Pride and Prejudice

Conclusion

& Extension

Outline

Your Questions? Structure Theme: Marriage & Love, Money, Class and Man

ners/Breeding Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice vs. Some 19th-Century Texts

1. Marriage & Money/Class: “The Bride Comes to Yello

w Sky” “The £1,000,000 Bank Note” 2. Woman: “She Walks in Beauty” 3. Art & Nature? Pemberley vs. Ozymandias or Grecian

Urn Pride and Prejudice in Today’s World

Why is Darcy's first name "Fitzwilliam"?

"Fitzwilliam" was Darcy's mother's surname (she was known as "Lady Anne Fitzwilliam" before her marriage to Darcy's father, and "Lady Anne Darcy" afterwards), and at the time it was rather common to give a son his mother's maiden surname as his own first name, especially if his mother's family was in some way prominent or distinguished (or sometimes another prominent family surname different from his own surname). This explains why Darcy's first name is the same as his cousin Col. Fitzwilliam's surname. (source)

More Questions and Comments

1. Why are there names with --- A realist tradition (seemingly to hide the identiti

es of the real persons and places).2. How old is Darcy? “Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; a

nd such I might have been but for you, my dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! ” (p. 282) (see a list of the characters and their ages here.)

3. Re. Charlotte’s views of knowing one before marrying him or her.

“we only need to know the general part of the personality since the more you realize, the more disappointed you get.”

More Questions and Comments

1. Why is Ms. Darcy not prejudiced against Elizabeth?

Not all aristocrats are arrogant. Ms. Darcy is shy, but not “exceedingly pr

oud.” Elizabeth is good-mannered and intellige

nt. She makes Ms. Darcy feels less embarrassed after Ms. Bingley’s mentioning Wickham.

Structure: Pattern & Contrast

Vol 1: (1) Marriage and Family -- 3 Match-Making Attempts; (Mrs. Bennet-Jane’s, Collins’, Charlotte’s)

(2) 3 Balls

Vol 2: (1) Marriage and Individuals -- 3 Sisters’ Trips

(climax: Darcy’s proposal change: letter readings)

Vol III: (1) Jane’ & Elizabeth’s changes vs. Lydia’s lack of them.

(2) Marriages – a choice of individuals while the family factors cannot be ignored.

Structure: Pattern & Contrast

Proposals: Collin’s first and 2nd proposal; Darcy’s first proposal

and 2nd proposal; Collins’ response to being rejected; Darcy’s.

Laughter: Elizabeth’s way of laughter vs. Lydia’s (e.g. when

being invited by Mrs. Forster – Lydia “laughing and talking with more violence than ever”; her letter)

Pride vs. vanity or different kinds of pride. Prejudice, wrong judgment, lack of judgment,

lack of moral principles. Different kinds of letters.

Themes: Marriage Factors to Consider: (1) Love & First Impressions

Appearance & sex —natural attraction, not to be trusted.

Respect and understanding of each other

discussion of Charlotte’s case More . .. Family connections, money and

class background

Marriage Factors to Consider: (2) Money

Daughters and young sons – no inheritance

Charlotte’s practical considerations.

Mrs. Gardiner’s suggestion to Eliza.

Colonel Fitzwilliam's remark on his marriage considerations.

Wickham’s fortune-hunting. Younger sons’ profession: clergyman, military officers Women are not supposed to work; limited choices of w

ork: e.g. governess. Therefore, for survival they mostly depend on marrying a husband or on the (meager) inheritance their parents settle for them.

Marriage Factors to Consider: (3) Class

Appendix 1: The novel’s focus: the rural elites in a country c

ommunity with their subtle class differences traditional gentry such as Darcy (with inherited land) Pseudo gentry (or lesser gentry p. 300) (e.g. Sir Luca

s and Bingley) Austen is more interested in those in the lower part of this society, since she herself is not from a rich family of traditional gentry (her father is a clergyman).

Marriage Factors to Consider: (3) Class

Elements of class distinction (in our novel): furniture, number of servants, whether one has a cook or not, a governess or not. (Appendix)

The other elements (Minma 53): “descent and connections, the length of its residence, wealth and its source, occupation.”

