What are the themes in Pride and Prejudice?
Love…Reputation…and Class are the three major themes of the book LOVE: As in any good love story, the lovers must elude and overcome numerous stumbling blocks beginning with the tensions caused by the lovers’ own personal qualities. Elizabeth’s pride makes her misjudge Darcy on the basis of a poor first impression, while Darcy’s prejudice against Elizabeth’s poor social standing blinds him, for a time, to her many virtues. REPUTATION: Pride and Prejudice depicts a society in which a woman’s reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways. Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism. CLASS: The theme of class is related to reputation, in that both reflect the strictly regimented nature of life for the middle and upper classes in Regency England. The lines of class are strictly drawn. While the Bennets, who are middle class, may socialize with the upper-class Bingleys and Darcys, they are clearly their social inferiors and
Plot summary The novel opens with the famous line, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”. The arrival of such a single man “of considerable fortune” in the neighbourhood greatly excites Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Bingley, the man in question, leased the Netherfield estate where he plans to temporarily settle with his two sisters, Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, and his sister’s husband, Mr. Hurst. Soon after moving in, Mr. Bingley and his party, which now includes his close friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, attend a public ball in the village of Meryton. At first, Mr. Darcy is admired for his fine figure and income of £10,000 a year and is far more the subject of attention than Mr. Bingley. However, he is soon regarded contemptuously as the villagers become disgusted with his pride. This is brought home to the Bennet family when Elizabeth Bennet overhears Mr. Darcy decline Mr. Bingley’s suggestion that he dance with her becau
