Jane Austie – Pride and Prejudice (London : Ergton, 1813)   Pinguin Classics, New York : Pinguin Books, 2009   Volume I   In Netherfield lives an extraordinary family (but q
uite normal in 1813). It consists of mr. Bennet, mr
s. Bennet and their five daughters: Lydia, Jane, Eliza
beth (Lizzy), Catherine (Kitty) and Mary. Then, a
there is a new neighbour, mr. Bingley. He is very h
andsome and has good manners, he is the
potential fiancé for one of the daughters. Mr. Benn

et believes Lizzy is the one, although mrs. Bennet
thinks she isn’t as good as the others. The new nei
ghbour throws a party, a ball. They are also invite
d (mr. Bennet doesn’t come though). They all fall imm
ediately in love with him (not literally). But, he
has a very handsome friend, mr. Darcy. However, the
y discover that he is bad-mannered and mr. Bingley is still the target. Jane is the lucky one, she is asked twice to dance with him. Mr. Bingley has five sisters and a cousin to come o
ver. The family Bennet likes them, so that’s is an
advantage. The Bingley family also does like Elizab
eth and sees her as a sweet girl. On the other side, the family Lucas are their neigh
bours. They are good friends and mr. Lucas has a
title (  Sir William Lucas it is). They talk about the ball
and the dancing. Then, there starts a kind of a
party. Later; Jane is invited over by the Bingley’s, but s
he catches a cold while she is staying there. Eliza

beth
has to visit her. Two other daughters, Catherine an
d Lydia, are going to visit two generals (?). Their
father thinks they are the two most stupid girls in
the world. Lizzy and Jane stay a bit longer at the Bingley’s. The sisters of Charles Bingley are abusing Elizabet
h, critcising her looks. She has walked three miles al
one and her clothes aren’t 100% anymore. Also, she
doesn’t want to play a card-game with them, but pre
fers to read, so she can easily go to her sick
sister. They are having a conversation about the ‘i
deal’ woman. Mr. Bingley thinks all women are
quite unique and good, but mr. Darcy and mr. Bingle
y’s sisters have many conditions. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have a kind of chemistry, b
ut the last day, mr. Darcy doesn’t want to pay too
much attention to her. (Elizabeth’s concurrent is m
iss Bingley.) When Jane has recovered, they go back home and at f

our o’clock, Mr. Bennet’s cousin would come. He needs to marry (he said in a letter that his fat
her died). Then, the five sisters, excluding Mary, go on a vis
it by a colonel. Mrs. Bennet is happy to see that
their daughters soon are married. Elizabeth met mr. Wickham, whose father was the ste
ward of late mr. Darcy. Mr. Wickham is also
very close to him and in his will, he gave much to
mr. Wickham, but mr. Darcy did something, which
lead to nothing for mr. Wickham. At the next ball in Netherfield, mr. Wickham isn’t
there. Elizabeth asks certain persons what they
think or mr. Wickham and mr. Darcy. But nobody real
ly knows what happened. Jane and mr. Bingley are very close, and it is very
likely that they are going to marry. Her mother is
very delight. Then, mr. Collins come and asks Elizabeth to marry
him. Of course she refuses, but mr. Collins thinks
that is a sign of encouragement and that she will a

ccept the next time. Elizabeth gets annoyed by him. For him, it is a sign of modesty and Lady Catherine
would like that. Then, mrs. Bennet tries to
persuade her to marry him, she calls mr. Bennet to
help her, but he says to Elizabeth: “You mother
will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Co
llins, an dI will never see you again if you do.” Mrs. Bennet feels betrayed by Lizzy, because she is
not ‘dutiful’. Mr. Collins apologises if he had
brought shame on the family and leaves. Then, Jane receives a letter, which says that the f
amily Bingley went to town and won’t be back till
winter, at least. Then, something unexpected happens: mr. Collins ask
s if Charlotte wants to marry him and she
accepts! Elizabeth and Charlotte Lucas (who are fri
ends) are mad at each other. After a few weeks it
passes.   Volume II   The Bingleys aren’t back yet and won’t return to Ne
therfield. Jane is left with nothing but a broken