Those elements subject to change: income, official position and marriage (or no marriage).

a fixed order as a point of reference, never fully realized (Minma 53); a society on the brink of radical changes.

Class & Breeding/Manners

“The title of gentleman, and the respect and love of the heroine, must be earned” (302).

In other words, class distinction turns out to be less important that having good breeding, manners and intelligence.

E. over the Gardiners: Before introducing them to Darcy, she was worried ov

er their class background (business) and residence (London Cheapside)

After doing it, she finds "glory in every expression, every sentence of her uncle which marked his intelligence, his taste, or his good manners“ (III: 1)

Jane Austen –her novels as her children

An intelligent woman who is not lucky in her emotional life. (see clips 21:2; 42:42)

Both Jane and Casandra stay single all their life: (her letter to Casandra) Friday. -- At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow at the melancholy idea.“

Publish four novels anonymously. The editor wanted to change the love scenes in PP. Austen: "You say the book [PP] is indecent. You say I am immodest. But Sir in the depiction of love, modesty is the fullness of truth; and decency frankness; and so I must also be frank with you, and ask that you remove my name from the title page in all future printings; 'A lady' will do well enough."

Writing was her main interest in life and she was able to make money with selling the six novels; however, writing novels was not considered a “proper career” for women then.

PP vs. Some 19th-Century Texts Marriage & Class

Three different kinds of marriage in “Bank-Note” (US), “Yellow Sky” (US) and PP (UK—late 18th C).

“Bank-Note” – the couple: equally interested in business but not materialistic; social climbing done easily.

“Yellow Sky” – the couple, who don’t really know each other, are incompetent in the Pullman.

PP vs. Some 19th-Century Texts Woman

Pride and Prejudice But no sooner had he made it clear to himself

and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.

PP vs. Some 19th-Century Texts Woman

1. Praised as perfect and elevated to the position of goddess

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY, like the night          Of cloudless climes and starry skies;          And all that's best of dark and bright  

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;        Thus mellow'd to that tender light        Which heaven to gaudy day denies.  

2. Still an object of love.

PP vs. Some 19th-Century Texts Art vs. Nature

Piano – a lady’s “accomplishment” Pemberley: “It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing w

ell on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; -- and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned.”

The portraits tell of family history.

Ozymandias – wrecked by time; out on a desert futility of human ambition. Grecian Urn -- frozen pictures of ordinary people and their lives. “Art” and “Ambition” put in broader historical perspectives.

PP in the Present World Both film versions (melo-)dramatize it e.g. lett

er-reading, proposal scene of Wright’s version.

foreground the sexual attractions of the characters. (e.g. Darcy’s swimming in the BBC version, Eliza’s bare shoulders in Wright’s version.)

Bridget Jones’s Diary & PP

1. Bridget’s mother // Elizabeth’s2. Mark Darcy + Daniel Cleaver // F. D

arcy + Wickham; Mark Darcy’s house, the setting of Pemberley house

3. Difference: Bridget – Lonely, straightforward,

more sexually explicit in language and behavior.

Bridget Jones’s Diary—Confessions at a party

e.g. E.g. M. Darcy: I realize that when I met you at the turkey curry buffet, I was unforgivably rude, and wearing a reindeer jumper. … I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are.

Bridget: You once said you liked me just as I am and I just wanted to say likewise. I mean there are stupid things your mum buys you, tonight's another... classic. You're haughty, and you always say the wrong thing in every situation and I seriously believe that you should rethink the length of your sideburns. But, you're a nice man and I like you. If you wanted to pop by some time that might be nice... more than nice.

What’s Unchanged?

Pride – what does it mean? Prejudice caused by

lack of understanding or education, class and cultural differences

Human need for both money and love

Reference

Minma, Shinobu. “Self-Deception and Superiority Complex: Derangement of Hierarchy in Jane Austen's Emma” Eighteen Century Fiction 14. 1 (Oct, 2001): 49-65.