PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Jane Austen (1775-1817) I read again, and for the third time at least, Miss

Austen's very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died of so early. Sir Walter Scott LIFE AND WORKS OF JANE AUSTEN Jane Austen was born in Stevenson, England, in 1775, where she lived for the first twenty-five years of her life. Her father, George Austen, was the rector of the local parish and taught her largely at home. She began to write while in her teens and completed the original manuscript of Pride and Prejudice, titled First Impressions, between 1796 and 1797. A publisher rejected the manuscript, and it was not until 1809 that Austen began the revisions that would bring it to its final form. Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813, two years after Sense and Sensibility, her first novel, and it achieved a popularity that has endured to this day. Austen published four more novels: Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. The last two were published in 1818, a year after her death. During Austens life, however, only her immediate family knew of her

authorship of these novels. At one point, she wrote behind a door that creaked when visitors approached; this warning allowed her to hide manuscripts before anyone could enter. Though publishing anonymously prevented her from acquiring an authorial reputation, it also enabled her to preserve her privacy at a time when English society associated a females entrance into the public sphere with a reprehensible loss of femininity. Additionally, Austen may have sought anonymity because of the more general atmosphere of repression pervading her era. As the Napoleonic Wars (18001815) threatened the safety of monarchies throughout Europe, government censorship of literature proliferated. The social milieu of Austens Regency England was particularly stratified, and class divisions were rooted in family connections and wealth. In her work, Austen is often critical of the assumptions and prejudices of upper class England. She distinguishes between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit (rank and possessions). Though she frequently satirizes snobs, she also pokes fun at the poor breeding and misbehaviour of those lower on the social scale. Nevertheless, Austen was in many ways a realist, and the England she depicts is one in which social mobility is limited and class- consciousness is strong. Socially regimented ideas of appropriate behaviour for each gender factored into Austens work as well. While social advancement for young men lay in the military, church, or law, the chief method of selfimprovement for women was the acquisition of wealth. Women could only accomplish this goal through successful marriage, which explains the

ubiquity of matrimony as a goal and topic of conversation in Austen's writing. Though young women of Austen's day had more freedom to choose their husbands than in the early eighteenth century, practical considerations continued to limit their options. Jane Austen started to write at a time when the Romantic Movement was expressing its passionate involvement with the landscape, in particular, the melancholic aspects of gothic ruins, and the natural world in general. She was one of the few writers to adopt an irreverent attitude to this obsession. Edward Ferraris, speaking to the impressionable Marianne, in Sense and Sensibility, admits his confusion when attempting to describe a picturesque landscape and when Henry Tinley decides to lecture on the picturesque to Catherine, in Northanger Abbey, she was so hopeful a scholar that when they gained the top of Beechen Cliff, she voluntarily rejected the whole city of Bath, as unworthy to make part of a landscape. In many ways, Jane Austens detached, ironic style was an antithesis of the Romantic ideal. Many people have commented on the modernity of her novels. Elizabeth Bowen in English Novelists suggests this comment is an agreeable way of saying that she is still some distance ahead of us. She followed in the wake of the success of Fielding and Richardson and her sense of comedy and style has been likened to that of Fielding. She is noted for the precision of her observations. Her attention to detail is a means to enlighten a subject. As Elizabeth Bowen notes, she applies big truths to little scenes.

Even so, critics often accuse Austen of portraying a limited world. As a clergymans daughter, Austen would have done parish work and was certainly aware of the poor around her. However, she wrote about her own world, not theirs. The critiques she makes of class structure seem to include only the middle class and upper class; the lower classes, if they appear at all, are generally servants who seem perfectly pleased with their lot. This lack of interest in the lives of the poor may be a failure on Austens part, but it should be understood as a failure shared by almost all of English society at the time. In general, Austen occupies a curious position between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Her favourite writer, whom she often quotes in her novels, was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great model of eighteenthcentury classicism and reason. Her plots, which often feature characters forging their respective ways through an established and rigid social hierarchy, bear similarities to such works of Johnsons contemporaries as Pamela, written by Samuel Richardson. However, Austens novels also display an ambiguity about emotion and an appreciation for intelligence and natural beauty that aligns them with Romanticism. In their awareness of the conditions of modernity and city life and the consequences for family structure and individual characters, they prefigure much Victorian literature (as does her usage of such elements as frequent formal social gatherings, sketchy characters, and scandal).

