NOTES FOR "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE"

SUMMARY: The story revolves around the Bennets, the Bingleys, and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Out of the five daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (from oldest to youngest) - Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia - the story focuses on the first two - Jane and Elizabeth. After Mr. Bennet goes on a visit to Mr. Bingley, both the families meet in a social gathering and Mr. Bingley ends up liking Jane. Mr. Darcy refused to dance with Elizabeth and so Elizabeth thought Darcy to be arrogant. After many twists and turns in both the sisters' lives, where both Bingley and Darcy leave, Bingley's sister disliking Jane, Darcy's aunt coming to take Elizabeth's promise to refuse Darcy's proposal, they finally get married to the love of their lives.

LANGUAGE: The diction and syntax of the book seems to be very sophisticated and deep. The modern audience might have some problems understanding some words and structures of sentences. Because of this, at times, the audience feels the book to be a little monotonous and a bit dragging.

MAJOR CHARACTERS: 

• Elizabeth Bennet: Protagonist of the story; extremely intelligent and witty; sometimes, a little too honest (getting her in some troubles, once in a while); takes time to form or change opinions formed about other people, ex: Darcy.
• Fitzwilliam Darcy: Male counterpart to Elizabeth; in the beginning, seemed to be arrogant, overly confident, and harsh though very intelligent; although is overly proud about his wealth, feel in love and was devoted to Elizabeth.
• Jane Bennet: Introduced as the most beautiful of the five Bennet sisters; very joyous personality, extremely kind - always willing to help in a friendly manner; fell in love with a very similar character.
• Charles Bingley: Male counterpart to Jane; first introduced as the most "eligible bachelor of town," where all the girls went to try and impress him; a very cheerful, friendly, and kind individual.

THEME: 

• The first and most important one is right there in the title: Pride and Prejudice. The love of Elizabeth and Darcy was an example of this where a socially and professionally successful man fell in love with an ordinary girl. The man having extreme pride in himself and his status and the woman having pride in her personality and honesty. This "so called" pride caused prejudice to be born in their romance where Darcy's aunt came in and said that Elizabeth is not worthy of Darcy and asks her to promise to not accept Darcy's proposal.
• The second is just the concept of love itself and how it should be selfless like that of Jane and Bingley.