heart after she receives a letter from Miss Bingley (who despites her). Jane decides to go to London, the Bingleys know she is there, but they don’t visi
t her. Jane feels ignored, after a talk with Elizab
eth, she cheers up. Elizabeth, however, is still a littl
e bit sad about mr. Collins and Charlotte. But she
forgets all the pain and sadness when she talks wit
h her aunt mrs. Gardiner (wife of the brother of
mrs. Bennet). Then, she visits Charlotte as promise
d before. The house has a beautiful garden and
Elizabeth is happy to see her. She isn’t mad at mr. Collins anymore. Then, they are invited to join diner with Lady Cath
erine (in Rosings). Lady Catherine is a very
confident woman. She asks many people all kind of q
uestions and corrects their behaviour and
lifestyle. She also criticise Elizabeth’s family: w
hy don’t they all play an instrument? why haven’t t
hey

had a governess? Etc. Days have been passed and it
is almost Easter. Twice a week, they dine in
Rosings. Then, there is a kind of party in Rosings. Mr. Darcy (Lady Catherine’s cousin) and colonel
Fitzwilliam are invited too. They talk about music
and Elizabeth plays the piano. Lady Catherine
comes and has, of course, critic. Her daughter Anne
is better because she practices and recommends
Elizabeth to do the same. Then the carriage is read
y to bring them home. A sudden thing happens. Mr. Darcy goes to the Colli
ns’, but only Elizabeth is ‘home’. They try to talk
about the Blingey’s, but it is kind of awkward. The
ir conversation is interrupted by Charlotte. The relation between mr. Darcy and Elizabeth is not
very clear. It is obvious they like each other, bu
t they won’t admit and Elizabeth is very stubborn. So
metimes they meet in a park, three times it

happened. They don’t talk and just walk on. When Elizabeth encounters colonel Fitzwilliam, she
hears that mr. Darcy is partly responsible for the
separation of mr. Bingley and Jane. She doesn’t wis
h to see him and doesn’t go on visit by Lady
Catherine de Borough. Elizabeth is home alone, the doorbell rings. She ho
pes it is colonel Fitzwilliam, but it is mr. Darcy. He
confesses his love to her. For a moment she is sile
nt, but she is still angry with him. She accuses him of making her sister Jane unhappy f
or all her life and deceiving mr. Wickham. Mr. Darcy insults her and her family badly, by saying t
hat they are from a low social stand. Elizabeth
angers grows, she says that she never liked him bec
ause of his conceit, arrogance and selfish disdain
of the feelings of others. Mr. Darcy doesn’t know w
hat to say exactly and leaves after excusing and
saying he comprehends her feelings. Elizabeth cries

for half an hour, she flees to her room, because
she doesn’t want Charlotte to see her like this. Next morning, she goes out for a walk, but afraid o
f meeting mr. Darcy, she doesn’t go to the park. Then, she sees a familiar figure approaching her. S
he wants to back off but it is too late. It is mr. Darcy and he hands her a letter and asks her polite
ly to read it and then he goes away. In his letter, he explains his behaviour and talks about mr. Bingl
ey and Jane and mr. Wickham. He kept mr. Bingley away from Jane, because mr. Bin
gley really liked Jane and showed it to everyone. Contrary, Jane didn’t do that. Mr. Darcy didn’t wan
t mr. Bingley to get hurt, so it was better to leav
e Jane. About mr. Wickham: he lost all the money whil
e gambling and tried to get more money from
Georgiana, mr. Darcy’s sister. He failed. Also (not in the letter): Lady Catherine de Borough
wants her daughter, Anne, to marry mr. Darcy. She is not the only one, because miss Bingley also
likes mr. Darcy. But the one Darcy likes, doesn’t
like him back (Elizabeth). Elizabeth is amazed, she reads the letter over and
over again. She can’t believe anything what he has