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813, is Janes Austens earliest work, and in some senses also one of her most mature works. Austen began writing the novel in 1796 at the age of twenty-one, under the title First Impressions. The original version of the novel was probably in the form of an exchange of letters. Austen's father had offered him manuscript for publication in 1797, but the publishing company refused to even consider it. Shortly after completing First Impressions, Austen began writing Sense and Sensibility, which was not published until 1811. She also wrote some minor works during that time, which were later expanded into full novels. Between 1810 and 1812 Pride and Prejudice was rewritten for publication. While the original ideas of the novel come from a girl of 21, the final version has the literary and thematic maturity of a thirty-five year old woman who has spent years painstakingly drafting and revising, as is the pattern with all of Austens works. Pride and Prejudice is usually considered to be the most popular of Austens novels. One of the first novels written in the English language, and one of the wittiest, Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice has delighted readers for nearly two hundred years. First published in 1813, during a time when England still faced the grave threat posed by Napoleonic France, Pride and Prejudice offers an intensely personal story in which the drawing rooms of uppermiddle class society are the setting for the extended courtship of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. In a society in which women scramble to find

husbands amid the stumbling blocks of financial snobbery and class prejudice, Austens novel celebrates the ultimate triumph of romantic love over all impediments. The novel is written in light, airy, sparkling prose, and its pages are filled with quick-witted, immensely entertaining dialogue. Austen herself feared that Pride and Prejudice, for all its popular appeal, was rather too light and bright, and sparkling, to be considered a serious novel. In addition to the delightful dialogue and happy ending, the novel offers an unforgettable portrait of a particular society with all of its charms and blemishes. Darcy and Elizabeth move through a landscape dotted with brilliantly-drawn characters, from Elizabeth's parentsthe idiotic, marriageobsessed Mrs. Bennet and detached, droll Mr. Bennetto the pretentious and sanctimonious clergyman, Mr. Collins, and the rakish, golddigging militia officer Wickham. The novels scenery is limited to wellappointed homes and estates, but its exploration of the human condition is unlimited. Pride and Prejudice is a comedy of manners; comparable to Shakespeares comedies in the delight it takes in conversation and wordplay. It is also a pitch-perfect piece of social commentary, brilliantly dissecting the foolish, class-based prejudices of its characters, from the tooproud Mr. Darcy (who eventually reforms himself) to the snotty Miss Bingley and the absurdly self-important Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Best of all, it never oversimplifies. Austen's prose expertly skewers the wellborn and the lower classes alike. Even in its most biting moments, the novel never loses its sense of good cheer, and never ceases carrying its readers toward the

destination they desire: the final triumph of true love over all obstacles. MAJOR THEMES PRIDE As said in the words of Mary at the beginning of the novel, human nature is particularly prone to [pride]. In the novel, pride prevents the characters from seeing the truth of a situation and from achieving happiness in life. Pride is one of the main barriers that create an obstacle to Elizabeth and Darcys marriage. Darcys pride in his position in society leads him initially to scorn anyone outside of his own social circle. Elizabeths vanity clouds her judgment, making her prone to think ill of Darcy and to think well of Wickham. In the end, Elizabeths rebukes of Darcy help him to realize his fault and to change accordingly, as demonstrated in his genuinely friendly treatment of the Gardiners, whom he previously would have scorned because of their low social class. Darcys letter shows Elizabeth that her judgments were wrong and she realizes that they were based on vanity, not on reason. PREJUDICE Pride and prejudice are intimately related in the novel. As critic A. Walton Litz comments, in Pride and Prejudice one cannot equate Darcy with Pride, or Elizabeth with Prejudice; Darcys pride of place is founded on social prejudice, while Elizabeths initial prejudice against him is rooted in pride of her own quick perceptions. Darcy, having been brought up in such a way that he began to scorn all those outside his own social circle, must overcome his prejudice in order to see that Elizabeth would be a good wife

for him and to win Elizabeths heart. The overcoming of his prejudice is demonstrated when he treats the Gardiners with great civility. The Gardiners are a much lower class than Darcy, because Mr. Darcy is a lawyer and must practice a trade to earn a living, rather than living off of the interest of an estate as gentlemen do. From the beginning of the novel Elizabeth prides herself on her keen ability for perception. Yet this supposed ability is often lacking, as in Elizabeth's judgments of Darcy and Wickham. FAMILY Austen portrays the family as primarily responsible for the intellectual and moral education of children. Mr. and Mrs. Bennets failure to provide this education for their daughters leads to the utter shamelessness, foolishness, frivolity, and immorality of Lydia. Elizabeth and Jane have managed to develop virtue and strong characters in spite of the negligence of their parents, perhaps through the help of their studies and the good influence of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, who are the only relatives in the novel that take a serious concern in the girls well-being and provide sound guidance. Elizabeth and Jane are constantly forced to put up with the foolishness and poor judgment of their mother and the sarcastic indifference of their father. Even when Elizabeth advises her father not to allow Lydia to go to Brighton, he ignores the advice because he thinks it would too difficult to deal with Lydias complaining. The result is the scandal of Lydia's elopement with Wickham. WOMEN AND MARRIAGE Austen is critical of the gender injustices present in 19th century

