Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Pride & Prejudice


Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, which was first published in 1813. The book has been transferred in movie twice. The first time was in 1995 and in the second time in 2005. The main character of the book is Miss Elizabeth Bennet .
The story begins in
Hertfordshire, a small town in Meryton, near London. Mr and Mrs Bennet lived in the Loungbourn House, in the village of Longbourn with their 5 unmarried daughters. Elizabeth was the second daughter. At that time, every mother wanted her daughters to be soon married with a handsome and wealth man. So when Mrs Bennet heard the news, ran to her husband to tell him all about it: a new wealth man had just let Netherfield Hall a vary big house in the neighborhood. His name was Mr Bingley. Mrs Bennet also wanted her husband to call on Mr Bingley, because she was thinking about their 5 daughters' future and hoped that Mr Bingley would marry one of them especially Jane their eldest daughter ,who was 23 years old. Despite Mr Bennet 's unwillingness to call on Mr Bingley , finally he was made to do it. Furthermore when Mrs Bennet learned that Mr Bingley would go to Netherfield Ball, she was delighted and told Jane that she had to look very pretty. Few days later, to the assembly rooms of Meryton Mr Bingley came in with his two sisters, Miss Caroline Bingley his unmarried sister and Mr Bingley's married sister with her husband. With them was also Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy a friend of Mr Bingley. All of them greeted everyone except Mr Darcy who didn't greet anyone. Mr Bingley was a good-looking , handsome man with a pleasant smile. Mr Darcy was tall, very handsome and from a noble family. People said that he had twice as much money as Mr Bingley had and he also owned a large estate in Derbyshire. They were both unmarried.Mr Bingley danced with Jane a lot of times, however Mr Darcy did not dance with anyone else except Mr Bingley's sisters.When Mr Bingley asked Mr Darcy why he wasn't dancing, Mr Darcy said that Bingley was dancing with the only pretty girl in the room. Mr Bingley told him that one of miss Jane's Bennet pretty sisters was without a partner. Darcy looked at Elizabeth and Elizabeth looked at Darcy ,however Darcy said that Elizabeth was quite pretty but not beautiful enough to interest him. Elizabeth heard that and she was amused. After that Elizabeth decided that she disliked Mr Darcy. As the night continued Mr Darcy decided that he liked Elizabeth because of her beautiful dark eyes and because of her clever conversation, but he disliked Mrs Bennet and her youngest daughters because he thought that they were very noisy and rude. While Darcy was talking with Caroline Bingley he said that Elizabeth had beautiful dark eyes and Caroline asked him when she had to congratulate them for their engagement. So Caroline liked Mr Darcy.
After that Miss Bingley invited Miss Jane Bennet to have dinner with her and her sister. So while Jane was in Bingley's house he came down with an illness and she had to stay there until she felt better. In this way Bingley and Jane would have the opportunity to meet each other better.Elizabeth visited her sister and she saw Mr Darcy again. In another ball Mr Darcy asked Elizabeth to dance with him but Elizabeth refused because she remembered what Darcy had said about her in the first Ball. While Elizabeth tried to find out more about Darcy's character, he told her that he thought vanity was certainly a fault but pride was never a fault because it was not bad to be proud of your family and your position in society.
After that Mr Darcy decided that because he came from a rich and noble family Elizabeth had no chance of marrying him because she came from a poor family.
Some days later Mr Collins, Mr Bennet's cousin, arrives at Longpourn because he wanted to marry one of his 5 daughters. Also, Mr Collins was a clergyman and he would inherit Mr Bennet's house when he died. At first, Mr Collins decided to marry Jane but Mrs Bennet told him that Jane would be soon married with another man, but this was not certain. So Mr Collins decided to marry Elizabeth and proposed to her. However Elizabeth did not want to marry him and she refused his proposal. Also, that days the militia came to Longpourn and Elizabeth met a soldier, Mr Wickham who told Elizabeth that Mr Darcy had behaved badly towards him and that he was the reason for being poor in the militia. Furthermore, he said that Darcy was very proud although his sister Miss Georgianna was not proud like her brother and he also told Elizabeth that he knew the Darcy Family from when he was a child and he wasn't afraid of Mr Darcy. Although in the next ball Wickham did not appear because Darcy was in the ball too.In the ball everyone was talking about Jane and Bingley and they were sure that they would be soon married. Mr Darcy heard that and thought that Bingley was not in love with Jane after all, so he told him not to marry. After the ball Jane received a letter which said that Bingley, his sisters and Darcy were going to London and that they did not know if they would be back in that winter.When Jane read the letter she was very upset and sad because she loved Bingley. Then Elizabeth learned that Collins would be soon married in Charlotte Lucas a friend of Elizabeth's. Elizabeth said to Jane that Bingley is thoughtless and weak because he had allowed to his sisters and Darcy to change his mind and not marry her.After that Jane was visiting London hoping to see Bingley. However in her letters to Elizabeth she said that nothing has happened and that now she didn't care for Bingley .Although Elizabeth knows that this wasn't true.