written. She puts it away and doesn’t want to look
to it every again. She is walking for two hours and
realises that mr. Darcy was blameless all the time. She is very ashamed of herself, that she was
prejudiced and didn’t use reason. When she goes hom
e (Charlotte’s home), she hears that mr. Darcy
and colonel Fitzwilliam wanted to speak to her, the
n they leave Rosings. Next day, Elizabeth is leavin
g (she stayed for six weeks). First she and Maria go
to the Gardiner’s, in Hunsford (where Jane is
staying for a while).

 

  Then, the whole family (and the Lucases) meet in a
café/restaurant thing. Elizabeth tells everything
about mr. Darcy and mr. Wickham to Jane and she dec
ides that is better to not tell anyone the truth. Also, Elizabeth is irritated by Lydia and Catherine . They are very silly and too flirty, they seek for
too

much attention. She is afraid that they will ruin t
he family reputation. Elizabeth has a last word with mr. Wickam and then
they say goodbye. Lydia goes to Meryton to
meet officers, with Mrs. Forster. The only one who
cries is Kitty. A few weeks later, mr. and mrs. Gardiner and Elizab
eth go on ‘holiday’, the four kids they have go to
their cousin Jane. They go to many places and they
are also near Pemberley. Her aunt and uncle
suggest going there, but Elizabeth doesn’t want to, because mr. Wickham might be there. But then
she realises that mr. Darcy lives there.   Volume III   They go to Pemberley, mr. Darcy isn’t home and woul
dn’t be home till the next day. The
housekeeper, mrs. Reynolds, shows them the house. S
he really speaks positively about him, that he
is the best master she could wish for. Elizabeth, h
er aunt and her uncle are surprised. When they walk outside, they see mr. Darcy. He is t

alking in a very civil way, but Elizabeth can’t hea
r a word. Then they go for a walk. It is a very long
trip and mrs. Gardiner is tired. The communication between mr. Darcy and Elizabeth i
s kind of awkward. Mr. Darcy wishes Elizabeth
to meet his sister, miss Darcy. It is a great honou
r for Elizabeth. Miss Darcy is only 16 years old, but taller than El
izabeth. She doesn’t show too much pride, she
seems very shy and afraid of doing something wrong. Elizabeth and her aunt are visiting miss Darcy, and
so do miss Bingley and mrs. Hurst. Miss Bingley is
still criticising Elizabeth, that she isn’t pretty, has a bad behaviour etc. After the visit, she also
says
that to mr. Darcy, but he doesn’t agree. He remains
silent. And miss Bingley is dissed. Elizabeth is a bit sad that Jane haven’t sent any
letter to her. But then two at the same time

arrive (one was wrong addressed). Jane has shocking
news: from colonel Foster, they heard that
Lydia and mr. Wickham are going to marry and that t
hey don’t know where they are at this moment. Everyone is worried, because colonel Foster said th
at mr. Wickham is not someone to be trusted. Jane asks Elizabeth to come home immediately with h
er uncle and aunt. Her father and the colonel
are going to London soon, they will seek to find th
em. Mr. Darcy was in the same room as Elizabeth
when she had read the letter, he understands that s
he has to leave. They call her uncle and aunt and
they are gone. Their father left yesterday and mrs. Bennet persuad
ed mr. Gardiner to go after them and prevent her
father from fighting mr. Wickham. They are all shoc
ked. Lydia sent a letter to colonel Foster’s wife
with a joke that she wanted to send them a letter i
n which she changed her name to Lydia Wickham. Nobody actually believes that mr. Wickham would mar

