Pride+and+Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a wonderful tale of romance and conflict. Elizabeth Bennet, the main character, and her four sisters are pressured by their mother to try to elope with the handsomest and the richest men they can find. This being in, the eldest son of the family usually inherits their father’s estate. But since the Longbourn estate (the estate which Elizabeth’s father owns) has no son to inherit it, it must be given to their unagreeable cousin, Mr. Collins at the death of Mr. Bennet. This will leave the five daughters and Mrs. Bennet to have to fend for themselves, unless any of the daughters get married. As the five daughters seek for an eligible man to marry, their mother strikes gold (hypothetically). She hears that a man called Mr. Bingley has moved into a large estate, only a few miles away from Longbourn. Since they lived in the country, this made it seem as if they were neighbors. Mr. Bennet eventually visits Mr. Bingley and asks him for his presence at Longbourn. When Mr. Bingley arrives, they find that he has brought his close friend, a Mr. Darcy. Most do not take to Darcy, thinking him unagreeable, his pride making him selfish. But as Bingley talks to all of the sisters, he takes to the eldest sister, Jane, very much. And as balls and parties take place, people find they like Bingley more and more and Darcy less and less. Then suddenly, when everyone thinks Bingley and Jane are very close too be wed, the Bennets receive a letter from Bingley’s sister, saying that they have left for London and probably won’t come back. Jane is heartbroken; the rest of the Bennet’s are in low spirits. Then the Bennets also have to deal with Mr. Collins as he visits their estate. Unfortunately he seeks a wife amongst the sisters. He sets his eye on dear Elizabeth, and asks her to be his wife. When Elizabeth refuses, he marries her best friend, Charlotte. Elizabeth feeling terribly for her sister, and muddled about Mr. Collins, still thinks of Darcy occasionally and even his pride. But as a handsome and deceiving man named Whickham meddles with Elizabeth’s heart, he tells her tales of how he had been deceived, especially by Mr. Darcy. But Elizabeth begins to find that the truth has not been told well on both sides, and even the infamous Mr. Darcy beings to be seen in the right by Elizabeth. Then more shock seems to pop out of nowhere. When Elizabeth is in town visiting with her Aunt and Uncle, she finds herself face to face with Mr. Darcy. Having held his feelings for her long enough, he asks Elizabeth for her hand in marriage. But at this point, Elizabeth does not yet know that the stories of deception are false about Mr. Darcy, and she still thinks ill of him and Mr. Bingley for leaving their estate without warning. So Elizabeth and Darcy argue about each other’s faults until she refuses to marry him. When younger sister, Lydia, fallows a certain deceiving soldier to be eloped in secret, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle are called back to the country, with the family in disarray. Things seem to get worse when they find the couple and must force the two to get married even after Whickham tries to squeeze out of it. And if they did not marry, the whole Bennet family would be seen as a disgrace to society. Surprisingly, Elizabeth finds after the incident that Darcy was the one to clear the whole mess up. He paid all of the expenses and convinced the two that getting married was the only option so Elizabeth’s younger sister was not made a fool of. But Elizabeth needs to face the feelings that had been growing since she finds out the truth about Darcy and how he is not selfish and has helped her family greatly. Can she forgive him for what happened in the past? Can Jane trust Mr. Bingley that he is still madly in love with her and the whole predicament was not his fault? Maybe pride and prejudice are more similar than you think... I would give this book a 10/10 but it is really hard to get through. Everything goes wrong and you want to put it down but don't! The Pain is totally worth it!

-Emma Colman

Reply: I've seen the movie and it is really good! Everything does go wrong and parts of it are really confusing but whatever. Did you like the style of writing the author used. If the book isn't terribly long I will definitely give the book a try. Thanks. -Alex Bergman