Pride and Prejudice: A Novel by Jane Austin

Pride and
Prejudice
A Novel by Jane Austin
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
• Pride and Prejudice, romantic novel by Jane Austen,
published anonymously in three volumes in 1813. A classic
of English literature, written with incisive wit and superb
character delineation, it centers on the turbulent
relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a
country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic
landowner.
About the Author:
JANE AUSTEN
• Born : December 16, 1775, Steventon, Hampshire,
England
• Died: July 18, 1817, Winchester, Hampshire
• English writer who first gave the novel its distinctly
modern character through her treatment of ordinary
people in everyday life.
• She published four novels during her lifetime: Sense and
Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield
Park (1814), and Emma (1815).
• Her novels defined the era’s novel of manners, but they also
became timeless classics that remained critical and popular
successes for over two centuries after her death.
About the Author:
JANE AUSTEN
• Before she was a writer, Jane Austen was a reader. A
reader, moreover, within a family of readers, who would
gather in her father’s rectory to read aloud from the
work of authors such as Samuel Johnson, Frances
Burney, and William Cowper—as well as, eventually,
Jane’s own works-in-progress.
• Like many authors, Jane Austen wrote Pride and
Prejudice about the life she knew: the complex world of
the gentry and rising middle class in England during her
lifetime. Many of the characters and situations in Pride
and Prejudice can be traced to circumstances in the
author's own experience.
CHARACTERS:
Elizabeth Bennet
- The novel’s protagonist. The second daughter
of Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth is the most intelligent
and sensible of the five Bennet sisters. She is
well read and quick-witted, with a tongue that
occasionally proves too sharp for her own good.
Her realization of Darcy’s essential goodness
eventually triumphs over her initial prejudice
against him.
CHARACTERS:
Fitzwilliam Darcy
- A wealthy gentleman, the master of
Pemberley, and the nephew of Lady Catherine
de Bourgh. Though Darcy is intelligent and
honest, his excess of pride causes him to look
down on his social inferiors. Over the course of
the novel, he tempers his class-consciousness
and learns to admire and love Elizabeth for her
strong character.
CHARACTERS:
JANE BENNET
- The eldest and most beautiful Bennet

sister. Jane is more reserved and gentler
than Elizabeth. The easy pleasantness with
which she and Bingley interact contrasts
starkly with the mutual distaste that marks
the encounters between Elizabeth and
Darcy.
CHARACTERS:
CHARLES BINGLEY
- Darcy’s considerably wealthy best friend.

Bingley’s purchase of Netherfield, an estate near
the Bennets, serves as the impetus for the novel.
He is a genial, well-intentioned gentleman,
whose easygoing nature contrasts with Darcy’s
initially discourteous demeanor. He is blissfully
uncaring about class differences.
CHARACTERS:
MR. BENNET
- The patriarch of the Bennet family, a
gentleman of modest income with five
unmarried daughters. Mr. Bennet has a sarcastic,
cynical sense of humor that he uses to
purposefully irritate his wife. Though he loves his
daughters (Elizabeth in particular), he often fails
as a parent, preferring to withdraw from the
never-ending marriage concerns of the women
around him rather than offer help.
CHARACTERS:
MRS. BENNET
- Mr. Bennet’s wife, a foolish, noisy

woman whose only goal in life is to see
her daughters married. Because of her low
breeding and often unbecoming behavior,
Mrs. Bennet often repels the very suitors
whom she tries to attract for her
daughters.
CHARACTERS:
George Wickham
- A handsome, fortune-hunting militia officer.
Wickham’s good looks and charm attract
Elizabeth initially, but Darcy’s revelation about
Wickham’s disreputable past clues her in to his
true nature and simultaneously draws her closer
to Darcy.
CHARACTERS:
LYDIA BENNET
- The youngest Bennet sister, she is

gossipy, immature, and self-involved.
Unlike Elizabeth, Lydia flings herself
headlong into romance and ends up
running off with Wickham.
CHARACTERS:
MR. WILLIAM
COLLINS
- A pompous, generally idiotic clergyman who
stands to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property. Mr.
Collins’s own social status is nothing to brag
about, but he takes great pains to let everyone
and anyone know that Lady Catherine de Bourgh
serves as his patroness. He is the worst
combination of snobbish and obsequious.
CHARACTERS:
CAROLINE BINGLEY
- Charles Bingley’s snobbish sister. Miss Bingley

bears inordinate disdain for Elizabeth’s middle-
class background. Her vain attempts to garner
Darcy’s attention cause Darcy to admire
Elizabeth’s self-possessed character even more.
CHARACTERS:
Lady Catherine de Bourgh
- A rich, bossy noblewoman; Mr. Collins’s

patron and Darcy’s aunt. Lady Catherine
epitomizes class snobbery, especially in
her attempts to order the middle-class
Elizabeth away from her well-bred
nephew.
CHARACTERS:
MR. AND MRS. GARDINER
- Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife. The

Gardiners, caring, nurturing, and full of
common sense, often prove to be better
parents to the Bennet daughters than Mr.
Bennet and his wife.
CHARACTERS:
CHARLOTTE LUCAS
- Elizabeth’s dear friend. Pragmatic where
Elizabeth is romantic, and also six years
older than Elizabeth, Charlotte does not
view love as the most vital component of a
marriage. She is more interested in having
a comfortable home. Thus, when Mr.
Collins proposes, she accepts.
CHARACTERS:
Georgiana Darcy
- Darcy’s sister. She is immensely pretty

and just as shy. She has great skill at
playing the pianoforte.

CHARACTERS:
Mary Bennet
- The middle Bennet sister, bookish and

pedantic.
CHARACTERS:
Catherine Bennet
- The fourth Bennet sister. Like

Lydia, she is girlishly enthralled
with the soldiers.

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Pride and

- The eldest and most beautiful Bennet

- Darcy’s considerably wealthy best friend.

- Mr. Bennet’s wife, a foolish, noisy

- The youngest Bennet sister, she is

- Charles Bingley’s snobbish sister. Miss Bingley

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

- A rich, bossy noblewoman; Mr. Collins’s

MR. AND MRS. GARDINER

- Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife. The

- Darcy’s sister. She is immensely pretty

- The middle Bennet sister, bookish and

- The fourth Bennet sister. Like

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