House of Notes

Pride and Prejudice: Title Pride and Prejudice was first written in 1797 under the title “First Impressions ” . It was later revised and published under the title “Pride and Prejudice” in 1813 . In the novel, first impressions do play an important part: Elizabeth is misled in her judgment and estimation of both Darcy and Wickham . Her regard and sympathy for Wickham and her hostility and prejudice against Darcy are due to the first impressions . But when we study the novel deeply and seriously we can easily see that the title “Pride and Prejudice” is more apt and more befitting to it. The first impressions which the character gets of each other take up only the first few chapters. The novel is more about the pride of Darcy and the prejudice of Elizabeth an d the change of attitude in Darcy and Elizabeth’s correction of her first impression. At the apparent level , we see that Darcy embodies pride – he is possessed by family pride.

Pride and Prejudice: Art of Characterization The range of Jane Austen’s characters is rather narrow . She selects her characters from among the landed gentry in the countryside. Sir Walter Scott very accurately describes this range: “Jane Austen confines herself chiefly to the middling classes of society … and those which are sketched with most originality and precision, belong to a class rather below that standard.” She omits the servants and the labourers. They appear wherever they are needed but they are usually not heard. Aristocracy also is hardly touched and if taken, it is only to satirize. Lady Catherine in “Pride and Prejudice” is arrogant, pretentious, stupid and vulgar. Austen finds herself at home only with the country gentry and their usual domestic interests. In spite of such a limited range , Austen never repeats her characters. Lord David Cecil says: “In her six books, she ever repeats a single character … There i