In Pride and Prejudice Part I we stopped at the the unexpected turning point that is Mr Darcy's marriage proposal to Elizabeth Bennet.
1. What happened?
2. How did Elizabeth react? Why?
3. Did Mr Darcy expect her refusal?
As it often happens in Jane Austen’s novels, a letter will be the turning point in the hero/heroine relationship. Darcy writes to Elizabeth and a journey of self-realization will start for her
(from BBC Pride and Prejudice 1995)
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After Darcy's explanation Jane Austen writes that Elizabeth …
“ …grew absolutely ashamed of herself, - of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial,prejudiced , absurd”.
“Till this moment, I never knew myself”, Elizabeth thinks.
This is why Jane Austen titled this novel “First Impressions” at first. Elizabeth's first impression of Darcy was completely wrong. She has been too proud and to impulsive and this caused her misjudgement.
What else will Elizabeth discover about Darcy which will make her radically change her opinion of him?
She will travel in Derbyshire with Mr and Mrs Gardiner (her uncle and aunt) and visit Darcy’s wonderful residence at Pemberley (she is amazed at its grandeur) and will hear about Mr Darcy ‘s inestimable virtues from Mrs Reynolds, his house-keeper
When she receives the news that Lydia, her 15-year-old sister, has eloped with Mr Wickham, Elizabeth is terribly embarassed , especially because she has to tell Darcy what has happened. But she will, instead, discover later that he worked hard behind the scenes to help the Bennet family to avoid scandal: he arranged for Wickham to marry Lydia and paid for all the expenses.
Finally, Elizabeth will see her sister Jane happy : Darcy encourages Bingley to return to Longbourn again and to renew his courtship of Jane.
Now apologies and explanations can be given and Darcy can renew his own proposal… Will Elizabeth accept it this time?
Tasks
Marriage in Pride & Prejudice
In Pride & Prejudice we can recognize several kinds of marriage . Which ones?
Irony in Pride & Prejudice
Irony in P&P is employed as a technique in relation to the characters: they are trapped in a double perspective; they do not know that things are not the way they seem, while the reader does. Read chapter one and notice examples.
Power, Money and Gender
Research the sociocultural and economic context of Austen's work in order to better understand the world of her novels.
Then, go back to the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, what do you notice about power, money and gender in it? And what about those themes in the whole story?
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