Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a book by Jane Austen. It was published in 1813. It was made into a movie in 1940 and again in 2005.

Plot Summary

The story starts with Mr. Bingley, a wealthy, handsome young gentleman, who comes to town and rents a place near the Bennet family. He comes, bringing clever, quiet Mr. Darcy and his pretty, glamorous sisters with him. Jane and Mr. Bingley begin to draw close to each other, even though Mrs. Bennet and the sisters of Mr. Bingley try to cut the attraction. Mr. Bingley is loved and admired by almost every woman in the town, but Mr. Darcy is soon disliked by everybody, because of his cold stony way of talking and his mean attitude. Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter of Mrs. Bennet, seems to despise him even more after the incident where he refused to dance with her at the ball, and plans to crush his pride with her sharp wit.

Elizabeth Bennet then grows to admire an officer named Wickham, who seems to equally despise Mr. Darcy. He tells her a sad story about how Mr. Darcy was cruel to him, which assures and confirms Elizabeth's hatred toward Mr. Darcy. Meanwhile,Mr. Darcy feels that he is helplessly falling in love with Elizabeth.

Bingley slowly begins to declare his proposal to Jane Bennet, when he suddenly happens to leave to Netherfield. He was not planned to leave for long but his sisters take this an opportunity to split Bingley and Jane so they follow Bingley to London. Bingley's quick leave makes Jane sad and confused. Elizabeth determines that it is because of his sisters.

Before Mr. Bingley leaves, Mr. Collins, the man who was supposed to inherit all of Longbourn, appears. The rich and pompous Lady Catherine de Bourgh had employed him to the job of a clergy man. Collins wanted to find a good wife from the daughters of Mr. Bennet, and he tries to take Jane as his wife, but after receiving the information of the relationship between her and Mr. Bingley, quickly changes his tries to Elizabeth. He proposes, too, but Elizabeth coldly rejects him (even as he tries to convince himself that she is just too embarrassed to admit that she loves him), to her mother's fury and wrath, and to her father's calm agreement. Then Collins turns his attention to Elizabeth's friend, Charlotte Lucas, and she accepts it. They marry, and Charlotte invites Elizabeth over to her house for a short visit.

Elizabeth goes to Charlotte's house at spring, and it is quite close to Rose Park, Lady Catherine de Bourgh's land. Mr. Darcy's aunt was Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and he was staying there when Elizabeth was invited to there, and they meet. Elizabeth finds out that Mr. Darcy was the one who put an end to Mr. Bingley and Jane's love, and later rejects Mr. Darcy's proposal, and replies all the prejudiced thoughts she had about his cruelness towards Wickham and Jane and Mr. Bingley's relationship.

Darcy writes an explanation to Elizabeth through a letter, and Elizabeth returns home soon after, thinking of Darcy's explanations and all her misunderstandings.

A few months later, Elizabeth visits Pemberly, Darcy's land, during her tour with her Aunt and Uncle. Mr. Darcy meets them there, and is very kind to them during their visit there, which makes Elizabeth even more drawn to him, and also to his sister Georgiana. But their relationship is again shattered by a letter from Jane, containing sad news about Lydia and Wickham's elopement. Though it was thought as an elopement, they find out that Wickham did not want to marry Lydia. Elizabeth and her Uncle and Aunt hurriedly return home, and Elizabeth thinks that now Mr. Darcy will never speak to her again because of her sister's behavior.

Then, Lydia and Wickham are found and marry because of the Uncle. Later, Lydia and Wickham visit Longbourn. While describing her wedding to Elizabeth, Lydia talks about Mr. Darcy. Surprised, Elizabeth sends an inquiry to her Aunt, and learns that Mr. Darcy had paid for all the wedding expenses and paid Wickham to marry Lydia.

Soon after, Bingley and Darcy comes to the place, and Bingley and Darcy each propose to their lovers, even though Lady Catherine tries to stop Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship.

Main Characters

• Elizabeth Bennet: A lively, clever, witty, and pretty lady of twenty. She is brave and quick-thinking. She is usually cheerful and likes to laugh at odd people. However, her family's vulgarity often makes her very uncomfortable and ashamed. She is not as beautiful as her sister Jane, but her eyes and eyelashes are described as "remarkably fine." Mr. Darcy, who is very critical about beauty, at first calls her "tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me..." However, he later realizes that "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 rendered (made) uncommonly intelligent (clever) by the beautiful expression in her dark eyes." There are also many other "mortifying" discoveries, such as that her figure, though not perfect, is "light and pleasing", and her manners, though they are not fashionable, are very charming because of its "easy playfulness." She does not know that he likes her at first, and when he proposes to her, she angrily and quickly says no to him because she knew he was the person who separated her sister and Mr. Bingley, and because she thought he was a bad man who was unjust to Mr. Wickham. When she finds out her mistakes, however, and he is very polite and kind to her, she begins to change her feelings; and when he helps her sister Lydia, she falls in love with him. He proposes again, and they marry happily.
• Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: He is very handsome, with a "fine, tall person (figure), handsome features, noble mein," and he is very, very rich, with "ten thousand a year." He is also "clever". However, everybody in Elizabeth's town soon dislike him because he is too proud and cold to be pleasing ("his manners, though well-bred, were not inviting"), and they all like the cheerful and friendly Mr. Bingley better. Elizabeth dislikes him as much as anybody, but he is attracted to her because of her prettiness and "liveliness of mind." However, he is very fastidious, and he very much dislikes Elizabeth's family because they are so vulgar (he respects and likes Jane, though, and even says she is "pretty, but she smiled too much"). He learns to bend his pride, however, at the same time as Elizabeth gets rid of her prejudice, and loyally continues to love her. He is very kind to his sister, Georgiana Darcy, and loves her.
• Mr. Charles Bingley: a "good-looking, gentlemanlike" man. He is much friendlier than Mr. Darcy, and very cheerful. He makes friends everywhere he goes, and thinks Jane is "the most beautiful creature I ever beheld (saw)," and "he could not conceive (imagine) an angel more beautiful," and Elizabeth is "very pretty, and, I dare say, very agreeable." He is patient and very modest. He is not as clever as Mr. Darcy, but he is more "sure of being liked wherever he appeared." He is sweet-tempered and kind. Miss Bingley, his sister, says his handwriting is very careless, and that "he leaves out half his words, and blots the rest."
• Jane Bennet: Elizabeth's sister, who eventually ends up with Mr. Bingley
• Caroline Bingley: Mr. Bingley's snobby sister. She tries to break up Elizabeth and Darcy, as she wants Mr. Darcy for herself.

Other websites

• Free eBook Pride and Prejudice at Project Gutenberg
• Pride and Prejudice free downloads in PDF, PDB and LIT formats
• Free audiobook from LibriVox
• Original line by line commentary of Pride and Prejudice
• A new approach to literary criticism from Humanscience wikia
• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pride/