ry Lydia, because she is too ignorant and too
poor. Mr. Gardiner found mr. Bennet, but he doesn’t
want to return. He suggested helping him to
find his daughter. In Longbourn, a letter arrives f
rom mr. Collins for mr. Bennet. He says that Lydia
brings shame on the whole family and it is better t
o leave her. Then, mr. Bennet is home, but no success. He is sur
e that Lydia is in London and that she is happy. He
also forbids any officer to step a foot in their ho
use. He is quite angry and begins to threaten (not
sure) and Catherine starts crying. Mr. Gardiner sent them a letter, saying that he kno
ws where they are. And they are likely to being
married. Mrs. Bennet is very delight, also because
mr. Wickham doesn’t ask much money. 5
thousand + 100 pounds a year. But they think that m
r. Gardiner pays the other 5k. Mr. Bennet isn’t quite happy for Lydia and refuses

to pay her clothes and wedding things, mrs. Bennet is mad at him and they start a dispute. Eliz
abeth realises she wants to marry mr. Darcy and
regrets her rejection four months earlier. Mr. Wickham and Lydia are to go to the North, mrs. Bennet is very disappointed. But they ask them
to come once to Longbourn, so mrs. Bennet can show
her daughter to the neighbourhood.

 

  When Lydia is home, she shows off her ring to every
one. She is VERY conceited, her sisters are
annoyed by her. She even says that she will get the
m husbands when mrs. Bennet is gone, of course
Elizabeth refuses. Then she finds out that mr. Darc
y was at Lydia’s wedding. She immediately write
her aunt a letter. She gets one back very soon. The
letter says that mr. Darcy went directly to London , after Elizabeth left Pemberley (telling him Lydia w
as gone). He found mr. Wickham and her and paid
partly money for the marriage (after he tried to co

nvince Lydia to leave Wickham), so mr. Wickham
doesn’t have debts anymore. When she was thinking about the affair and goes out
for a walk, mr. Wickam joins her and they talk a
bit. Elizabeth really wants to leave him. Mr. Wickh
am finds out she knows about his past-gambling
problems. Elizabeth says to leave the past behind t
hem. Lydia and mr. Wickham are off to Newcastle. They hear that mr. Bingley is in Netherfield again . Mrs. Bennet still thinks mr. Bingley is
awesome and invites him for dinner. Mr. Darcy is c
oming too, but mrs. Bennet still despises him, not
knowing he was the one who saved Lydia’s marriage. Jane isn’t as happy as we expected her to be when m
r. Bingley is back, also mr. Bennet is irritated. H
e doesn’t want to visit him voluntarily. Jane is less chatty than she used to be with mr. Bi
ngley, but still as pretty as before he thinks. Mr. Darcy hasn’t say a word and it is obvious that mrs. Bennet doesn’t like him. She greets mr. Bingley
very civil, but mr. Darcy quite superficially. The next Tuesday, they come to dinner again. The pa

rty is a success, the food is delicious. Mrs. Bennet is happy, but Elizabeth is not. Mr. Darcy do
esn’t come to her and she perfectly understands. She has rejected him and of course, he wouldn’t pro
pose to her again. Elizabeth tries to save their
relationship by talking to him when he returns his
cup of coffee, but the conversation doesn’t keep
going. After that, mr. Bingley comes alone, because his fr
iend is off to London for ten days. He doesn’t stay
for dinner. Mrs. Bennet has a plan to leave Jane an
d mr. Bingley alone, in the hope he proposes. It
doesn’t succeed. But she invites him again and begs
him to stay for dinner. The next day he finally
proposes to Jane. She is very happy and of course i
s mrs. Bennet. They have already forgotten about
Lydia. Jane only wants Elizabeth to be as happy as
her. Then an unexpected guest arrives, it’s Lady Catheri
ne de Borough. She and Elizabeth are taking a

