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ESSAY - Sometimes the last person on Earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without (Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen) (esej-sometimes_the_last_person_on_earth_you_want_to_be_with_is_the_one_person_you_can.doc)

Sometimes the last person on Earth you want to be with

is the one person you can't be without.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen, one of England's most cherished and frequently read novelists, was born into the landed gentry in the town of Steventon on December 16, 1775. She was the sixth of seven children raised by strong parents: Cassandra, the daughter of an Oxford University scholar, and George, an Oxford-educated country clergyman. Never married, Austen lived comfortably with her family in Steventon until 1800, and thereafter in Bath, Southampton, and Chawton.

She and her older sister Cassandra were educated primarily at home by their father. As a youth she read literature avidly, wrote fragments of novels and histories. Two adult experiences do stand out: in 1801 a mysterious romantic interest of hers died, and in 1802 she accepted and then declined an offer of marriage from a man she did not love. Otherwise Austen seems to have lived happily and uneventfully. During her mature years, when she was an author of solid repute, she remained at home, preferring rural domesticity to the London literary scene. She died in Winchester of Addison's disease on July 18, 1817.

In her early twenties, Austen wrote in earnest, completing Lady Susan, Elinor and Marianne, and First Impressions, and drafting other works. Her father sent the novels to a publisher, but all were rejected, as was Susan in 1803. In 1804 she began The Watsons but abandoned it after her father's death. Perhaps because of these disappointments, Austen's interest in writing waned until 1809-1811, when she revised Elinor and Marianne and won it an anonymous printing as Sense and Sensibility. In 1812 she greatly revised First Impressions and saw it published, also anonymously, as Pride and Prejudice. Working intensely in a busy parlor in her Chawton home from 1813 to 1816, she composed Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion and revised Susan into Northanger Abbey, a spoof of the popular romance and horror novels of the era. All of these works deal with the lives of young, marriageable men and women in England's nineteenth-century rural landowning and aristocratic classes. Young readers have long admired Austen's heroes and heroines, whose struggles to find the right partner are complex, moving, and often humorous. Austen's work is also known for its masterful language, subtle irony, and for its vivid presentation of the society.

Pride and Prejudice, first published on January 28, 1813, is the most famous of Jane Austen's novels. It is one of the first romantic comedies in the history of the novel. Its manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, and was originally entitled First Impressions, but was never published under that title. The first sentence of Pride and Prejudice is perhaps the most famous opening of all English comedies of social manners. „ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. “ It encapsulates the ambitions of the empty-headed Mrs. Bennet, and her desire to find a good match for each of her five daughters form among the middle-class young men of the family’s acquaintance. One element from the book, the initial mutual dislike of two people destined to love each other, has become a cliché of the Hollywood romance.

Pride and Prejudice is a love story that is both humorous and deeply serious. The story begins in the autumn of 1811 when Charles Bingley, accompanied by his two sisters and Darcy, takes up residence at Netherfield, close to the Bennets' home at Longbourn and is primarily concerned with them, a family with five daughters ranging in age from 15 to 22. The family children live well but know that when their father dies they will lose their home and property to their cousin Mr. Collins, simply because the family has no male heir. Mrs. Bennet, a comically deluded woman, believes that her main business is to arrange for her children to marry rich or, at worst, reputable gentlemen. Her husband, a genial wit, refuses to support her schemes but rarely hinders them. As a result, when experiences with bachelors of varying worth lead to problems and emotions, the daughters must handle it their own.

The novel portrays two remarkable characters: Elizabeth Bennet, the talented, independent second daughter, and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a haughty aristocrat who sees through Mrs. Bennet's manipulations and believes the Bennet family to be beneath him. In turn, Elizabeth develops a blinding prejudice against Darcy and puts him down as no one has dared before. Their relationship – a combination of attraction and contempt – is certainly one of the most exciting in all literature.

Jane Austen is a keen observer of human behavior. She shows that while men and women often think too highly of themselves, deceive or flatter others, and act stupidly, they are also capable of love, kindness, and moral growth. With this mingling of positive and negative traits, her heroes and heroines seem deeply human. The novelist is reputed to have considered Elizabeth Bennet her favorite creation. Indeed, the twenty-year-old possesses brains, beauty, musical talent, confidence, and—for the era—rare independence. But this independence—perhaps inherited from her mother—leads her to make mistakes: she judges Wickham, Darcy, and others too soon, and then clings stubbornly to her prejudices.

Darcy first appears as an exceedingly self-impressed figure. Early in the novel, as he rudely refrains from dancing at a ball, Elizabeth overhears him talking derogatorily about her and the other women. At the next dance, he 'must' admit to himself, that Elizabeth's intelligent expression is 'beautiful.' He falls in love with her against his wishes. Darcy's attempts to approach Elizabeth succeed only in offending her more, and to complicate matters, his arrogant Aunt Catherine expects him to marry within the aristocracy.

