Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

My new favorite book!

Volume I Thoughts & Analysis: April 9, 2023

I just finished Volume I of Pride and Prejudice and the anticipation to find out what’s next to come in the second volume is killing me. Unfortunately due to spoilers, I already know the fate of the two main characters- Elizabeth and Darcy- but clearly there are so many details and storylines in between that are so surprising. First of all, that Bingley and the others took off from Netherfield all of a sudden. Also, why is Caroline writing to Jane and not Bingley? Is he like held hostage or something?

Is he a typical non-serious, overly enthusiastic man who eventually runs out of romantic energy. I really hope Bingley isn’t the type who doesn’t know what he wants. I find that highly unattractive and do not wish that for Jane, although her blatant naivety and being overly gracious towards disrespectful people like Caroline and Mrs. Hurst annoys me. Elizabeth is the voice of reason despite being younger than Jane, but Jane always choose to be in denial, even if she gets hurt in the end.

I am also very surprised that Charlotte accepted Mr. Collins‘ spontaneous proposal. I would be highly offended to be the “second choice”. But poor Charlotte completely threw her pride (and dignity) out the window for the promise of a better life. My questions is- will she be a good person and influence her fiancé to leave Longbourne estate alone to continue to belong to the Bennetts instead of throwing them out, since he has the authority to do so? I have a feeling there is going to be a continuous dispute or tension regarding this fact that will lead Elizabeth to reject Darcy’s first marriage proposal, since he is related to Katharine de Bourgh, but I could be wrong. Maybe it will only be because of his snobby attitude.

I find this novel to be addictive for the following reasons:

-The chapters are very short

-The romance never gets lost for long- Darcy, Bingley and other romantic interests are mentioned quite often; there is never a period of dryness where I am saying where is the romance?

-The characters are all very interesting and likable in their own ways. For example, Jane’s sweetness is a nice contrast to Mrs. Bennett’s crazy pessimism and vindictive nature. And then Elizabeth is somewhere in the middle. Caroline’s pettiness is kind of funny and poor girl just wants to marry Darcy. Darcy is so rude and antisocial- but unfortunately makes him so mysterious and kind of hot. Bingley is a goofball and very polite contrary to Darcy, his two sisters, and Mr. Hurst. Mr. Bennett doesn’t give a crap and sulks in his reservations instead of causing scenes like his wife. The younger Bennetts are mischievous and silly. Mr. Collins is unpolished and unlikeable. It’s just a fun group of people and I want to find out more about them.

One thing I am a little surprised by so far is Elizabeth’s personality. I anticipated her behavior to be on the pretentious side, but she is pretty agreeable. She ignores the Bingley sisters when they are throwing shade at her, and her mom when she is hysterical, but of course defends herself whenever there is a confrontation, in a calm manner. And although she is not a fan of Darcy, and doesn’t exactly make it a secret to him, she still tolerates him pretty well. He is definitely pretentious but snobby, which is far worse. She’s also pretty quiet and makes her cases with pretty good composure, no yelling or screaming, at least not yet.

I am intrigued by Darcy’s attraction for Elizabeth from her “fine eyes”, and that is when you know it’s love and why he thinks of her as a danger he needs to avoid. I also relish that he notices she eyes him with discontent, which clearly irks him since he acts like he’s God. But he falls victim to the trope of wanting something you can’t have. I am also obsessed with the fact that Elizabeth has a crush on his enemy, and he knows it. Extra provoking. I honestly hope that Elizabeth and Wickham become a thing so Darcy can get mad- assuming Wickham is not really a bad guy like Caroline says.

Volume 2

Jane finally realizes she was duped by the Bingley sisters affection towards her, because they are very cold to her and rarely visit or write to her when she went to London with the Gardiners

Wickham becomes engaged to another woman who inherited some money, but Elizabeth isn’t too upset because she realizes she wasn’t really in love with him, and her aunt warned her about his unsuitable match due to lack of money anyway

Elizabeth goes to stay with Charlotte for a while and in that time meets the De Bourgh’s and has an overall good time. Darcy comes for the Easter holiday with his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, who appears to take a liking to Elizabeth. One day at Rosings as she plays the piano for Fitzwilliam, Darcy comes over to her and they playfully quarrel. Darcy correlates not liking to talk to strangers to Elizabeth’s hesitance to play the piano in front of others.

Darcy one day visits when Elizabeth is by herself “on accident” and Charlotte is suspicious that he is in love with her, but then thinks maybe Fitzwilliam is. Elizabeth notices that Darcy often crosses paths with her during her outdoor strolls, instead of avoiding her. He makes comments about how she needs to adapt to being away from home and emphasizes his want for her to be comfortable at Rosings, leading her to think that he is trying to set her up with Fitzwilliam.