English society. The novel demonstrates how money such as Charlotte need to marry men they are not in love with simply in order to gain financial security. The entailment of the Longbourn estate is an extreme hardship on the Bennet family, and is quite obviously unjust. The entailment of Mr. Bennet's estate leaves his daughters in a poor financial situation which both requires them to marry and makes it more difficult to marry well. Clearly, Austen believes those women are at least as intelligent and capable as men, and considers their inferior status in society to be unjust. She herself went against convention by remaining single and earning a living through her novels. In her personal letters Austen advises friends only to marry for love. Through the plot of the novel it is clear that Austen wants to show how Elizabeth is able to be happy by refusing to marry for financial purposes and only marrying a man whom she truly loves and esteems. CLASS Considerations of class are omnipresent in the novel. The novel does not put forth an egalitarian ideology or call for the levelling of all social classes, yet it does criticize an over-emphasis on class. Darcys inordinate pride is based on his extreme class-consciousness. Yet eventually he sees that factors other than wealth determine who truly belongs in the aristocracy. While those such as Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, who are born into the aristocracy, are idle, mean-spirited and annoying, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are not members of the aristocracy in terms of wealth or birth but are natural aristocrats by virtue of their intelligence, good-breeding and virtue. The

comic formality of Mr. Collins and his obsequious relationship with Lady Catherine serve as a satire class consciousness and social formalities. In the end, the verdict on class differences is moderate. As critic Samuel Kliger notes, It the conclusion of the novel makes it clear that Elizabeth accepts class relationships as valid, it becomes equally clear that Darcy, through Elizabeths genius for treating all people with respect for their natural dignity, is reminded that institutions are not an end in them but are intended to serve the end of human happiness. INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY The novel portrays a world in which society takes an interest in the private virtue of its members. When Lydia elopes with Wickham, therefore, it is scandal to the whole society and an injury to entire Bennet family. Darcy considers his failure to expose the wickedness of Wickhams character to be a breach of his social duty because if Wickhams true character had been known others would not have been so easily deceived by him. While Austen is critical of society's ability to judge properly, as demonstrated especially in their judgments of Wickham and Darcy, she does believe that society has a crucial role in promoting virtue. Austen has a profound sense that individuals are social beings and that their happiness is found through relationships with others. According to critic Richard Simpson, Austen has a thorough consciousness that man is a social being, and that apart from society there is not even the individual. VIRTUE Austens novels unite Aristotelian and Christian conceptions of virtue.

She sees human life as purposeful and believes that human beings must guide their appetites and desires through their use of reason. Elizabeths folly in her misjudgements of Darcy and Wickham is that her vanity has prevented her from reasoning objectively. Lydia seems almost completely devoid of virtue because she has never trained herself to discipline her passions or formed her judgment such that she is capable of making sound moral decisions. Human happiness is found by living a life in accordance with human dignity, which is a life in accordance with virtue. Selfknowledge has a central place in the acquisition of virtue, as it is a prerequisite for moral improvement. Darcy and Elizabeth are only freed of their pride and prejudice when their dealings with one another help them to see their faults and spur them to improve. MOST EXPECTED QUESTIONS Q: DISCUSS JANE AUSTEN AS A MORALIST? Q: IS THEME OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE CENTRAL TO PRIDE AND PREJUDICE? Q: JANE AUSTEN IS CONCERNED TO MARRIAGE AND ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS OF HER AGE, DO YOU AGREE? Q: JANE AUSTEN GAVE THE REAL FORMULA OF HAPPY MARRIAGE, WHAT IS THAT? Ans: Since Jane Austen deals with life; she deals with morality and is, therefore, basically a moralist though not an explicit one. Elizabeth Bennet echoes Jane Austens moral concern when she remarks, The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it, Pride and Prejudice is basically a didactic novel. Her pre-occupation is with the way people behaved.

Jane Austen criticizes coarse and inadequate standards. She laughs at the silly behaviour of the people on the didactic level. Pride and Prejudice displays and illustrates the dangers of excessive pride and overweaning prejudice. But the story is too complex to allow a merely didactic interpretation. According to Doroth van Ghend, Jane Austens subject matter is limited to the manners of a small section of English countrygentry. Jane Austen criticizes the social and moral standards and manners, which are almost entirely those of money and snobbery. David Daches remarks that Jane Austen is in a sense a Marxist before Marx. She exposes the economic basis of social behaviour with an ironic smile. The tale is that of a manhunt. The desperation of the hunt is the desperation of economic survival. Jane Austen ironically describes how girls in family like the Bennets must succeed in capturing rich young men in order to survive. This is the need of a civilized community. The man hunters must observe the most refined behaviour and sentiments. The female is a lady and the male is a gentle man and they must fall in love and get married. The marriage problem is set broadly because social call must be made on the single gentleman of good fortune who had settled in neighbourhood. In the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, the words like fortune, property, business, establishment, and possession have been consistently used. Property is more important than feelings and love. Jane Austen ironically makes us realize that an individual marries society as well as his mate. The society she describes is property oriented. In the union of Jane and

