Jane Austen (8 page)

On 26 October 1813 Jane, in a letter to Cassandra from Godmersham Park, clearly believed that Edward had made a bad match:

The novel began life as
First Impressions
(written by Jane between October 1796, when she was aged 21, and August 1797). It was revised in 1812, renamed
Pride and Prejudice
and published in January 1813 by Thomas Egerton.

Mr Bennet and his wife have five daughters and it is Elizabeth, the second of them, who is the principal character in the story. Of the other daughters, Jane, the eldest, makes the acquaintance of a Mr Bingley who rents a neighbouring country house and Lydia meets army officer Mr Wickham of the local militia. The book begins with the famous line, ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’.

There is an abundance of humour in the story, beginning in the very first chapter with Mrs Bennet telling Mr Bennet that he has no compassion on her ‘poor nerves’. To which he replies:

At a ball, Mr Bingley introduces the assembled company to Mr Darcy who:

However:

This is Jane Austen laying down the acceptable standards of good manners by which a prospective husband should be judged. Meanwhile, Lydia pursues the officers of the local militia with gusto. ‘If we make haste, perhaps we may see something of Captain Carter before he goes’.

Mr Bennet’s cousin and heir to the estate – which includes the abode of the Bennets (property in those days always descending through the male line) – is Mr Collins, a clergyman whose patroness is Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt. Collins is described as having originally possessed ‘great humility of manner’, but this was now ‘a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head’. He declares admiringly that, ‘he had never in his life witnessed such behaviour in a person of rank – such affability and condescension, as he had himself experienced from Lady Catherine’.

A favourite device of Jane Austen’s is to place her hero – e.g. Darcy – in the position of being wrongly accused of some misdemeanour. This is so in
Pride and Prejudice
, where Wickham confides to Elizabeth Bennet that Darcy had failed to honour a promise he made; the promise being that he would provide for Wickham after his father’s death. (Mr Darcy Senior being Wickham’s godfather).

When Mr Collins makes a proposal of marriage to the unsuspecting Elizabeth, he gives his reasons for marrying as:

Needless to say, Elizabeth summarily declines his offer. Elizabeth’s mother, who is extremely disappointed by her daughter’s decision, now gives her an ultimatum in regard to her refusal of Mr Collins. Upon this ultimatum Elizabeth’s father makes the following comment:

Mr Collins speaks in glowing terms about Lady Catherine’s home ‘Rosings’, and in sycophantic terms about the lady herself. When the Bennets are invited to ‘Rosings’ for a meal, he expresses the hope that ‘so many servants, and so splendid a dinner might not wholly overpower them’. As for their attire:

When the Bennets are introduced to Lady Catherine they find her to be a highly opinionated woman. Elizabeth, however, is not to be put down. When her ladyship expresses astonishment that the younger Bennet sisters are ‘out’ [i.e. have entered
society] before the elder ones are married, Elizabeth argues that this was not a sufficient reason for the younger ones to be denied ‘their share of society and amusement’. When Lady Catherine tells Elizabeth that she will never play the pianoforte really well unless she practises more, even Darcy looks ‘a little ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding’. In other words, simply because Lady Catherine is who she is, this does not excuse her for being ill-mannered.

Elizabeth shows a similar determination not to be intimidated, this time by Darcy who approaches the pianoforte as she is playing and singing:

Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth and tells her ‘how ardently I admire and love you’. He also declares that, ‘his sense of her [social] inferiority’ causes him to be apprehensive and anxious. This, to Elizabeth, is like a red rag to a bull:

Needless to say, Elizabeth refuses his proposal, just as previously she had refused the proposal of Mr Collins. However:

In discussing marriage, Elizabeth gives the relationship between her father and mother, Mr and Mrs Bennet, as an example of the pitfalls which may be encountered on entering that state of union:

Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s sister Jane, who has formed a romantic attachment to Bingley, learns that the latter has gone to London and will not be returning for some time. When Elizabeth discovers that Darcy has ‘lately saved a friend’ from a young lady against whom he [Darcy] had ‘strong objections’, she guesses that this is a reference to Bingley and her sister Jane, and she is greatly distressed.

When Darcy writes to Elizabeth explaining the truth about Wickham – that the latter had behaved extravagantly and dissolutely, and had attempted to elope with Darcy’s sister Georgiana – she sees the error of her ways. Her behaviour, she says, has been ‘blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd. How despicably have I acted! I, who have prided myself on my discernment!’

Elizabeth learns that her younger sister Lydia has eloped with Wickham and she feels guilty that she had been blind to the latter’s true character. Not only that, but the event has wider implications:

And because of this disgrace, she honestly feels that even though she could have loved Darcy, in these new and tragic circumstances ‘all love must be in vain’. Mr Collins does not make matters easier when he writes to Mr Bennet about the elopement in a most unchristian way: ‘The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this.’ When Lydia and Wickham are finally located, they consent to be married under the terms of an arrangement to be made with Mr Bennet, whereby the latter is to make a financial settlement on his daughter. It later transpires that Darcy had played a key role in persuading Wickham to marry, by purchasing for him a commission in the regular army, and also providing the sum of
£
1,000 for Lydia’s dowry.

A subsequent meeting between Elizabeth and Wickham is cordial, in accordance with Jane Austen’s philosophy that there is no such thing as a permanent enemy and life must go on, wherever possible, in peaceful co-existence. Elizabeth says, ‘Come, Mr Wickham, we are brother and sister, you know. Do not let us quarrel about the past. In future, I hope we shall be always of one mind’, whereupon he kisses her proffered hand ‘with affectionate gallantry’.

A meeting with Lady Catherine provides Elizabeth with another opportunity of demonstrating her independence of spirit. When Elizabeth is asked to promise that she will never enter into an engagement with Darcy her response is: ‘I will make no promise of the kind. I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable.’ Her ladyship then tells her that she is an ‘unfeeling and selfish girl’. To which Elizabeth retorts:

When Darcy and Elizabeth take a walk together it is he who now expresses regret. The recollection of his conduct and manners, he says:

Darcy also confesses to Elizabeth what she had already guessed: that he
had
interfered in the courtship of Bingley and her sister Jane; an interference which he now describes as ‘absurd and impertinent’. Darcy had, at first, thought that Jane was indifferent to Bingley. However, he later changed his mind and now, being convinced of their affection he ‘felt no doubt of their happiness together’. The story ends happily with the marriage of the two sisters: Elizabeth to Darcy, and Jane to Bingley.

In
Pride and Prejudice
, the heroine Elizabeth, highly conventional in many ways, is highly avant-garde in others. She sees no reason to suppose that Darcy is in any way her superior, simply because he is an aristocratic and landed person. Neither does she consider that his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, simply because of her status in society, has any right to make judgements about Elizabeth’s younger sisters, or to interfere in her choice of a partner. In other words, a mere difference in social status should not take precedence over the love which two people feel for one another.