On March, Elizabeth visited Charlotte Lucas. With Mr Collins they were going to visit Lady Catherine de Bourgh.While they were at her home , Mr Darcy appeared and Elizabeth seemed to be very upset.With him was Colonel Filtzwilliam who was a guardian of Miss Georgianna.When Elizabeth talked with him, Darcy was starring at them so much that Lady Catherine started to notice. The next day Darcy visited Elizabeth and when Charlotte Lucas returned back home he left. Charlotte told Elizabeth that Darcy had to be in love with her otherwise he had no reason to coming there. In the next days, Colonel Fitzwilliam says to Elizabeth that Darcy was a very good man because he had helped many people.He also said that Darcy had recently saved one of his friends from an insensible marriage. In the sound of this Elizabeth was very angry because she was sure that Darcy's friend is Bingley and that Darcy stopped Bingley from marrying Jane.
On the following day Darcy visited Elizabeth
again, who was angry with him, and told her that his feelings were too strong and that he couldn't hide them any more.He also said that he had to tell her how very much he loved her despite his position in society, his pride and the family difficulties.At that moment Elizabeth didn't know what to say and the only thing that she understood was that Darcy decided to marry her although he thought it wasn't a sensible marriage! Elizabeth then told him that he could not accept his proposal because his proposal wasn't polite and because he had destroyed Jane's happiness and he has behaved badly towards Wickham. The next day Darcy gave to Elizabeth a letter before he
left for London. In the letter he said that he would not say again what he said the last day and that this conversation between them should be forgotten. Then he wrote that he would tell Elizabeth all about Jane and Bingley , and Wickham. Darcy said that he thought Jane was not in love with Bingley and when he saw how strong Bingley's feelings was for Jane he was very worried.Darcy had also seen that the behavior of all the Bennet family except Jane and Elizabeth was not the appropriate one.Then Darcy apologized if that hurt Jane but said that he still thought he had done the right thing.The he continued up with Wickham. Darcy said that he knew him since he was a child. Darcy's father had promised to him to be a clergyman and that he would give him a living at Pemperley.When Darcy's father died, Darcy wanted to give to Wickham the living and the position as a clergyman, but Wickham said that he didn't want to be a clergyman and he asked Darcy to give him money in order to go in London and study the law.Darcy gave him the money and he had not any news from him since the year before. Then suddenly Wickham appeared and asked for the living but Darcy didn't gave him the living because someone told him that Wickham did not study the law but he spent all the money in the cards. After that, when Miss Georgianna, Darcy's sister was on holiday ,Wickham tried to elope with her because he knew that Georgianna would inherit 1.000 $ . Fortunately Georgianna told everything to Darcy and the elopement did never happen. Finally, he finished his letter saying that he does not blame Elizabeth because she didn't know the truth about Wickham and he wishes a good life for her. Elizabeth felt really sad after reading Darcy's letter because she knew he was right for everything. Elizabeth soon returned to Longpourn, and she told Jane everything. They both agreed that there was no need to tell everybody about Wickham because the militia was about to leave.However when the militia left for Brighton, Lydia the youngest daughter of the Bennet family was invited by some friends to go in Brighton to.Elizabeth asked her father not to allow Lydia go in Brighton because she knew how foolish Lydia would be with the militia. But Mr Bennet did not hear Elizabeth and let Lydia go in Brighton.
Mrs Gardiner, Elizabeth's aunt asked her to go with them on holiday.Elizabeth agreed and they went on Derbyshire. Then Elizabeth was afraid that she might see Mr Darcy, because Pemperley Mr Darcy's house was in Derbyshire. When they were on holiday Elizabeth's aunt suggested to go and visit Pemperley but Elizabeth refused because she didn't want to see Mr Darcy.Then she heard that the Darcys were not at Pemperley so she agreed to visit the house.Elizabeth was amazed with how big this house was.The housekeeper showed them everything and Elizabeth starred at a portrait of Darcy.She then remembered that he had sometimes smiled at her like he was smiling in the portrait. It was then, when Elizabeth started to thing more kindly of him. Also the housekeeper said that Darcy was a handsome gentleman,good-natured , delightful young man and also that he wasn't proud at all. However, about Wickham she said that he hadn't behaved well and that he wasn't a good man. On their way to the gardens of the house, Elizabeth saw Mr Darcy walking towards her. They both blushed and starred for a moment. Then they spoke kindly to each other and then they walked away. They were both embarrassed. The following day Mr Darcy, Mrs Darcy and Mr Bingley visited Elizabeth and the Gardiners. as the young men and women talked to each other, Mr and Mrs Gardiner were watching Elizabeth and Darcy with interest. They were sure that Darcy admired Elizabeth but they were not sure if Elizabeth was in love with him. Also, Mr Bingley wanted to ask Elizabeth about her family and especially about Jane. The next day, they were invited in Pemperley to have dinner. As Elizabeth got into the room she saw that everyone was watching her and Mr Darcy. Now, Miss Bingley couldn't hide her anger, because she liked Mr Darcy.