Bingley and Charlotte and Collins, we find the obsessive social formula of marriage to property. Marriage is thus symbolic act of marriage with society in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen deliberately uses mercantile vocabulary to satirize the sophisticated civilization of her day. The novel makes clear in the figure of Charlotte Lucas, that to give oneself to a man without desire is a polite form of prostitution. It is to sacrifice what is most valuable thing in life i.e. feeling Mr. Bennet forgets the possibility of happiness by marrying a stupid woman who is his social equal. Though Wickham-Lydia affair, Jane Austen exposes lack of social and moral enlightenment. A relation which is based upon lust and physical appeal and is totally oblivious of genuine and finer feelings is sooner or later, destined to collapse. Lydia elopes with Wickham but their marriage is vulnerable to many external and internal forces. A marriage which breathes either financial or sexual consideration is not approved by Austen. Besides, Jane Austen criticizes the Bennets for not giving proper social and mental education to their children. Lydia elopes with the handsome Wickham because of her poor training. Throughout the novel, Jane Austen cleverly lays emphasis on common sense. She criticizes irrational behaviour of Darcy, Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet, Miss Darcy, Miss Bingley and Lydia. She comes down hard upon physical beauty for self-advancement. Wickham is physically very handsome but spiritually very ugly. Jane Austen, throughout the novel, emphasizes that appearance can be deceptive. Darcy is not a

proud which Elizabeth in the beginning thinks he is. Darcy also learns that Elizabeth has certain startling qualities. Nevertheless, it is through the mutual relationship of Darcy and Elizabeth that Jane Austen mainly brings into light the theme of love and marriage, good morals and manners, appearance and reality, self knowledge and mutual understanding. In the beginning of the novel, both the hero and the heroine neither know much about their own-self nor about each other. They are exposed to pride and prejudice respectively. As get married only when they succeed in developing sufficient amount of mutual understanding and respect. This is Jane Austens formula of true love and marriage and is central to Pride and Prejudice. One thing that many contemporary readers felt to be lacking directly in Jane Austen's novels was their ineffectiveness to be `instructive' (i.e. to teach a moral), or `inspirational' (that is to elevate mankind by their depiction of ideal persons, even in defiance of the known realities of ordinary life -Southam. Jane Austen makes fun of such didactic tendencies in her ending to Northanger Abbey: I leave it to be settled by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work is altogether to recommend parental tendency or reward filial disobedience. In her last work, she has a very foolish character like those she herself writes as vapid tissues of Ordinary occurrences from which no useful Deductions can be drawn. Jane Austen also once said that pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked and she satirized the frequent lack of realism in the literature of the day in her Plan of a Novel:

There will be no mixture... the Good will be unexceptionable in every respect -- and there will be no foibles or weaknesses but with the Wicked, who will be completely depraved and infamous, hardly a resemblance of Humanity left in them. What many other contemporary readers did admire in Jane Austen's novels was their plausibility and depiction of real life -- as opposed to the sensationalism, unlikely meetings between long-lost relatives, villainous aristocratic would-be ravishers, etc. that were the stock in trade of much of the literature of the period. Sir Walter Scott says, I read again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen's very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me. What a pity such a gifted creature died of so early. Q: DISCUSS JANE AUSTENS ART OF CHARACTERIZATION? Ans: Unlike Fielding and Dickens, Jane Austens canvas is limited. She deals with the mutual relationship of only four or five families. However, all the members are presented totally life-size. They are skilfully drawn in order to present realistic and true-to-life portraits; she employs various techniques of characterization.

Jane Austens art of characterization is thoroughly dramatic. Like a true dramatist, she depicts her characters more or less through their dialogues. Three or four characters sit together and through their conversation not only reveal their inner selves but also help the reader in forming a judgment or an image about other characters-those who are absent but are the subject of their talk Mr. and Mrs. Bennets exchange of dialogue always reveals not only their foppish characters but also their views regarding life and its important matters. The Bennet sisters discuss Mr. Collins letter in detail. The conversation not only reveals the different viewpoints of Bennet sisters but also Colins lack of accomplishment. However, most of the time the dialogues of the major characters carry moral implications, Elizabeth Bennets famous comments, The more I see the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it hints at the various contradictions and inconsistencies exhibited in real life. Jane Austen portrays her characters also through actions Wickham flirts both Lydia and Elizabeth Bennet, and later on elopes with the former Lydia; thoroughly providing the reader a chance to know his devilish and sinful character. Similarly, Darcys action at the time of Wickhams elopement with Lydia openly reveals his gentlemanliness. He goes to London and makes every arrangement for them to enjoy a peaceful married life. Comparison or contrast is another effective technique, which is employed by Miss Austen in the delineation of her characters. Through this technique, she impresses upon the reader that human beings differ from one

