"Pride and Prejudice" is one of the most significant and wittiest novels that has delighted readers for nearly two hundred years. Pride and Prejudice is written by Jane Austen. It was published in January 1813. Set in early 19th-century England, the story revolves around the Bennet family and explores themes of love, marriage, social status, and the role of women in society.
It is an ancient novel, but it is liked very much in English Literature. It is a classic novel known and read by almost everyone. It is a little complicated to understand as it is written in a language in which a typical classical book is written, and besides this, there are a lot of characters in it. Most of the classic books have a lot of characters in them. There are a lot of subplots in this novel that are running beside the main theme story. This is a romance novel, but every character has their own story that connects with each other somewhere at later stages. This book is so famous that it has a lot of adaptations. 3 movies based on its story have been produced at different times.
The story of this novel begins in a countryside called Longbourn. It is a small village. The Bennet Family is a middle-class family that lives in this village. The heads of the family are Mr & Mrs Bennet. Mr. Bennet is a simple, straightforward, and sober individual who often remains calm, but his wife, Mrs. Bennet, is a hasty illiterate woman. They have five daughters. The only purpose of Mrs. Bennet's life is to marry all her five daughters to smart boys from wealthy families, and all five girls also have the same objective in their lives. Therefore, Mrs. Bennet, their mother is eager to see her daughters married off to wealthy suitors to secure their future.
The girls in the 17th century were not doing jobs or being well educated. So, they wanted to marry rich and intelligent boys to settle well in their lives to have a safe, secure, and happy future. This is the goal of the Bennet Family. The eldest daughter in the Bennet Family is Jane Bennet. She is a friendly, pleasant, and beautiful girl. She always looks gorgeous, and her hair is neat and tidy. She wears beautiful clothes. She is very sophisticated to talk. In short, any boy seeing Jan will fall in love with her.
The second girl is Elizabeth Bennet whose nickname is Lizy. Elizabeth is the protagonist of the story. She is an intelligent and independent young girl. She is also beautiful, but she never maintains herself like Jan Bennet. Her hair is scattered, and she wears simple dresses, but she always has a strong point of view. She is a strong-headed girl. Charlotte Lucas is her best friend and lives with her everywhere.
The third girl is Mary Bennet. She is usually reading books. She is an introvert and always used to give lectures to people.
The fourth one is Kitty Bennet. Kitty Bennet and Mary Bennet are the short characters of this book. So, there is no lengthy description of them in the story.
The youngest daughter in the Bennet family is Lydia Bennet. Lydia is one of the most pampered and darling girls in the family. She is always looking at the boys and remains in search of smart and wealthy boys. She has the only work of looking at boys in her life and thinks and wishes to be married to one of them.
Slightly away from the Bennet family, there is a place called Netherfield Park where the Bingley family comes to live. Charles Bingley is one of the members of the Bingley family who is a handsome and rich single boy. He has two sisters. One is married while the other one is unmarried. There are no details about the married sister in the story. The name of the unmarried sister is Caroline Bingley who is very snobbish. She lives with Charles Bingley. Charles Bingley also has a wealthy and proud friend Fitzwilliam Darcy. He is the second protagonist in the story and who is our hero in the story. Though William Darcy has come to Netherfield Park for a few days now he doesn't want to go back. His parents are deceased. He has a younger sister Georgina Darcy who lives in London.
When Mrs. Bennet learns that Mr. Charles Bingley who is a single, smart wealthy boy has come to live in her neighborhood and looking for a girl to marry, she becomes very excited and wishes that Mr. Charles Bingley should marry one of her daughters. She thinks she to be lucky if it happens. When she tells this to her five daughters, they also become very excited to meet Charles Bingley.
The next event is a ball party in the city. Charles Bingley also comes to the party. Therefore, Mrs. Bennet also asks her daughters to get ready for the party. Then, she takes all five daughters to the party. There are a lot of people at the ball party. The young ones dance. Charles Bingley also comes to the party and as he meets the Bennet family, he falls in love with Jan Bennet at first sight who is the eldest and most beautiful among all the five daughters of Mrs. Bennet. Now Charles and Jan take an interest in each other and start dancing. Both the family observe their dance and they understand that they are attracted to each other.