Elizabeth was waiting a letter from Jane. At last, after 3 days two letters arrived. In the first one, Jane wrote that something terrible had happened: Lydia who was still in Brighton had eloped with Mr Wickham, and now they didn't know where she was. Jane was afraid that Mr Wickham would not marry Lydia and Mrs Bennet was very sick because of the news. In the second letter Jane wrote that Mr Bennet wanted Mr Gardiner to go in London with him and help him find Lydia. So, Elizabeth ran to find her uncle but Darcy saw her and asked her why she looked so sick. Elizabeth told him all the bad news. Now Elizabeth started to cry because of the bad news and because she thought that Mr Darcy could not love her after all these that have happened. After all, now Elizabeth loved Darcy and she was very sad. Despite Elizabeth thoughts, Darcy behaved very well towards her and apologized to her because he couldn't say anything to make her feel happier.
Then Elizabeth returned to Longpourn. At last they received some good news: Mr Wickham would marry Lydia! When Lydia visited Longpourn she told Elizabeth that Mr Darcy was at her wedding, something that Darcy has asked her not to tell to anybody. When Elizabeth heard that she was very surprised and she wondered what Mr Darcy was doing at Lydia's wedding. She then wrote to her aunt, Mrs Gardiner, in order to learn more about it. Mrs Gardiner wrote back to her that Mr Darcy had helped very much to Lydia's wedding: he found Wickham and Lydia while Mr Gardiner could not find them and he also gave some money to Wickham so Wickham agreed to marry Lydia. Finally she wrote that she believed Darcy had done all this because he wanted to please Elizabeth.
Some good news soon reached Netherfield. Mr Bingley was returning to Netherfield and would be staying there for several months. Elizabeth was very happy and she was sure that Bingley would propose to Jane. But Jane was not so sure. So, one day Bingley visited Longpourn house and asked to speak privately with Jane. He than proposed to her and Jane accepted with happiness. Jane started to go for walks with Bingley, so Elizabeth who was always with Jane had to walk with Darcy who was always with Bingley.
Suddenly, one morning Lady Catherine arrived to Longpourn and asked to speak to Elizabeth. When they were alone Lady Catherine said that the reason for being there was that she heard that her nephew, Mr Darcy had proposed to her. She also said that this could not be true in any way but she wanted to be sure. Elizabeth told her that she didn't want to answer to this question so Lady Catherine started to speak rudely and she told Elizabeth that Mr Darcy can not have proposed to her because he was engaged to her daughter since he was born! She then asked Elizabeth what she had to say then. Elizabeth told her only one thing: that she had made her own plans, so had Mr Darcy, and if she was Darcy's choice she had no reason to turn down his proposal. After that Lady Catherine told her that she could not marry her nephew because she had no money and no position in society. At last Elizabeth told her that she wasn't engaged to Mr Darcy and Lady Catherine left. Elizabeth was very upset.
A few days later, Mr Bingley came with Mr Darcy in Longpourn house and asked Jane and Elizabeth to go for a walk with them. Darcy and Elizabeth were walking together and Elizabeth thank Darcy for all the things that he had done for her family and especially for Lydia. Darcy said that he was sorry that Elizabeth heard anything about it and also that he had done all these for her and not for her family. He then told Elizabeth that he wanted to know if she still disliked him because his own feelings haven't changed. He also said that if she still disliked him he shall never talk of love again. Elizabeth told him that her feelings have changed and that he loved him. They then began to talk about their behavior since they met.
Finally, Jane and Elizabeth were married on the same day.They were very happy and Elizabeth visited Jane very often at their new house. Mrs Bennet was very happy that Elizabeth had such a happy life and such a big house: Pemberley.


Elizabeth & Darcy
Pride and Prejudice

3 comments:

  1. Maraki, your post is fantastic, but if you have used an Internet source, you have to mention it at the end of your post! :)

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  2. I have to add that the two videos you chose are extraordinary! I was really moved because I read the book when I was your age and I cherish the thought of it ever since. Thank you for bringing back these memories!

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  3. Thank you :)
    Yes, I have used an Internet source, especially in the first paragraph,because I wanted to see when the movies were released.Thanks for the videos , I really liked them a lot too :D

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