Pride and Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice

A statement in the beginning of Pride and Prejudice that “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" sets the tone of romance and conventions in the time of Jane Austen. This is a story of a family, the Bennets, that consists of a mother, father and five daughters. The second daughter, Elizabeth Bennet, is the protagonist. She provides the point of view for most of the story.

An example of the characters in the novel includes Mr. Darcy, an eligible young man, who is not popular in the community of Meryton, because he is perceived to be overly proud. This is an example of the prejudices at work in the book. Elizabeth, and others, judge quickly on the externals of the people around them and are often quite set in their prejudices against them.

Pride and Prejudice was voted second as the “UK’s Most Loved Book” in a BBC poll in 2003. It was most recently made into a movie in 2005. Pride and Prejudice the New Musical is planned to open in November 2009 on Broadway.

Elizabeth Bennet presents her view of society around her in a technique called free indirect speech. It is through her that we deal with the foibles of judging exteriors and holding tight to ill conceived prejudices. As the novel progresses the characters mature, change and settle, all within their proud society boundaries.