I’ve been building up to this for a while. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has been on my list of books to read for several years. Originally, I just wanted to see what the hubbub was about; after all, Pride and Prejudice is often considered to be THE romance novel. I was curious to discover why so many people adore this book, much in the same way I’ve been curious about Twilight in the past.
Thankfully, my curiosity here was better rewarded than with Stephanie Meyers’s work.
I read the opening chapter to Pride and Prejudice in Francine Prose’s book, and I was immediately drawn to these incredible characters Jane Austen created in Elizabeth Bennet’s parents. Actually, I don’t think “incredible” is the word I want. It’s probably better to say “unbelievable,” as in, “Did Mrs. Bennet REALLY just say that? That’s unbelievable!”
Many of these characters, from the ridiculously romantic Lydia Bennet to the comically austere Mr. Collins, are complete caricatures. It almost defies belief. I just… People get that this is satire, right? They have to – I mean, subtlety is not exactly Austen’s strong point here. Heck, there’s one paragraph of Elizabeth’s internal monolog where she basically says, “I wish I could love Mr. Darcy, but I have such a strong PREJUDICE against his abhorrent PRIDE.” You can almost hear Jane Austen yelling “GET IT???” from nearly two hundred years ago.
Okay, so I mentioned caricatures. That was the biggest surprise in reading Pride and Prejudice – it’s genuinely (and often) funny. Elizabeth’s dry wit is the perfect tool to deconstruct the rigid absurdity of courtship rituals among the elite. She ably points out the shortcomings and foolishness in some of the dated practices and attitudes of her peers (which is where the satires comes in).
And yet… Elizabeth herself is not above reproach. Yes, she’s sharp-witted and cynical, and we love her for it. However, her skepticism and incredulity nearly cost the love of Mr. Darcy (or so she fears). It’s a satire wherein no one is safe; or, rather, everyone (including the POV character) is in need of some improvement, and, when that improvement is made, there is cause to rejoice.
Lemme just sum up – Pride and Prejudice was MUCH better than I expected. Heck, I’ll just say it – I really liked it. A lot. The book’s well-written (if a bit too wordy at times), funny, insightful, and relatable. Also… Elizabeth Bennet may be my new dream girl.
But that’s probably a conversation for another time.
4 comments:
I hated P&P. Hated it. Even with the satire lens, I hated it. And, unfortunately, I don't think that most of the teenybopper set who RAVE about it get that it's satirical.
My biggest beef: why is it that Ms. Bennett doesn't fall for Darcy until she wanders around his sizable, wealthy estate? Why is it she doesn't even attempt to find him charming and adorable until he spits out grillions of dollars to save her family from ruin?
That right there? That is why I hate the book. She's just like them.
The End.
xox
The same thought occurs to me; however, I get the impression that Elizabeth already knew about his wealth, but it didn't make a difference because of how cold he acted. And it's not the WEALTH that attracted her to him, it's how he used his wealth to help out the more undesirable elements of the Bennet family in spite of his prejudices. See, Elizabeth is wealthy, too - so much so that she can spend all her time developing her accomplishments and making fun of everyone around her. SHE'S aristocracy every bit as much as Darcy is.
There's also the fact that Darcy is much nicer to Elizabeth when he meets her at his house. At that point, she's already rejected one marriage proposal, so he realizes he has to actually be nice to her to win her affection. That's when she starts seeing how well his servants and tenants think of him. These are people he would be most likely to abuse, but actually treats with kindness and respect. She sees another side of him and actually gets to know him, and Mr. Darcy actually TRIES to win her affections, rather than just put her and her family down all the time.
When I read this as a teen, I don't think I even knew what "satire" was. And it doesn't really matter because it's a fabulous read on many levels. Kudos to Jane Austen. :)
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