another in more than one aspect. In Pride and Prejudice there are significant comparisons and contrasts. Mrs. Bennet and Lydia, Catherine De Bourgh balances each other in their vulgarity as well as in their matchmaking. Wickham serves a contrast to Darcy. Darcy is not a hypocrite like Wickham. Unlike Wickham, he is serious, shy, and sincere. The Bennet sisters are also beautifully compared and contrasted with one another. Whereas, Jane is simple and naive, Elizabeth Bennet is sharp witted and a keen observer. Jane Austen is not a psychological novelist in the strict sense of the word. But there is good deal of psychological analysis of characters in her novels. In Pride and Prejudice there is sufficient psychological penetration into Elizabeths mind especially at the time of Darcys refusal to dance with Elizabeth. Both Darcys and Elizabeths thinking are sufficiently revealed and analysis at the time when they become aware of pride and prejudice in their own selves. They feel remorse and start moving towards self revelation and self knowledge. One of Jane Austens greatest methods of characterization is her use of irony. Jane Austen uncovers the discrepancies, inconsistencies and incongruities of human behaviour through his stylistic device. She continuously makes ironic comments to present a realistic picture of her characters. In Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Bennet, Catherine, De Bourgh, Bingley sisters, Wickham and Mr. Collins are the main targets of Jane Austens irony. Lack of understanding between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet is ironically dealt with. Wickhams hypocrisy of character is thoroughly

snubbed. In the like manner lady Catherine, De Bourghs rude and proud behaviour is castigated by Jane Austen. Even Elizabeth is not spared. The moment she deviates from the right path Jane Austen is there to laugh at her. Realism is the key to her art of characterization. Her characters are like real human beings. Both the male and the female characters earn our appreciation. They are individuals as well as types. They have their own particular habits, interests liking and disliking which distinguish them from others while at the same time share certain characteristic features which make them typical of eighteenth century countryside circle. While going through the narrative, we get the feeling that we actually meet Elizabeth and Darcy, Mr. Bingley and Charlotte Lucas and so on. Closely connected with it, is Austens technique of depicting her characters either as flat or round. Her minor characters like Mr. Collins and Katherine De Bourgh do not undergo any change of mind and heart during the narrative. But her major characters especially the heron and the heroine present themselves as complex characters undergoing significant changes in their behaviour, ideas and moral perception. It remains to be noted that in her art of characterization. Jane Austen observes objectivity. Like Fielding, she does not interrupt her stories with her personal comments. Her novels are free from intrusion by her. Nor is there any moralizing in her stories. A moral purpose is certainly there but the reader is allowed to reach by his own effort. In brief, Jane Austens art of characterization is overwhelmingly

dramatic. Her art resembles with dramatists like Shakespeare and Ibsen. It has variety and uniqueness. Q: DISCUSS ELIZABETHS CHARACTER. Q: DISCUSS DEVELOPMENT IN THE MIND AND HEART OF ELIZABETH. Ans: At first glance Elizabeth and Jane seem to vie with each other for primacy in Pride and Prejudice, but Elizabeth is definitely the heroine. Not only does Elizabeth represent one of the words of the title of the story, she also quite thoroughly dominates the action. By comparison, Jane is shadowy accessory. The relationship of Jane Austen to Bingley, which parallel with that of Elizabeth and Darcy, is treated much fully. It is much simpler and it is intended to be comment on the main story of her younger sister and the proud Darcy. Yet throughout the book, Jane has the unqualified approbation of Elizabeth and the authoress. Elizabeth addresses Jane in the following affectionate words: You are too good. Your sweetness and disinterestedness is really angelic. Elizabeth is not as perfect as Jane and that is why, Jane Austen makes her the heroine of the novel. Jane Austens concern is with complex characters and their interrelationship. Jane is a simple character but intricate characters are the most amusing. Jane like Bingley is not intricate. She is, therefore, not the heroine of the novel. Jane Austen writes of Elizabeth: I must confess that, I think her as delightful a creation as ever appeared in print. To say that Darcy is proud and Elizabeths prejudice is to tell but half

the story. Pride and prejudice are faults but they are also two necessary defects of desirable merits. These desirable merits are selfrespect and intelligence. Moreover, the novel makes clear the fact that Darcys pride leads to prejudice and Elizabeths prejudice stems from pride in her own perceptions. So the ironic theme of the book might be said to centre on the dangers of intellectual complexity. Jane and Bingley are never exposed to these dangers. They are not sufficiently profound. Elizabeth is an intelligent young woman. She has ability to discern people and situations quite well. She understands her family perfectly. She knows William Collins from the first letter, he writes the merits and deficiencies of Bingley almost at once, appreciates Lady Catherine at first meeting. Her failures are with intricate people who are very close at her. She fails to completely understand Charlotte Lucas, Wickham and Darcy. Pride and Prejudice shows that intimacy blurs perceptions. Intelligence fails if there is insufficient distance between mind and object. Charlotte Lucas is a sensible intelligent young woman. She is Elizabeths intimate friend. But we very soon know that Elizabeth does not completely understand Charlottes character. It is because a natural kindness and affection has blinded Elizabeth to the demerits of her friend. She is flabbergasted to learn that Charlotte has accepted Mr. Collins proposal of marriage. She begins to see Charlotte as she really is. She has learnt something from this experience and that is what Jane Austen aims at. (Elizabeth does not give Darcy a chance or rather; he does not give himself a chance to know how she really feels about him. The famous first encounter