Through its vivid characters, Pride and Prejudice contrasts many human qualities: depth and superficiality; honesty and dishonesty; pride and humility; independence and servile compliance; selfishness and generosity. Most important, Austen contrasts weak, dense people with those who can recognize their own foibles and thus mature. It is the latter group that the writer sees as the moral leaders of her society.

Pride and Prejudice also reveals distinctions of several social classes. Darcy and his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, are members of the aristocracy, England's hereditary ruling class. The Bennet family and the clergyman Mr. Collins fall into the category of landed gentry. Historically, the aristocracy and gentry mixed freely but tended not to cross lines for marriage. Both maintained business but not social dealings with people of 'inferior' status.

Austen considers rural communities like the Bennets' places of comfort and havens for traditional values. Families know each other well and care very much about how they appear to their neighbors. Unlike London, which values change, fashion, and commerce, Austen's country towns preserve pleasures considered more genteel: social graces, family living, and honorable courtship. In this world marriage is a complex institution; teen-age women are considered 'out' after they attend their first dance, and most of a young woman's life consists of preparing for marriage. For most women, the choice of a spouse is the most significant decision they will make. Many couples—like Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins—wed not for love but to gain property or achieve a desired social rank. Austen's novels show such arrangements, but they do not approve of them; her heroes and heroines never marry coldly.

Pride and Prejudice depicts a leadership crisis in the Bennet family and in the community as a whole. Mrs. Bennet's tactless meddling in Jane's affairs creates the appearance that her daughter is hunting Bingley's fortune. Mrs. Bennet also fails to anticipate the disastrous possibilities of her young daughter's flirting with militiamen. Her hunger for attention damages the family reputation at every public occasion. Meanwhile, as likeable as her husband may seem, he has no stomach for disciplining his children. He is not seriously engaged in their lives. Pride and Prejudice shows the Bennet family to be in a state of crisis. With no strong adult influences, the best young people step forward. Darcy shows his true mettle by secretly helping Charles return to Jane, by ensuring that Wickham and Lydia return to Longbourn as a married couple with an income, and by proposing again to Elizabeth with new humility. Shamed, Elizabeth recognizes many of her misjudgments and accepts Darcy's proposal. Their personalities soften and blend beautifully.

Like any moralist, Austen shows that foolish or evil actions do have adverse consequences. Although Jane ends up happily married to Bingley, the scheming of her mother and Bingley's sisters causes her real pain. More severely, Lydia ends up living joylessly with her indifferent husband, always moving about and never financially secure. Darcy's intervention preserves her reputation, but her life amounts to little.

The novel ends on the hopeful note of two Christmas-time weddings for the eldest Bennet daughters. Elizabeth builds a friendship with Darcy's sister Georgiana, occasionally sends money to Lydia, and gradually moves her husband to reconcile with his aunt. By their actions and their shared sense of duty, Elizabeth and Darcy—a union of the gentry and the aristocracy—show themselves to have become leaders in their society.

Pride and Prejudice is an exciting, suspenseful story. The story is based on a series of conflicts: the central one between Elizabeth and Darcy, and smaller ones concerning the other characters. Every chapter builds towards the novel's climax, Elizabeth's visit to Darcy's home in Derbyshire, and the resolution is both plausible and satisfying.

Austen also uses language superbly, but not in flowery or flashy ways. Rather, she writes with great clarity and precision, and employs irony for a comic effect. Irony allows a writer to communicate more than the literal or expected meanings of his or her language. Austen also fills the novel's dialogue with irony, making people such as Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins reveal their foolishness to the reader through their ridiculous comments.

Austen created splendid characters, showing how their errors result from their flaws. She uses symbolism sparingly but successfully; for example, the ordered, austere beauty of Darcy's grounds and home at Pemberly represents his real nature. Finally, Austen employs the omniscient point of view, which means that her all-knowing narrator has complete knowledge of the story and can reveal any character's thoughts and feelings to the reader. Most of the time, the narrator shows the world as Elizabeth sees it.

In popular culture, Austen's novels have been adapted in a great number of film and television series. Pride and Prejudice has been the most reproduced of her works, with six films, the most recent being the 2005 adaptation directed by Joe Wright, starring the only 17 years old Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennet, Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy and Dame Judi Dench as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. The 2001 film Bridget Jones's Diary, based on a book by Helen Fielding, took the story line and several characters directly from the novel. Pride and Prejudice has also inspired a number of other works. Bride and Prejudice, starring Aishwarya Rai, is a Bollywood adaptation of the novel, while Pride and Prejudice (2003 film) places the novel in contemporary times.