Pride and prejudice Summary : Pride and prejudice

Pride and prejudice

Summary :

Pride and prejudice was written two hundred years ago by Jane Austen and it describes a year in the life of a small group of young people who live in the country near London in a period of change ( XVIII and XIX century).

In the middle of this society we are able to find some special and funny people: The Bennet, who live with their five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine and Lydia. Mr Bennet is nice and intelligent and he dislikes the frivolity of his wife and his three young daughters but he has a good relation with Jane and Elizabeth besides he is very close to them.

Mrs Bennet is not as clever or educated as her husband. Her only aim in life is to find husbands for her daughters and her pleasures are visiting, talking and clothes.

However, their situation was worse than it seemed because of a lawyer's agreement, since Mr. Bennet had no son the property, when he died, would pass to a distant cousin, Mr. Collins. His daughters would not have nothing unless they married.

One day, a man who is called Charles Bringley leases the Netherfield estate and plans to settle with his two sisters and his brother-in-law. The arrival of this wealthy and handsome man in the neighbourhood excites Mrs Bennet who has four unmarried daughters.

A few weeks after they arrival, Charles Bringley, his family and his best friend, Dorcey, attend a public ball in the village of Merynton , where Mr Bringley shows himself to be amiable and good-natured when he dances with many young ladies and shows his admiration for Jane Bennet, the eldest of the five Bennet sisters. However, Mr. Darcey, makes poor impression on strangers, such as the people of Merynton who think he is proud, judgemental and concerned with social status, so he makes himself really unpopular despite his annual huge income.

On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet listens to him and refuses her to dance “ because she is not handsome enough for him” so she immediately thinks, as all the other people, that he is incredibly proud despite his fine figure.

Following the ball, Jane is invited for an evening at Netherfield, but catches a bad cold and is forced to rest for some days. Her sister Elizabeth goes to Netherfield to nurse her.

Meanwhile, Mr Collins, a young cousin of Mr Bennet and the entailed heir of Longbourn arrives for a visit. He has recently obtained a clerical living on the estate of Lady Catherine De Bourgh in kent and he is traying to look for a wife among his cousin's daughters. Finding that Jane appears destined for Bringley, he asks Elizabeth to get married with him but she refuses Mr Collins despite the threats of her mother. In the end he is accepted by Elizabeth's best friend, Chalotte Lucas, who is still unmarried at the age of twenty-seven.

Later, Elizabeth is introduced to a handsome young officer, Mr. Wickham, who is the son of Darcy's father's steward. This charming man makes a good impression in Merynton society, and his reports that Darcy has cheated him out of a rightful inheritance serve to further damage Darcy's reputation. This reinforces Elizabeth growing dislike of Darcy and she is relieved when he leaves, with Mr.Bringley and their family, the neighbourhood. This act causes Jane's sadness because she is in love with Charles Bringley.

However, Elizabeth encounters Darcy again on a visit to Lady Catherine ( his aunt) at Rossings Park and suddenly he reveals to her his true feelings: he loves her “in spite of her objectionable family”. After this he proposes to her but she refuses him absolutely because of what he has said and also because she thinks that Darcy persuaded Mr. Bringley to sever ties with Jane although she also mentions what Mr. Wickham said.

The next day, Mr. Darcy hands Elizabeth a letter in which he justifies his actions- he believed that Jane didn't love his friend and he didn'd want him to suffer for this girl. Darcy also reveals the true nature of Mr.Wickham, who is financially irresponsible and morally bankrupt. He also tried to get his sister to leave home and to go with him.

After reading this, the young lady is quite upset with herself but she is not totally convinced.

Later Elizabeth and her family discovers that Lydia has gone out with Mr.Wickham to another village but after Darcy's inter vention they come back home and finally they get married.

Elizabeth feelings change and after some time she receives a visiting from Lady Catherine who has discovered Mr. Darcey's feelings for Elizabeth and she tries to intimidate her into refusing his nephew.

The book ends when Jane gets married with Mr. Bringley and her younger sister, Elizabeth, gets married to Mr. Dorcey after he prososes to her again.

Laure-Hélène de Charette, TL