Written by Chrissy Chan

Jane Austen was born in 1775 at Steventon, Hampshire, a small town in southwest England, where she spent the majority of her life. She was the seventh of eight children of her father, a clergyman and was raised in the middle class society. Like other young women of her social class, Jane and her sister Cassandra were educated mostly at home in subjects of music, drawing, painting, needlework, and social behavior. Her father’s encouragement and her own enjoyment in reading led Jane to became very well read.

Jane’s middle class existence greatly influenced her writing. In her novels, Jane expressed her contempt for the superficiality of the upper class and usually made them her most comical characters. Most of Jane’s writing was done during social engagements. Jane would spend the majority of the evening in the corner of the room with her manuscript and blotter observing the world surrounding her. She would write when the room was quiet and if she were interrupted, she would cover her manuscript with a blotter and continued when the room was silent again. Pride and Prejudice, one of Jane’s earlier novels was written in this manner.

The most famous event of Jane Austen’s life would have occurred in 1815 when she become known everywhere for her books which had one the favor of the Prince of Wale. This led Jane to dedicate her next novel, Emma, to the Prince. Other then this, there is little evidence of influence in Jane’s work by events happening in England. As her brother, Henry Austen, once said in a "Biographical Notice" of Jane, "A life of usefulness, literature, and religion, was not by any means a life of events." The significant events in England during this time included the American Revolution of 1775, the Napoleonic Wars, and the industrial revolution. The remoteness of Jane’s village also contributed to Jane’s isolated life.

Before Jane Austen died of cancer in 1817 at Winchester, she had already published six successful novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion, respectively. Jane Austen is now buried in the ancient cathedral in Winchester of her native Hampshire.

Jane Austen began her second novel, Pride and Prejudice, before she was twenty-one. It was originally titled First Impression because the appearances of the characters created the plot of the novel. However, because the novel is also concerned with the effects of the character’s first impressions, that is their prejudice, Jane found the title Pride and Prejudice more appropriate.

Pride and Prejudice, similar to other Jane Austen’s novels, is written in gentle or Horacian satire. The main object of Jane’s satire in the novel is the mercenary and the ignorance of the people, a common criticism of the 18^th century. Characters in the novel which best carries these qualities are Mrs. Bennet, a foolish woman who talks too much and is obsess with getting her daughters married; Lydia Bennet, the youngest of the Bennet daughter who is devoted to a life of dancing, fashions, gossips and flirting; and Mr. Williams Collins, the silly and conceited baboon who is completely stupify by Lady Catherine in every aspect of his life that he has forgotten his own morals and duty. The tone of the novel is light, satirical, and vivid. Scenes such as Mr. Collins proposal to Elizabeth, and Lady Catherine visits to Lizzy at Longbourn, provides comic relief to the reader while at the same time revealing certain characteristics of the characters. For example, Lydia’s lack of common sense and responsibility is revealed when she takes pride in being the first Bennet girl to be married. Lydia does not take into consideration the circumstance of her marriage, the personality of her husband, or the prospects of their marriage for the future. Elizabeth Bennet’s ability to laugh off her misfortunate and to continue to be optimistic, considering her situation, also contributes to the tone of the novel. The point of view in Pride and Prejudice is limited omniscient; the story is told through Elizabeth, but not in first person. As a result, the mood of the novel lacks dramatic emotions. The atmosphere is intellectual and cold; there is little descriptions of the setting. The main actions of the novel are the interactions between opinions, ideas, and attitudes, which weaves and advances the plot of the novel. The emotions in the novel are to be perceived beneath the surface of the story and are not to be expressed to the readers directly. Jane’s powers of subtle discrimination and shrewd perceptiveness is revealed in Pride and Prejudice; she is able to convey such a complex message using a simple, yet witty, style.

The main subject in the novel is stated in the first sentence of the novel: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." In this statement, Jane has cleverly done three things: she has declared that the main subject of the novel will be courtship and marriage, she has established the humorous tone of the novel by taking a simple subject to elaborate and to speak intelligently of, and she has prepared the reader for a chase in the novel of either a husband in search of a wife, or a women in pursuit of a husband. The first line also defines Jane’s book as a piece of literature that connects itself to the 18^th century period. Pride and Prejudice is 18^th century because of the emphasis on man in his social environment rather than in his individual conditions. The use of satire and wit, a common form of 18^th century literature, also contributes to label the book as 18^th century. However, because Jane Austen had allowed personal feelings of the characters to be expressed in her work, she can also be classified as Romantic. In the figure of Elizabeth, Jane Austen shows passion attempting to find a valid mode of existence in society. Passion and reasons also comes together in the novel to show that they are complementary of marriage.

There are seven different marriages presented in the novel. Excluding the Gardiner and the Lucas, the remaining five marriages contrasts each other to reveal Jane’s opinions and thoughts on the subject of marriage.

The marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth reveals the characteristics which constitutes a successful marriage. One of these characteristics is that the feeling cannot be brought on by appearances, and must gradually develop between the two people as they get to know one another. In the beginning, Elizabeth and Darcy were distant from each other because of their prejudice. The series of events which they both experienced gave them the opportunity to understand one another and the time to reconcile their feelings for each other. Thus, their mutual understanding is the foundation of their relationship and will lead them to a peaceful and lasting marriage. This relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy reveals the importance of getting to know one’s partner before marrying. The marriage between Jane Bennet and Bingley is also an example of successful marriage. Jane Austen, through Elizabeth, expresses her opinion of this in the novel:

"....really believed all his [Bingley] expectations of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super-excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself." (Chapter 55)

However, unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, there is a flaw in their relationship. The flaw is that both characters are too gullible and too good-hearted to ever act strongly against external forces that may attempt to separate them:

"You [Jane and Bingley] are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income." (Chapter 55)

Obviously, Lydia and Wickham’s marriage is an example of an bad marriage. Their marriage was based on appearances, good looks, and youthful vivacity. Once these qualities can no longer be seen by each other, the once strong relationship will slowly fade away. As in the novel, Lydia and Wickham’s marriage gradually disintegrates; Lydia becomes a regular visitor at her two elder sister’s homes when "her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath." Through their relationship, Jane Austen shows that hasty marriage based on superficial qualities quickly cools and leads to unhappiness.

Although little is told of how Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet got together, it can be inferred by their conversions that their relationship was similar to that of Lydia and Wickham - Mr. Bennet had married a woman he found sexually attractive without realizing she was an unintelligent woman. Mrs. Bennet’s favoritism towards Lydia and her comments on how she was once as energetic as Lydia reveals this similarity. Mr. Bennet’s comment on Wickham being his favorite son-in-law reinforces this parallelism. The effect of the relationships was that Mr. Bennet would isolate himself from his family; he found refugee in his library or in mocking his wife. Mr. Bennet’s self-realization at the end of the novel in which he discovers that his lack of attention towards his family had lead his family to develop the way they are, was too late to save his family. He is Jane Austen’s example of a weak father. In these two latter relationships, Austen shows that it is necessary to use good judgement to select a spouse, otherwise the two people will lose respect for each other.

The last example of a marriage is a of a different nature than the ones mentioned above. The marriage between Mr. Collins and Charlotte is based on economics rather than on love or appearance. It was a common practice during Austen’s time for women to marry a husband to save herself from spinsterhood or to gain financial security. However, Jane Austen viewed this as a type of prostitution and disapproved of it. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen dramatizes this form of women inequality and show that women who submits themselves to this type of marriage will have to suffer in tormenting silence as Charlotte does:

"When Mr. Collins said any thing of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she [Elizabeth] would involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte. Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear." (Chapter 28)

These five marriages contributes to the theme that a happy and strong marriage takes time to build and must be based on mutual feeling, understanding, and respect. Hasty marriages acting on impulse, and based on superficial qualities will not survive and will lead to inevitable unhappiness.

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane has denounced the elements of marriage and society that she found distasteful. These are the conclusions of her observation of the people in her world. However in her writing, Jane has also reflected her own enjoyment in life among these people with and without their faults.

"Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own." This statement is interesting and excites my curiosity to find my own faults in a novel. Thus, this lead me to do a research project on Jane Austen.

Jane Austen tended to write in gentle satire which I prefer. I find that sever mockery is rude and can sometimes deeply hurt someone. Jane Austen’s writing also appealed to me because of its simplicity. I do not mean to say her work is easy to understand, but that it uses the "ordinary language of man" or "simple" English.

I choose to read Pride and Prejudice because it was the first Jane Austen book to be introduced to me. It is humorous and whenever I think of my favorite character, Mr. Collins, I can not stop myself from giggling. Mr. Collins is the most foolish and ignorant person I can ever encounter. His ability to propose to Lizzy one day and Charlotte the next is absurd and ridiculous. It is also shows to me the infidelity of men. His connections to Lady Catherine can hardly be admired. His inability to perceive this only makes his character more comical.

The subject of the novel also interests me. It is a common event which happens daily and may someday happen to me too! Reading up on the topic will expand my picture of all the different type of marriages that exists and will prepare me for the one I may someday be a victim of.

After reading Jane Austen’s works (I read Emma too because Pride and Prejudice was so good.) I have concluded that Jane Austen is my favorite author. However, I must disagree with Jane Austen when she refers to her own fiction as "the little bit (2 inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as produces little effect after much labor." She has certainly produced everlasting masterpieces that will always survive the constantly changing demand of the literature world.

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