After the dance, Charles Bingley goes and asks William Darcy what he is doing there. He asks him to dance. William replies that he will not dance as he likes no one there. Charles incites him to dance with Jan's sister Elizabeth who looks beautiful, but William rejects her saying she is normal and says he feels good being alone. Elizabeth listens to William's conversation and she feels very bad. She thinks, "he doesn't know me, how can he pass such remarks about me". So, William Darcy's initial pride and aloofness lead Elizabeth to develop a strong prejudice against him.
In this book, pride is of William Darcy and prejudice is of Elizabeth. William Darcy is a person who is very rich and roams with pride. He is arrogant and has an ego. Therefore, he gives importance to himself. When he talks to anyone, his first impression is that he is arrogant. The ball party is over and they all go home.
In the next event, Charles Bingley's sister Caroline Bingley sends a letter to the Bennet Family in which she invites Jane Bennet for dinner. Bennet's Family becomes very excited and considers it a nod to some important matter. Mrs. Bennet asks Jane Bennet to ride on a horse and go alone instead of sending her in a special carriage. It is raining outside and she can be ill but Mrs. Bennet does all this intentionally. She wants Jane to become sick and stay for a long time at Charles Bingley's home on the pretext of her illness. So, all happens according to the plan. Jane becomes ill as it is raining out and she goes alone on a horse in severe cold. Bingley's Family requests Jane to stay for a few days and go when she gets well,
Mrs. Bennet doesn't tell all this to anyone at home. Therefore, they become worried when Jane gets late as there is no means of communication at that time. Elizabeth becomes very anxious and she decides to go to Netherfield Park after her sister to know how her sister is. So, Elizabeth goes there. Her sister Jane feels well now, but Bingley's Family requests her to stay for some days.
Elizabeth and Darcy meet each other again and an altercation occurs between them. Therefore, her prejudice against Darcy becomes extensive, but William Darcy feels attractive to Elizabeth. Caroline Bingley doesn't like it as she likes Darcy for herself. Therefore, in reaction, she begins to dislike Elizabeth. Jane and Elizabeth go home after a week.
In the next event, the entry of a new character Mr. Collins takes place. Mr. Collins is the cousin of all the girls in the Bennet Family. Since there is no boy in the Bennet Family and the property of the Bennet Family can't be inherited by girls but must be inherited by a boy, Mrs. Bennet wants Mr. Collins to marry her daughter. So, the property inherited by him will also remain with her daughter. Mr. Colline also wishes to marry a girl. Mr. Collins works for a lady Catherine. She has asked him that if he marries a girl, she will nominate him as a dean.
When Mr. Collins arrives, he meets with the Bennet Family and he likes Jane at first sight. He tells Mrs. Bennet that he likes Jane, but she tells him Janes has already been engaged to Charles Bingley. Therefore, she tells him to marry Elizabeth as she is a beautiful and good substitute, and Mr. Collins agrees. But Elizabeth doesn't like him and she insults him. Mr. Collins tries to explain that he is going to become a dean and she will be happy with him. He will give her a good life, but Elizabeth never likes him and rejects him. So, he goes away.
The next event in the story is very surprising and especially a very sad one for Jane Bennet. She receives a letter from Caroline Bingley and tells her that they are going back to London and will never return. Therefore, she should forget about Charles Bingley. Charles Bingley will marry William Darcy's younger sister and will settle in London. So, it is better to forget about what happened between you and never try to contact us. Jane becomes very anxious and is unable to understand what is going on. Everything was alright and she didn't know what happened suddenly. Charles has already proposed to her. They were going to marry. Therefore, she couldn't expect this.
Elizabeth thinks that possibly William Darcy might have stopped his friend Charles Bingley from marrying the Bennet Family. Obviously, we are not rich and he also doesn't like me. So, he might have done all this. So, her prejudice against William Darcy gets stronger, and she begins to hate him severely. The Bennet Family is very grieved. Jane weeps every time.
In the next event, a group of military soldiers comes to Longbourn. All the Bennet girls get excited, especially the youngest Lydia. All go to see who is coming. In the group of soldiers, there is a handsome boy George Wickham who begins to like Elizabeth, and she also likes him very much. George Wickham is like a villain in the story. Initially, he looks like a gentleman, but later, he is exposed. George talks to Elizabeth politely and treats her in a good manner. He portrays himself as a sober good human being to impress her to get her attention and love. She begins liking him. When George and Darcy meet, they give an evil look to each other, and it may be one of the reasons for her liking George. Elizabeth also becomes a little confused and thinks about whether they already know each other and why they are looking at each other so strangely. She goes to George and asks him if he knows Darcy or otherwise, and why he is looking at Darcy like that. He replies that yes, he knows Darcy and that he was living with his father and his father always treated him like his own son. His father also wanted to transfer his property to my name, but when his father died, I don't know what happened to William Darcy. He kicked me out of his home as well as from the property. He also snatched my job and didn't give me any money. That's why I became a soldier though I didn't want to do this job. He did very bad to me. So, I hate him very much.
