Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

First published: 1813

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of plot: Early nineteenth century

Locale: Rural England

Principal Characters

• Mr. Bennet, the father of five daughters
• Mrs. Bennet, his wife
• Jane Bennet, the oldest daughter and the family beauty
• Elizabeth Bennet, her father’s favorite
• Mary, ,
• Catherine (Kitty), and
• Lydia Bennet, the younger sisters
• Mr. Bingley, an eligible bachelor
• Caroline Bingley, his sister
• Mr. Darcy, Bingley’s friend
• Mr. Collins, a vicar
• Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt and Collins’s patron

The Story

The chief business of Mrs. Bennet’s life is to find suitable husbands for her five daughters. Consequently, she is elated when she hears that nearby Netherfield Park has been let to a Mr. Bingley, a gentleman from the north of England. Gossip reports him to be a rich and eligible young bachelor. Mr. Bingley’s first public appearance in the neighborhood is at a ball. With him are his two sisters, the husband of the older, and Mr. Darcy, Bingley’s friend.

Bingley is an immediate success in local society, and he and Jane, the oldest Bennet daughter, a pretty girl of sweet and gentle disposition, are attracted to each other at once. His friend, Darcy, however, seems cold and extremely proud and creates a bad impression. In particular, he insults Elizabeth Bennet, a girl of spirit and intelligence and her father’s favorite, by refusing to dance with her when she is sitting down for lack of a partner; he says in her hearing that he is in no mood to prefer young ladies slighted by other men. On later occasions, however, he begins to admire Elizabeth in spite of himself, and at one party she has the satisfaction of refusing him a dance.

Jane’s romance with Bingley flourishes quietly, aided by family calls, dinners, and balls. His sisters pretend great fondness for Jane, who believes them completely sincere. Elizabeth is more critical and discerning; she suspects them of hypocrisy, and quite rightly, for they make great fun of Jane’s relations, especially her vulgar, garrulous mother and her two ill-bred officer-mad younger sisters. Miss Caroline Bingley, who is eager to marry Darcy and shrewdly aware of his growing admiration for Elizabeth, is especially loud in her ridicule of the Bennet family. Elizabeth herself becomes Caroline’s particular target when she walks three miles through muddy pastures to visit Jane when she falls ill at Netherfield Park. Until Jane is able to be moved home, Elizabeth stays to nurse her. During her visit, Elizabeth receives enough attention from Darcy to make Caroline Bingley long sincerely for Jane’s recovery. Her fears are not ill-founded. Darcy admits to himself that he would be in some danger from the charm of Elizabeth, if it were not for her inferior family connections.

Elizabeth acquires a new admirer in Mr. Collins, a ridiculously pompous clergyman and a distant cousin of the Bennets, who will someday inherit Mr. Bennet’s property because that gentleman has no male heir. Mr. Collins’s patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, urged him to marry, and he, always obsequiously obedient to her wishes, hastens to comply. Thinking to alleviate the hardship caused the Bennet sisters by the entail that gave their father’s property to him, Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth. Much to her mother’s displeasure and her father’s relief, she firmly and promptly rejects him. He almost immediately transfers his affections to Elizabeth’s best friend, Charlotte Lucas, who, being twenty-seven years old and somewhat homely, accepts at once.

During Mr. Collins’s visit and on one of their many walks to Meryton, the younger Bennet sisters, Kitty and Lydia, meet a delightful young officer, Mr. Wickham, who is stationed with the regiment there. Outwardly charming, he becomes a favorite among all the ladies, including Elizabeth. She is willing to believe the story that he had been cheated out of an inheritance left to him by Darcy’s father, who had been his godfather. Her belief in Darcy’s arrogant and grasping nature deepens when Wickham does not come to a ball given by the Bingleys, a dance at which Darcy is present.

Soon after the ball, the entire Bingley party suddenly leaves Netherfield Park. They depart with no intention of returning, as Caroline writes Jane in a short farewell note, in which she hints that Bingley might soon become engaged to Darcy’s sister. Jane believes that her friend, Caroline, is trying gently to tell her that her brother loves elsewhere and that she must cease to hope. Elizabeth, however, is sure of a plot by Darcy and Caroline to separate Bingley and Jane. She persuades Jane that Bingley does love her and that he will return to Hertfordshire before the winter is over. Jane almost believes her, until she receives a letter from Caroline assuring her that they are all settled in London for the winter. Even after Jane tells her this news, Elizabeth remains convinced of Bingley’s affection for her sister and deplores the lack of resolution that makes him putty in the hands of his scheming friend.

About that time, Mrs. Bennet’s sister, Mrs. Gardiner, an amiable and intelligent woman with a great deal of affection for her two oldest nieces, arrives for a Christmas visit. She suggests to the Bennets that Jane return to London with her for a rest and change of scene and—so it is understood between Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth—to renew her acquaintance with Bingley. Elizabeth is not hopeful for the success of the plan and points out that proud Darcy would never let his friend call on Jane in the unfashionable London street on which the Gardiners live. Jane accepts the invitation, however, and she and Mrs. Gardiner set out for London.

