The novel I have chose to read was Pride and Prejudice, one of the best and well known novels written by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813 and celebrated its 200th Anniversary last year. This classic is on the Leaving Certificate course for 2016 so I decided it would be a good idea to take the time out to read it. Pride and Prejudice has been adapted into films and into a television series. This novel centres around the Bennett Family. Mr and Mrs Bennett have five daughters Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Mary and Kitty. They do not have any sons, therefore the family home and the land from which their income is made are entailed to a male heir. This means that on the death of Mr Bennett, the land will be passed on to their cousin Mr Collins, leaving the girls and their mother poor and homeless. Pride and Prejudice follows the girls on a hunt for a husband, to the Bennett girls it is essential to find a husband of comfortable means as soon as possible.
Marriage is a theme that is explored at length in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. This is established straight away from the opening sentence "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife". Jane Austen immediately links marriage to money. In the world of Pride and Prejudice, marriage is a woman's career. A woman must find a husband for comfort, convenience and money. Marriage was not born out of love in the nineteenth century. I learned from reading this novel that marriage should be born out of love. You come across eight different marriages in Pride and Prejudice and I have discovered that the delightful marriages of Jane and Mr Bingley and Elizabeth and Mr Darcy show the result of long periods of love. The other marriages are unhappy and loveless as a result of a lack of courtship or marrying for the wrong reasons.
I admire Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice. Her role is to deliver Jane Austen's view on marriage, know-one should marry for convenience, you should only marry for love. Elizabeth follows her heart and doesn't get pulled in by the ways of society or family who marry for wealth and status. I have learned from Elizabeth's relationship with Darcy that love does not come about over night, it comes about so gradually that you hardly even notice it. Another reason why I admire Elizabeth is because at the beginning of the novel she only believed in first impressions and always believed that she was right. It is clear that Elizabeth matured during the course of the novel because by the end she was able to admit that she had been wrong about Mr Darcy, she had been "blind, partial, prejudiced and absurd", her initial impression of him was wrong.
I enjoyed reading this novel because it is still relevant to our lives today, marriage is a usual event in young peoples lives and you can learn a lot from this novel. Pride and Prejudice has taught me not to give into the ways of society. Copying other people is not the right road to take, you must stay true to who you are and do what you think is best for yourself.
I really enjoyed reading 'Pride and Prejudice' and I would definitely recommend it. It is a timeless classic full of romance and suspense that captures your attention from cover to cover!