Chapter 34: Finally Darcy’s proposal. I felt tears but did not cry. It was so romantic how he laid out his feelings like an open book, even though his delivery was arrogant and rude. I am proud of him for wishing her well instead of humiliating her after she rejects him with her reasons. Elizabeth crying about it is exactly what I would have done. His proposal was the greatest surprise- and yet reminiscent of an unlikely Prince Charming, like Sabrina.

Cannot wait for the tension of them being around each other! Will he consciously try to change for the better or will they accidentally cross paths again and he will be inspired to be nice? And will he fix the Bingley situation? Even if he does, Bingley js still guilty of being influenced out of a serious relationship. Also, will Darcy’s proposal be their little secret? Or will the others find out and give Elizabeth hell for not accepting the hand of the richest man they know. I hope she won’t have to go through that cause her mom was about to disown her for rejecting the clergyman.

One thing I will say that I love about Darcy and Elizabeth despite basically being enemies is that they have some of the most honest conversations without censoring each other. For example, even though Darcy is a prideful prick, he never interrupts Elizabeth or try to silence her when she ridicules him, and she is never afraid to air her grievances to him. They have amazing communication within the awkward silences due to his lack of social skills. The only issue is obviously is his character, which I believe he has growth for. But what he did to Jane is pretty much unforgivable- BUT Bingley should have been a man and stand in his convictions.

Darcy gives Elizabeth a long letter he wrote for her to read where he outlines his truth of her accusations regarding Jane and Wickham. He did not think Jane actually really liked Bingley and Wickham was just a user- used his godfather’s money for partying and tried to elope with Georgiana when she was 15 for her money

Jane feels bad for her prejudice against Darcy.

Darcy and Fitzwilliam leave Rosings and so does Elizabeth not long after.

Elizabeth is to go sightseeing (against her will) at Pemberly with her aunt and uncle as she is vacationing with them.

Volume III

Darcy tells Elizabeth his sister would like to meet her. <3 4/18

The next morning, Darcy brings Georgiana and Bingley to meet the Gardiners and Elizabeth and they extend a dinner invitation to them the following day

They suspect that he is in love with her, and Elizabeth is grateful for his affections

The next morning at noon, Mr. Gardiner goes to Pemberly to fish with Darcy and the ladies visit Georgianna for tea

Later, Elizabeth receives bad news in Jane’s letters about Lydia running off with Wickham!

As she is about to run off to notify her aunt and uncle, Darcy appears at her door and she tells him of the awful news and that she will need to leave at once.

Since Elizabeth was leaving Darcy again, especially when it is clear that he was probably going to propose to her again or something, I became very impatient and checked to see how quickly he would reappear. As I quickly scanned all the pages, I determiend that he would not re-appear for about 30 pages.

I could not take it anymore so I watched the 1995 Colin Firth series, and after that I bought the Keira Knightley version and I absolutely love how everything turns out. Since the Colin Firth series has several episodes, and everything seemed very accurate to what I had read in the book, I figured the ending is almost exact to the novel. The film was clearly a little different since it was only two hours, but still really good and to the point.

The following are the differences I noticed in the film:

-Mr. Bennett is present at the first ball

-Mr. and Mrs. Hurst do not exist and it seems neither does Maria

-Jane is a lot more agreeable and less annoying and naive

-Darcy accuses Elizabeth of being hard on her own sex instead of Caroline

-He grabs Elizabeth’s hand while helping her into her carriage after leaving Netherfield

-Wickham lies to Elizabeth about Darcy outside after they ran into Darcy instead of telling her at her Aunt’s dinner

-Elizabeth and her parents discuss her rejection of Mr. Collins’ proposal outside instead of in her father’s office

-Charlotte is very confrontational when Elizabeth expressed her opinion of her engagement with Mr. Collins

-Darcy appears at Lady Catherine’s the first time Elizabeth visits Rosings

-Lady Catherine makes Elizabeth play the piano, not Fitzwilliam, and Lady Catherine offers Charlotte to practice on her piano, not Elizabeth

-Darcy initially follows Elizabeth to the piano, not Fitzwilliam, but he later joins them

-Darcy does not tell Elizabeth she has bewitched him when he originally proposed

-He proposes to her outside in the rain instead of in her cousin’s house

-Darcy drops off his letter to Elizabeth in her room instead of handing it to her while she is outside on her afternoon stroll

-Darcy’s Pemberly estate holds statues instead of paintings

-Georgiana is very enthusiastic to meet Elizabeth instead of acting shy, and she is already at Pemberly when Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle visit

-Elizabeth walks back to Lambton by herself instead of taking the carriage with her aunt and uncle

-She finds Darcy at Lambton introducing himself to the Gardiners

-Elizabeth relays the distressing news from Jane’s letters regarding Lydia and Wickham for the first time to the Gardiners and Darcy