The time draws near for the wedding of Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte Lucas, who asks Elizabeth to visit her in Kent. Despite feeling that there can be little pleasure in such a visit, Elizabeth promises to do so. She does not approve of Charlotte’s marrying simply for the sake of an establishment, and since she does not sympathize with her friend’s decision, she thinks their days of real intimacy are over. As March approaches, however, she finds herself eager to see her friend, and she sets out with pleasure on the journey with Charlotte’s father and sister. On their way, the party stops in London to see the Gardiners and Jane. Elizabeth finds her sister well and outwardly serene; she had not seen Bingley and his sisters had paid only one call. Elizabeth is sure Bingley had not been told of Jane’s presence in London and blames Darcy for keeping it from him.

Soon after arriving at the Collins’s home, the whole party is honored, as Mr. Collins repeatedly assures them, by a dinner invitation from Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Elizabeth finds her to be a haughty, ill-mannered woman, and her daughter thin, sickly, and shy. Lady Catherine is extremely fond of inquiring into the affairs of others and in giving them unsolicited advice. Elizabeth turns off her meddling questions with cool indirectness and sees from the effect that she is probably the first who has ever dared do so.

Soon after Elizabeth’s arrival, Darcy comes to visit his aunt and cousin. He calls frequently at the parsonage, and he and Elizabeth resume their conversational fencing matches, which culminate in a sudden and unexpected proposal of marriage; he couches his proposal, however, in such proud, even unwilling, terms that Elizabeth not only refuses him but is able to do so indignantly. When he requests her reason for her emphatic rejection, she mentions his part in separating Bingley and Jane, as well as his mistreatment of Wickham, whereupon he leaves abruptly. The next day, he brings a long letter in which he answers her charges. He does not deny his part in separating Jane and Bingley but gives as his reasons the improprieties of Mrs. Bennet and her younger daughters and also his sincere belief that Jane does not love Bingley. As for his alleged mistreatment of Wickham, he writes that he has in reality acted most generously toward Wickham, who is an unprincipled liar, and had repaid Darcy's kindness by attempting to elope with Darcy’s young sister. At first incensed at the tone of the letter, Elizabeth is gradually forced to acknowledge the justice of some of what he wrote; she regrets having judged him so harshly but is relieved not to see him again before returning home.

There, she finds her younger sisters clamoring to go to Brighton, where the regiment formerly stationed at Meryton had been ordered. When an invitation comes to Lydia from a young officer’s wife, Lydia is allowed to accept it over Elizabeth’s protests. Elizabeth is asked by the Gardiners to go with them on a tour that will take them into Derbyshire, Darcy’s home county. She accepts, reasoning that she is not very likely to meet Darcy merely by going into his county. While they are there, however, Mrs. Gardiner decides they should visit Pemberley, Darcy’s home. Elizabeth makes several excuses, but her aunt insists. Only when she learns that the Darcy family is not in residence does Elizabeth consent to go along.

At Pemberley, an unexpected and embarrassing meeting takes place between Elizabeth and Darcy. He is more polite than Elizabeth has ever known him to be, and he asks permission for his sister to call upon her. The call is duly paid and returned, but the pleasant intercourse between the Darcys and Elizabeth’s party is suddenly cut short when a letter from Jane informs Elizabeth that Lydia has run away with Wickham. Elizabeth tells Darcy what had happened, and she and the Gardiners leave for home at once. After several days, the runaway couple is located and a marriage is arranged between them. When Lydia comes home as heedless as ever, she tells Elizabeth that Darcy had attended her wedding. Suspecting the truth, Elizabeth learns from Mrs. Gardiner that it was indeed Darcy who brought about the marriage by giving Wickham money.

Soon after Lydia and Wickham leave, Bingley returns to Netherfield Park, accompanied by Darcy. Elizabeth, now much more favorably inclined toward him, hopes his coming means that he still loves her, but he gives no sign. Bingley and Jane, on the other hand, are still obviously in love with each other, and they soon became engaged, to the great satisfaction of Mrs. Bennet. Soon afterward, Lady Catherine pays the Bennets an unexpected call. She hears rumors that Darcy is engaged to Elizabeth. Hoping to marry her own daughter to Darcy, she had come to order Elizabeth not to accept the proposal. The spirited girl is not to be intimidated by the bullying Lady Catherine and coolly refuses to promise not to marry Darcy, even though she is regretfully far from certain that she will have the opportunity to do so again. However, she does not have long to wonder.

Lady Catherine, unluckily for her own purpose, repeats to Darcy the substance of her conversation with Elizabeth, and he knows Elizabeth well enough to surmise that her feelings toward him must have greatly changed. He immediately returns to Netherfield Park, and he and Elizabeth become engaged. Pride has been humbled and prejudice dissolved.

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