Set in Hertfordshire during the regency period, Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen, is a classic novel filled with romance, drama and silly family members.
This book starts with a line which in short, says that the people at the time where inclined to think that a wealthy, single man was always in want of a wife which sets the precedent of the novel quite nicely as it’s ironic because of the implication that many people assumed wealthy men were always looking to be married, when it was them (the people doing the assuming) who the needed money and power in society which wealthy men could give to them through marriage and often these men weren’t in want of a wife at all.
It also gives us insight into actions committed by many of the characters in the novel such as the parents who are in want of husbands for their daughters and the daughters who are in want of a secure life and perhaps in most cases, love.
Pride and Prejudice is focused on a young woman named Elizabeth (Lizzie) and her life in and out of her home: Longbourn where she has lived a fairly peaceful life up until Mr. Bingley along with a few others arrive to stay in his newly purchased home which would be of little consequence to the reader if Lizzie’s mother didn’t make it absolutely clear that he was extremely rich.
From the very beginning, we see a romance blooming between Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane, however it is almost laughable (at the start of the book anyway) that any sort of connection would form between Lizzie and Bingley’s friend Mr. Darcy; described as a cold and prideful man who everyone in Hertfordshire despised with a passion, he only seems to find his friends worthy of his attention, that is until he catches sight of Elizabeth.
To find out what happens next, I urge you to read this book!
It is an excellent classical tale of love and scandal which on the surface may just be an immersive romance novel but underneath has a lot to say about, how society was structured at the time, differences in class, reputation, family and of course, pride and prejudice.