Learning this, Elizabeth gets bothered and thinks Darcy is a very bad human being. He also broke my sister's marriage. He also expelled George from the service. She becomes very infuriated and her aversion against Darcy grows much stronger, and this hatred brings her closure to George.
In the next event, we learn through the news that Mr. Collins married Charlotte Lukas who is the best friend of Elizabeth. They are attracted to each other and we know that Mr. Collin had to marry someone and Elizabeth had already rejected him. So, he married Charlotte Lukas. Elizabeth is happy for both Mr. Collin and Charlotte Lukas and Mr. Collin will not dog her anymore. She goes to a place to meet them. When she goes there, Lady Catherin is also there who is the aunt of William Darcy. Lady Catherin organizes a party there to which William Darcy also comes. William Darcy is attracted to Elizabeth but still, he has not overcome his pride and arrogance. At the party, he goes and proposes to Elizabeth, but he is arrogant and proposes to Elizabeth in a way that seems to her like he is insulting her. Therefore, she rejects his proposal and tells him what he has done. She said to him, “You have already broken her sister's marriage with Charles Bingley, and you have also dismissed George Wickham from his service and now you are proposing to me in such an insulting and arrogant way. I will never accept your proposal”. She tells him never to talk to me again.
William Darcy feels it foul and insulting and leaves the party, but he leaves a letter for Elizabeth in which he explains that he has done nothing to Jane. He says that he was very happy for them instead.
He also explains in the letter that he dismissed George from his service for the reason that he seduced his younger sister to go with him from home. He took her away from home but never married. So, I got infuriated to snatch his job. I never disclosed this to anyone because it was about my sister and I never wanted to disgrace my sister. So, this is the reason why I hate George Wickham.
When Elizabeth reads the letter, she develops a soft corner for William Darcy. She thinks that her prejudice against William Darcy is wrong. After reading the letter, Elizabeth goes back to home Longbourn whereas William Darcy goes back to London.
After going home, Elizabeth tells Jane why William Darcy did all that. She shows her the letter and they discuss that they developed a prejudice against him, but he is actually a good human being. In fact, George Wickham is a really bad person. Elizabeth starts hating George and stays away from him.
In the next event, two new characters enter the story, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. They are close to Bennet Family and they are their uncle and aunt. Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner invite Elizabeth to join them on a visit and Elizabeth goes with them on a trip to Pemberley Estate, home of William Darcy. So, they meet again there, and when he learns that Elizabeth has come with them, he starts to regale them. He takes them on tours and entertains them a lot to impress Elizabeth. Elizabeth is impressed and she develops good emotions about William Darcy. So, they become closer, but meanwhile, bad news comes that Lydia elopes with George Wickham and they are missing. They become worried. Elizabeth goes back home after the holidays, and they search for Lydia everywhere.
In the meantime, Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner give the news to the Bennet family that Lydia has been found, but George Wickham is not ready to marry her. He says that he will marry her only then when he will be given some money. The money has been given to George Wickham and now he is going to marry Lydia. The Bennet family becomes a little calm and thinks that Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner has given him the money, but actually, the money has been given by Darcy. Lydia tells this them herself when they go to meet her.
Lydia takes Elizabeth to a corner and tells her the whole story. She tells her that George wanted money to marry her and Darcy came to the rescue. Darcy gave him the money because he loves you and he didn't want your sister to face any trouble. What he has done, has done only for you. He also convinces Charles Bingley to marry Jane as she is a good and perfect match for him.
When our heroin Elizabeth learns all this, she completely falls in love with Darcy and finally, they get married. Charles Bingley and Jane also marry. George Wickham marries Lydia, but there is no info about Mary and Kitty. So, this is how the story ends in a happy ending.
The story emphasizes the importance of self-reflection overcoming prejudices, and the pursuit of genuine love and happiness, rather than focusing solely on wealth and social standing.