walk and she suggests that Elizabeth will reject mr . Darcy, whatever happens and that he is going to
marry her daughter, Anne de Borough. Elizabeth does
n’t understand why she came all way to
Longbourn to say this. Lady Catherine says that if
Elizabeth will ever accept mr. Darcy’s proposal (if
there is one), all his friends and her friends will
despise her and her name won’t be mentioned again. She doesn’t stand a chance, nobody is interested in
her, nobody likes her etc. Lady Catherine really
wants to make Elizabeth sad and insecure. She asks
if Elizabeth and him are engaged and she replies ‘no’ and she doesn’t promise she will reject his pr
oposal. Lady de Borough is pissed she doesn’t obey
her and thinks Elizabeth is rude and selfish and th
en leaves. Of course, Elizabeth doesn’t say
everything to her mother. Then her father calls Elizabeth to her room. Saying
he received a letter from mr. Collins. He says tha

t Elizabeth must be aware of the consequences by acce
pting a gentleman’s proposal, it is mr. Darcy. He also says that Lady Catherine is not happy with
that. Her father thinks it’s funny, because he stil
l has the idea the two of them hate each other. Eliza
beth laughs, but actually wants to cry. Then mr. Bingley comes and he has taken mr. Darcy w
ith him. Mrs. Bennet doesn’t like to walk at the
moment and stays inside. Mr. Bingley and Jane are o
ff. That leaves Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth and Kitty
alone. Kitty wants to go to Maria, one of the Lucas
es. Elizabeth and mr. Darcy talk about the letter
and she says that she is willing to accept his prop
osal if he would ask again. He says that he helped
her sister Lydia only for her and that he knows Eli
zabeth doesn’t dislike him, because she would say i
t openly to his aunt and she didn’t. He also says tha
t he was taught by his parents to only care for

family and that Elizabeth taught him a lesson, the
words ‘had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike
manner’ made him thought. He was angry at first, bu
t it soon faded away. He has always been kind of
mean to a woman, except for Elizabeth. Also, mr. Bi
ngley was mad at him for not telling that Jane
was in town, but he forgave him.   They walk for miles and then they return home. When
Elizabeth was in Pemberley, he was positively
surprised. He had been acting more civil and kind t
o make her see that he had a nice side. Then, when she walks into the room. Jane and Elizab
eth have time to talk privately. She says she is
engaged to mr. Darcy and Jane initially doesn’t bel
ieve it. She is very delighted for her. Elizabeth also tells her everything about what happ
ened in Pemberley and that his share in Lydia’s
marriage. Next morning, mr. Darcy and mr. Bingley come again

and mrs. Bennet wants Elizabeth to go out for a
walk with mr. Darcy, for Jane’s sake. Mrs. Bennet f
eels sorry for Elizabeth that she has to be with
such an disagreeable man every time. Elizabeth laug
hs. Mr. Darcy is summoned in mr. Bennet’s room and when
he leaves, Elizabeth has to talk to him. He
couldn’t believe that she was engaged with him. He
asks her to think very deeply about it, but then
she tells how amiable he is and what has done for L
ydia and everything is settled down. Also mrs. Bennet reacts more happily than expected. She is astonished by the amount of money she
will have. 10000 pounds a year and mr. Darcy is als
o very handsome. She hopes that he will forgive
her for her rudeness. Elizabeth writes a letter to her aunt and uncle, th
anking for her information and taking her to

Pemberley instead to the lake, it was the best thin
g they had done for her. Also, mr. Bennet sent a
letter to mr. Collins. Announcing their marriage an
d asking him to tell Lady Catherine de Borough. Mrs. Bennet became happy for the rest of her life, having three of her daughters married. Elizabeth
moves to Pemberley and Lydia often visits them. Mar
y is now the only one staying at home, but she
isn’t even half as pretty as her sisters. Elizabeth
is really thankful to mr. and mrs. Gardiner. Kitty becomes more kind and less like Lydia. Lydia
asks in a letter to Elizabeth to send them money, of course she thinks it’s ridiculous. Though, somet
imes she sends money. Mr. Wickham is still not
welcome at Pemberley. Lady Catherine can’t do shit, now they are married. And miss Bingley, who
envied Elizabeth, also gives up.