Pride and Prejudice
SynopsisPlot
A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride and Prejudice shows how the headstrong Elizabeth Bennet and the aristocratic Mr Darcy must have their pride humbled and their prejudices dissolved before they can acknowledge their love for each other.
Story
About this book
Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813, is a novel of manners by Jane Austen. It centers on Elizabeth Bennet, the second of five daughters in a family living on the Longbourn estate in Hertfordshire. Because the estate is entailed to a male heir and neither Mr. nor Mrs. Bennet holds a separate fortune, the family's financial future depends on the daughters making suitable marriages. This practical pressure shapes much of the story's action and the choices available to its characters.
Elizabeth is observant, quick-witted, and confident in her ability to read people. When she encounters the wealthy and reserved Mr. Darcy, her early impressions harden into firm dislike. Darcy, for his part, carries assumptions of his own about Elizabeth's social standing and family. The novel tracks how both characters confront the gap between first impressions and deeper understanding, gradually recognizing where pride and snap judgment have led them astray.
Austen sets the story across country houses, village assemblies, and drawing rooms in rural England, using sharp dialogue and social detail to expose the economics and unspoken rules governing courtship in the early nineteenth century.
