Book Review: Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife’

Jane Austen’s most famous work has set hearts pacing with the ubiquitous Mr Darcy for over 200 years. And it’s not hard to see why, this dark brooding character is a mystery to most women at the start of the novel, but as we get to know him through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennet, he turns out to be all soft and mushy on the inside. Pride and Prejudice was the inspiration for many modern classics. Of course i’m thinking of Bridget Jones Diary. Honestly its great. Furthermore it has spawned many films, television shows (If you haven’t seen the version with Colin Firth, why are you even here? It’s on Netflix?!) and even a Bollywood film ‘Bride and Prejudice’ (highly recommend). But let’s take a look at the book- the original text. Because as much as there is to be heralded, there is much to deplore.

Let’s begin then with the Bennet family, there are five daughters all failed attempts at producing a son, but they are much loved anyway. You have Jane, Elizabeth Mary, Kitty and Lydia. Jane and Elizabeth are the main focus of the novel as they are the eldest and a lot of hopes rest on them to marry really well. Jane has her heart set on Mr Bingley, who - as Mrs Bennet keep yelling- has an income of £5000 a year! (Swoon) and Elizabeth is being courted by the dull and dreary Mr Collins, who is set to inherit the Bennet Estate when Mr Bennet dies. However when Mr Collins asks Elizabeth to marry him, he, to his utter surprise, is refused. Mrs Bennet (more on her later) is horrified and begs, weeps and threatens Elizabeth to marry him. And still, like a queen, Elizabeth refuses. (Bravo!) Now, Jane. She is very much attached to Mr Bingley and by the looks of things he is very much attached to her. But one day he decides to up sticks and go back to London for the winter, much to everyones surprise.  What I love is that, even in the 19th century, women would pour over letters from men and their friends and try and figure out what they mean. Bit like today how women analyse every minute detail in a text message from their crush like ‘BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!?!’, it was somewhat reassuring.

However, It’s not until much later when Elizabeth visits Mr Collins, who went and married her best friend (awkward), that she hears Mr Darcy had intervened and prevented Bingley from asking Jane to marry him. It is of no surprise that Elizabeth is furious, what I adore about Elizabeth is that she can hold her own and basically gives so much sass through the novel. So when Mr Darcy, like a muppet I might add, asks Elizabeth to marry him, she says no. okay she doesn’t say just no. what she actually says is ‘you are the last man I could ever wish to marry’ ouch. And it’s not just Jane that is the reason for her dislike of Darcy. Apparently the very charming Mr Wickham has been a victim of Darcy’s anger and cold heartedness. It turns out to be lies, for which Elizabeth feels like a muppet. Because as it turns out Wickham is a bad egg, a very bad egg indeed. He tried to run off with Darcy's younger sister Georgiana and marry her for her fortune of £30,000. Which back then was quite the piece of silver.

Now for the younger three. Where do I even begin? well in the words of Mr Bennet the last three are ‘some of the silliest girls in the county’. And he’s not wrong. The youngest Mary tries hard to apply herself to music and is quite loquacious in spawning a load of nonsense that sounds high handed and morally driven but, is about as useful as a rubber chicken in a knife fight. She is also terrible at music, in fact she even embarrasses her whole family one evening by playing pretty damn badly. Poor girl, and she doesn’t know it. Now for the other two Kitty and Lydia, their heads are filled with nothing but soldiers and men in uniform. Okay I get it men look amazing all dressed up in regimentals etc. but one would not act so uncouth as Lydia and Kitty. In fact it is through them that we meet Wickham, he is at first all amiable and charming. But as we know, he is far from it, basically he’s a dick. When Elizabeth returns from her visit to Mr Collins she is delighted to find out the the regiment are to move to Brighton, much to Lydia and Kitty’s dismay. However, Lydia has a friend in the regiment- a Mrs Forster, wife of Colonel Forster who invites her to Brighton. And this is where it starts to get interesting. Because Wickham coerces Lydia into running away with him on the pretence of eloping. However Wickham has no intention of doing so, he is actually on the run from debt. Lydia is living in a magical world, but this is far from the reality of the situation. Her family are sure that she is to be ruined and them along with her. Her sisters will never be able to find good husbands all because of the shameful association with her. But we have to look closer because, thanks to Mr Darcy, Lydia marries Wickham. It saves the family, but it doesn’t save Lydia, for she is now trapped in a marriage to a man who doesn’t care for her and abused her. What’s more is the reaction of her family, particularly Mr and Mrs Bennet. Mrs Bennet is fixed on having all her daughters married, she doesn’t particularly care to who, but its better if they were filthy rich. She over indulges the younger siblings and lets them run wild, not learn anything about responsibility or how their actions affect the rest of the family. In short they have failed their youngest children abysmally. When Lydia runs off to marry Wickham, the only thing Mrs Bennet cares about is where Lydia will get her wedding clothes and loves the idea of Lydia being ‘Mrs Wickham’. Mr Bennet, is indifferent to the raising of his children, he himself has grown careless and choses to spend time with his books. It is only when Lydia is finally safe and married that he turns to Kitty and finally starts to parent her and call her out on her awful behaviour. Mr and Mrs Bennet welcome Wickham and Lydia home with open arms, Jane and Elizabeth are more cautious because they see how undesirable this situation is for Lydia, even if Lydia cannot see it herself. Lydia revels in her status as a married woman, still very much infatuated with Wickham. Poor thing, being forced to marry your abuser is one thing, but Mrs Bennet delighting in it is another. In spite of the fact that everyone thinks that Lydia is an idiot and a fool for marrying Wickham- what other choice does she have? She made a horrendous choice, but that was in the belief that Wickham loved her-spoiler, he doesn’t. Not to mention she is 16 years old when she marries him, practically still a baby.

Despite the awful turnout for Lydia, it ends really rather well for Elizabeth and Jane. Bingley comes back to the neighbourhood and asks Jane to marry him. Elizabeth, swallowing her pride, thanks Darcy for his intervention with her sister and everything he has done for her family, at which point he says that he still loves her and STILL wants to marry her. Wooo! But finally this book is a great read and it is a classic for a very good reason. However, it did take a while for me to get into it and for the plot to really gain momentum. If you want to read Austen, I’d start with Emma, its delightful and easier to read. Having said that, if you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice, Do!. If you don’t fancy it, give Bridget Jones’ Diary a whirl. You’ll get the gist.