Jane Austen and making an impression
In the classic Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen invites her readers to form judgments of her characters as they read the book – and then to revise them as the story unfolds. Fiona Stafford explains why this may in part account for the book’s enduring appeal.
Pride and Prejudice has delighted generations of readers with its unforgettable cast of characters, carefully choreographed plot, and a hugely entertaining view of the world and its absurdities. With the arrival of eligible young men in their neighbourhood, the lives of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters are turned inside out and upside down.
Pride encounters prejudice, upward-mobility confronts social disdain, and quick-wittedness challenges sagacity, as misconceptions and hasty judgements lead to heartache and scandal, but eventually to true understanding, self-knowledge, and love.
In this supremely satisfying story, Jane Austen balances comedy with seriousness, and witty observation with profound insight. If Elizabeth Bennet returns again and again to her letter from Mr Darcy, readers of the novel are drawn even more irresistibly by its captivating wisdom.
Here, Fiona Stafford of Somerville College, Oxford, talks about the the role that the forming of judgments plays in the book.
