Monday 16 December 2013

Book Review

Posted by Rebecca at 07:59

Pride And Prejudice 


Brief Outline

Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by Jane Austen about Elizabeth Bennett and her family. It follows her journey to marriage and tells of the tales or marriage of her friends and family, for example her friend Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins because she 'has' to, she believes she has become a problem to her parents because she was not married and The youngest daughter Lydia Elopes with Mr Wickham. Then the book follows Elizabeth and her journey to her marriage to Mr. Darcy mainly, but describes how for women to survive in this age they had to marry rich. Elizabeth defied this normality by refusing engagement not just once but twice, from Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy. 

A Character You Found Interesting.

I found the character of Elizabeth Bennett to be most interesting, as she has a strong personality and doesn't take the easy option in life. She displays this many times through out the novel e.g. when she turns down Mr Collins and Mr Darcy. Although I admire her strength she does have a weakness of prejudice, which the book title is based upon. She judges Mr Darcy before she learns the whole story but as she over comes this obstacle she becomes a better person and falls in love with Mr Darcy.

A Theme That is Explored

A theme explored in Pride and Prejudice is Class. The idea of class almost prevented the marriage of both Elizabeth and her older sister Jane by Mr Darcy. He pride comes from his high position in aristocracy. He believes that Jane is not good enough for Mr Bingly and is only marrying him for his money not love. Then he is rude to Elizabeth saying 'She is not handsome enough to tempt me, she is only tolerable' because of who her family is. This also is a factor in Elizabeth's prejudice to Mr Darcy that because he is in a higher class he is an ignorant snob, at the beginning of the novel he fits this description but proves otherwise towards the end. Through the novel Mr Darcy learns that factors other than wealth determines if you belong in aristocracy or not. For example Ms Bingly and Ms Hurst were born into aristocracy, and  are mean spirited and annoying where as Mr and Mrs Gardiner are part of aristocracy due too their good breeding and their intelligence.

Insight you gained into the world of text

From reading this novel I have discovered how much society has progressed in some aspects and the lack of progression in other areas. Such as women do not need to depend on marriage to live a good life. But women are still treated unequal to men in some cases. 

What type of vision or viewpoint does the author have? Is it a Dark/Bright insight of the world?

Jane Austen has a vision of a world where women don't need to depend on the opposite sex, she shows this through Elizabeth for a while in the novel in the way she stays true to her beliefs and refuses a marriage proposal.The author has both a bright and dark insight into the world of the novel as she shows how cruel men can be but also how kind they can also be. For example Mr Wickham was painted as the deprived solider but turned out to be a deceiving manipulative man  when he elopes with Lydia so he would get the Bennett estate and also got a 'bribe' from Mr Darcy. This is how Mr Darcy proves he isn't mean spirited and cruel. 

Comment on The Imagery in the novel

There is a lot of imagery in the novel which is brought to life with help from the numerous visual aids available to us. She uses descriptive manner when she wrote the novel. This makes it easier to imagine the scenes in the novel as if you where there. She also is very good at describing the feelings the characters experience like the heartbreak suffered by Elizabeth many times.

Did You Like The Novel?  Would You Like to Live There ?

I did enjoy the novel because it kept you guessing through out it, there were unexpected twists and turns like uncovering Wickhams past and finding out Mr Darcy paid Wickham to stay with Lydia.

In my opinion I would not like to live in this world as it is very hard to be a woman in this time. They had to depend on their husband and were not aloud to get jobs or even take part in any sport which i would find very difficult. 
Overall i really enjoyed the novel and would recommend it to anyone to read it.

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