, which again may enlarge

the interest in the story. But this strangeness is also likely to create a problem. Since the

general knowledge today of the ways and manners in the 19th century is small, many

subtleties of the text will probably escape the notice of the reader.

At last, there is a slight objection to make. What I did not like, although it may be typical for

this genre, is the exaggerated expression of personal feelings. Even for smaller and

unimportant events, there is always an emotional outburst to follow. These events get a bit

annoying after seeing them frequently repeated in the course of the story.

But in general, as is proofed by the preceding points, Pride and Prejudice is an interesting,

funny and easily read piece of literature.