is comically disastrous. After Darcys first remarks she does not show very cordial feelings towards him). She meets Wickham and finds him charming. She easily believes in his allegation against Darcy because she is already prejudiced against Darcy. Elizabeth is vexed and even angry when Wickham fails to appear at the Netherfield Ball. Elizabeth wants to dislike Darcy in order to avoid any entanglement, which will cost her freedom. She is astonished, when Darcy tells her, he loves her. She is also stunned when she discovers Wickhams villainy. She still rebels against involvement. Nevertheless, her uncompromising honesty causes her to realize that there is much justice in Darcys views about her family. She then discovers that Darcy had been mainly instrument in arranging the marriage between Lydia and Wickham. She realized that her pride and prejudice had blinded her to Darcys merits. In the process, she gets selfknowledge and becomes a charming and fascinating human being for the reader. Besides, it is through Elizabeths character that Jane Austen has propagated her ironic view of life. Elizabeth is the main source through which the authoress has exposed and snubbed negative values and trends like pride, prejudice and lack of self-knowledge. She is also the defender of positive behaviour. Elizabeth rightly deserves the title of the heroine of Jane Austens masterpiece. Q: WHAT IS USE OF IRONY IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Ans: Irony is central to Jane Austens vision of the world. The word irony implies a difference between the appearance and the reality. It is employed to show the contradiction between how things should be and how they are,

between what a person says and what he does, and between how a person sees him and how the other people take him. Such contrasts form the raw material of Jane Austens comedy. Elizabeth Bennets words in Pride and Prejudice point to some of the sources of Jane Austens irony. She says, Follies and nonsenses, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. Perception of discrepancies and incongruities, which is called irony, thus becomes a way of looking at life. Jane Austen uses it to dig out the true nature and fact that lies behind the faces and masks. The fact that invites our attention at the outset is that the theme of Pride and Prejudice easily lends itself to an ironic interpretation. At the ironic level, the theme offers the contrast between intricacy and simplicity. Darcy and Elizabeths intricacy is juxtaposed with Jane and Bingleys simplicity. The hero and the heroine have depth but it casts them in the danger of Pride and Prejudice. Jane and Bingley are quite simple and their simplicity though turns out to be a virtue yet is not invulnerable to external exploitation. Both intricacy and simplicity have their pluses and minuses. It is quite possible that one would like to be both intricate and simple simultaneously. But the irony is that they are mutually exclusive and incompatible. The ironic tone of the narrative is confirmed after going through the very first sentence of Pride and Prejudice: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

The sentence is fairly anticlimactic. The first half of the sentence cites to the exposure of some great universal truth but the expectation collapses in the second half. The ironic deflection occurs when the great universal truth turns out to be concerned with a common social problem--marriage. In the sentence lies the peoples assumption that a well-to-do youngman should be in search of a suitable wife. It harbours beneath it an ironic thought that, in reality, things may be exactly the very opposite. It is the woman who longs to have such suitable husband. He may be the hunted one rather than the hunter. The picture becomes totally clear when in the same chapter the youngman is even called the rightful property of some young lady. There is at several places a contrast between the expectation and the fulfilment in a particular situation. In this respect many events and situations in Pride and Prejudice have been given an ironic twist. Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth when her heart is fully inclined towards Wickham. Mr. Darcy proposes to her exactly at the moment when her hatred for him reaches its maximum. Similarly, it was exposed that the departure of Militia from Meriton would bring Lydias flirtation to an end, but quite ironically it brings about her elopement. Elizabeths worries need no bound. She is fully convinced that her prospects of marriage to Darcy were badly eclipsed. But Lydias misconduct instead of setting them apart actually brings them together. Lady Catherines intervention to check the marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy helps to expedite. All these ironic situations are of great

dramatic significance as they throw light on the development of plot, leading-traits of different characters and Jane Austens outlook. Irony of character is equally conspicuous and meaningful; Elizabeth who takes pride in her keen perception and comments ironically on Janes blindness to the realities is herself oblivious to her own prejudice. Wickhams disposition seems graceful refined and gentlemanly but at heart he is more than a devils disciple. The Bingley sisters hate the Bennets for their vulgarity but are themselves vulgar. Jane Austen exposes the incongruities and contradictions of human behaviour and she does so for the amusement and moral education of her reader. In brief, Jane Austens irony is dramatic, not static, complex not simple. Above all, like Chaucer it is tinged neither with any bitterness nor does it reflect her cynicism. She criticizes marriages contracted for physical beauty or under economic pressure. In this way, she emphasizes the importance of love and self-knowledge as the basic of sound marriage. She explains the need of self-awareness and ridicules hypocrisy and pretentiousness. Irony, thus, in her hand becomes the instrument of moral vision and not a technique of rejection. Q: DISCUSS JANE AUSTENS ART AND LIMITATIONS? Q: WHAT IS TWO INCHES OF IVORY, ELABORATE? Ans: Jane Austens world is generally regarded as narrow and limited. She confines her creative activity to the depiction of whatever falls within her range of personal experience, this range being extremely narrow. Unlike Fieldings and Dickens, she works on a small canvas. Once, she wrote to her niece.

