March 8th, 2010 by dee

Pride and Prejudice is the representative work of Jane Austen. Speaking of Jane Austen, what do we know about her? She is a famous English female writer who had never got married in her whole life, with strong character and sensitive mood. People say that when you read Jane Austen, you can find the writer herself in her works. And that is absolutely true. In 2005, the movie Pride and Prejudice acted by Keira Knightley gained a great reputation and was nominated several Oscars. In 2007, another hit Become Jane Austen acted by Anne Heathway also give us a shot. Comparing these two movies, you can find a lot of common points, dance balls, Jane Austen herself and Elizabeth Bennet.

Austen once said to the love of her life: “My novels will always have happy endings.” But that not the only common thing of her works. The story, the place and the main character are also very much the same. Even though, Jane lived in an era of great change and revolutions, in her work, those things are not shown. You can not find extreme wealth or poverty in her novels and all of her stories happened in a peaceful and prosperous countryside. To be honest, I am not really interested in the plots of her work, which are very much alike in her five novels. The thing that appeals me is her language, clear, irony and with mils satire. Take the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice for example: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a good wife.”

As we can almost say that this book is universally read, so there is no need for me to tell the details or how the story goes. But there are characters that I like the most and I want to say something more about these two persons, Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet. First, let’s go to Elizabeth, the second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old. She is intelligent, lively, attractive, and witty, but with a tendency to judge on first impressions and perhaps to be a little selective of the evidence upon which she bases her judgments. All her shortcomings seem not brothering me, what matters are her individuality and characteristic, a new woman who does not accept the traditional way of thinking. Yet, as intelligent and special as Elizabeth, she cannot change the old way of marriage. A woman must be proposed and everything has to be related with social status. The other person that I like is Elizabeth’s father, Mr. Bennet. Witty, humorous, and yet Mr. Bennet is the typical expression of Austen’s mild satire. I don’t know if Mr. Bennet would feel regret of marrying Mrs. Bennet, whose major role of life is to get her daughters married wealth, but certainly their combination really brings a lot of fun to the readers.

Tags: Pride and Prejudice