1. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Background Information

2. English Regency Period  1810-1820  Middle class gained considerable prestige and social status  New-money upper class families = landed gentry  Hereditary titles

3. Austen’s novels…  Privileged circle of England’s landed gentry and aristocracy  Less than 2% enjoyed the upper class  Military plays a role  No political commentary related to the war (French Revolution)

4. Characters represent the period….  Mr. Darcy-hereditary aristocracy  The Bingley’s represent the new landed gentry  The Bennets own land, but they are a middle-class family

5. Women….  Women in England had few legal rights  Depended on the men in their lives  Women could not own property  Entailment of an estate  Could not enter into any legal contact

6. Themes  Social Class/lack of class mobility  To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! What could she mean by it? It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country town indifference to decorum. (Bingley sisters when Elizabeth arrives-chapter 8)  Marriage and Family  Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar before-hand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexations; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life. (Charlotte’s conservative view of marriage-chapter 6)

7. Themes continue….  Property, Social Decorum, and Reputation  Upon my word’, said her Ladyship, ‘you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person’…Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence. (Lady of Catherine of Elizabeth-volume II-chapter 6)  Pride and Prejudice  He was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased. (Mr. Darcy enters the Meryton neighborhood-Vol. 1-chapter 3)

8. Literary and Narrative Techniques  Elements of Irony-(Ironic Tone throughout)  Situational Irony  Verbal Irony  Dramatic or Tragic Irony It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.-vol. 1-chapter 1  Elements of Satire-characters  Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Collins  Free Indirect Discourse-(Jane Austen)  3 rd person perspective to convey ideas and thoughts from the point of view of a particular character (Volume III, Chapter 3- Elizabeth at Darcy’s estate Pemberly)