Three or four families in a country village are the very things to work on. She spent most of her life in countryside small village, which was unaffected by the great political upheavals and revolutionary changes in the social set up. She minutely observed the domestic involvements of the parishioners and decided to write only about them. Working with material extremely limited in them she develops themes of the broadest significance. Her novels go beyond the social record to moral concern and commitment Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park offer nice illustrations of the above observations. They deal with families like Bennets, Bingleys, Betrams Grants, Prices and Naris. And it is yet only the social life of these families, which is of main concern for Jane Austen. Jane Austen talks neither about the aristocracy at the top nor the poor. She often talks about the involvement, clashes, activities, interests and adjustments of middle and upper middle classes, the classes in which the respect people receive, depends directly on their wealth and accomplishments. The respect of Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy joy is mainly due to their sound financial position. Since this class is not required to work, so the men and the women belonging to this circle involve themselves in social activities like dinners, balls visiting friends, going for walks and card playing. The parties, which are arranged at Netherfield and Mansfield Park, can be quoted in this respect. Besides, girls belonging to these circles are not trained for any profession. Instead, they are expected to be accomplished in music, drawing, dancing, needle work etc. Since women could not legally

inherit their parents property, in case they did not get marry, they had no economic security. Hence, the principal aim of girl was to get married to eligible rich bachelors like Darcy, Bingley, and Edmund etc. It is for this very reason that the theme of Miss Austens novels in general and of Pride and Prejudice in particular is marriage and love. By dramatizing these two themes in her novels, she draws implications of universal relevance. She is an outstanding artist. There are always beautiful girls like Maria, Mary, Fanny, Emma and Miss Elizabeth Bennet. In her novels, women are waiting for really suitable young men to get married to them. Their mother and aunts like Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Naris are always found in devising plans how to trap the suitable young man. Moreover Miss Austen has confined her canvas to a very reasonable extent short which is limited yet lifelike. In a letter of May 1813, soon after the publication of Pride and Prejudice, Annabella Milbanke (later Lady Byron) wrote in a letter that: I have finished the Novel called Pride and Prejudice, which I think a very superior work. It depends not on any of the common resources of novel writers, no drownings, no conflagrations, nor runaway horses, nor lap dogs and parrots, nor chambermaids and milliners, nor reencounters [duels] and disguises. I really think it is the most probable I have ever read. It is not a crying book, but the interest is very strong, especially for Mr. Darcy. The characters which are not amiable are diverting, and all of them are consistently supported. Jane Austens originality, objectivity and precision delight the reader.

Wordsworth acknowledges the accuracy of her description. He admits that Jane Austens novels are an admirable copy of life. Macaulay compares Jane Austen to Shakespeare. According to him, Jane Austen has given us a multitude of characters, as we meet in everyday life. Yet they are quite different from one another. Much of the criticism levelled against Jane Austen does not carry weight. Charlotte Brontes criticism of Jane Austens art for its lack of passions and imaginations is quite harsh. She is not an author of the surface only. Fanny Prices devotion to Edmund in Mansfield Park is fully passionate. Emma reproaches herself for her want of tenderness of heart. But Bronte overlooks entirely Jane Austens moral concern; her serious pre-occupation is with the way people behave. Edward Fitzgerald complains that Jane Austen does not go out of the parlour. He perhaps never comes across Elizabeth Bennets famous remarks to her sister. The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it. It was Jane Austens dissatisfaction with the daily life around her that forced her to examine it so minutely. Lord David Cecil is of the view that Jane Austens novels express a general view of life. Like all great comedians say Fieldings and Dickens, she presents a universal standard of values. Her moral complexity gives sharpness to her theme. She cannot tolerate bad manners and morals. Her themes have universal affinities. We can see a world in a grain of sand in Jane Austens novels. It is; therefore, wrong to say that the country gentry cannot possibly yield anything of surpassing values. Jane Austen represents a feminisation of English novel; she discusses

and exposes the problems of women in her novels. She puts men in the background. Men have their importance only in her company of women. In addition, her novels are absolutely clean. There is not obscenity, vulgarity and nothing that is capable of corrupting a maids innocent heart. The action in her novel is unfolded from heroines point of view. In Mansfield Park every thing is looked at through Fannys eyes. Summing up our discussion, we can remark that though Jane Austens world is narrow yet it has depth and subtlety. She has the talent and the skill to describe the involvements, feelings and characters of ordinary life. Her range may be limited and her materials trivial but her achievement is not insignificant. Her novels go beyond social record to the moral concerns and the moral concerns are caring and consideration for others, mutual understanding and good morals and manners. Trollope remarked about Austens works. Miss Austen was surely a great novelist. What she did, she did perfectly. Her work, as far as it goes, is faultless. She wrote of the times in which she lived, of the class of people with which she associated, and in the language, which was usual to her as an educated lady. Of romance, -- what we generally mean when we speak of romance -- she had no tinge. Heroes and heroines with wonderful adventures there are none in her novels. Of great criminals and hidden crimes she tells us nothing. But she places us in a circle of gentlemen and ladies, and charms us while she tells us with an

unconscious accuracy how men should act to women, and women act to men. It is not that her people are all good; -- and, certainly, they are not all wise. The faults of some are the anvils on which the virtues of others are hammered till they are bright as steel. In the comedy of folly I know no novelist who has beaten her. The letters of Mr. Collins a clergyman in Pride and Prejudice would move laughter in a lowchurch archbishop. Q: DISCUSS JANE AUSTENS DRAMATIC METHOD? Q: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE IS LIKE A COMEDY OF MANNERS, DO YOU AGREE? Ans: Jane Austens genius is essentially dramatic. Her novels are dramatic both in matter and manner. Pride and Prejudice offers a nice instance. The entire structure of the novel is so intensely dramatic that it appears a fully developed five-act comedy. The plot falls into five natural divisions or acts. The first act covers approximately the first eighteen chapters. It begins with Mr. Bingleys renting of the Netherfield and ends with his departure to London, thereby bringing the chance of Janes marriage to the lowest ebb. Like the first act of a play the exposition introduces the major characters- the Bennets, the Bingleys, the Lucas, and Mr. Darcy and initiates the major conflict, the conflict of Darcys pride and Elizabeths prejudice. This conflict results in the propagation of the major themes of the book, namely the theme of love and marriage. The act two further deepens the conflict between the hero and the heroine. Mr. Collins proposes for Elizabeth but is

rejected bluntly. He marries Charlotte goes back to Hunsford to prepare for Elizabeths visit there. This visit obviously pulls up the misunderstanding to its peak. Mr. Wickham aggravates the situation with his fibs and in resultant gives a further fillip to Elizabeths prejudice. This is how Jane Austen opens up and exploits the dramatic conflict. Act three, which stretches from chapter twenty-seven to chapter fortyone is also of great dramatic significance, both from the view of the development of themes and characters. Elizabeth pays a visit at Lady Catherines estate. She gets an opportunity to see both Wickham and Darcy in a better perspective. Darcy proposes her but is rejected. The act ends with some ray of hope of a bright future. Act four highlights on releasing of tension and misunderstanding between Darcy and Elizabeth. Her visit to Pemberly goes a long way in softening her heart towards Darcy. However, when everything seems to be moving towards a happy union, Jane Austen gives a dramatic twist to the story to heighten the suspense. Lydia elopes with Wickham and seems to be destroying and darkening all chances of Elizabeths marriage to Darcy. Act five witnesses the final resolution. In hour of great crisis, Darcy acts in the most sensible manner and confirms the truth of his newly acquired nobility and gallantry i.e. self-knowledge. He settles down the entire issue in an amicable manner. Elizabeth feels sorry for her past behaviour. Her realization also confirms her gaining of self-knowledge, Darcy again proposes and is gratefully accepted. Like a typical Shakespearean romantic comedy, the novel ends with the ringing of marriage bells. This is how,

Pride and Prejudice exhibits all the four major phases exposition, conflict, climax, denouement of a full-fledged drama. It remains to be noted that dramatic conflict is not only external but internal too, conflicting ideas and emotions are at war with each other in the minds of both Darcy and Elizabeth and which in their turn, bring to them realization, repentance and self-knowledge. Besides, all the five acts show step-by-step development of the theme of love and marriage. There is perfect correspondence between action, characters and theme. The novel observes unity of action, which is the hallmark of a dramatic plot. Jane Austens dramatic method is also fairly clear from her moral concerns. The various themes of love, marriage, education and selfknowledge are carried through with clear-cut moral messages that the novel serves reformatory function of a true comedy. Jane Austens genius like that of Shakespeare and Browning is essentially dramatic. The blends of wit and drama can be seen in the structure, action, dialogue, themes and characterization of Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma. Above all, Jane Austens art of characterization is over whelming dramatic. The leading dramatic techniques of characterization, which Jane Austen has successfully employed in Pride and Prejudice, are depiction through. e.g. _ Realism _ Dialogue _ Comparison and Contrast. _ Conflict _ Irony _ Pen Picture _ Detachment and objectivity: _ Flat and round characters _ Action _ Individual and type

_ Economy and precision.