Literature of Romantic period

 Unit : 1 Pride and Prejudices

 

            Class assignment 

1.Write summary of " pride and Prejudice

Introduction 

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous novels written by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. It is a romantic and social comedy set in early 19th-century England.The story mainly revolves around Elizabeth Bennet, an intelligent and lively young woman, and her evolving relationship with the wealthy but proud Mr. Darcy.Through their misunderstandings, conflicts, and gradual realization of true feelings, the novel explores themes of love, pride, prejudice, and social class.

Austen also presents a witty critique of marriage as a social institution and the limited choices available to women of her time.The novel is admired for its sparkling dialogue, memorable characters, and ironic narration.Elizabeth Bennet is considered one of literature’s most beloved heroines.Mr. Darcy, too, stands as one of the most enduring romantic figures in fiction.Even today, Pride and Prejudice remains widely read for its charm, humor, and timeless portrayal of human relationships.

Summary 

            The arrival of the wealthy Mr. Bingley to the estate of Netherfield Park causes a common in the nearby village of Longbourn. In the Bennet household, Mrs. Bennet is desperate tom arry Bingley to one of her five daughters-Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, or Lydia. When Bingley meets Jane at a ball, he seems immediately smitten with her. Yet Bingley's snobby friend Darcy is rude to Elizabeth. Through the next few social gatherings, Jane and Bingley grow closer, while Darcy, despite himself, finds himself becoming attracted to Elizabeth's beauty and intelligence.

When Jane is caught in the rain while traveling to visit Bingley, she falls ill and must stay at Netherfield. Elizabeth comes to Netherfield to care for Jane, and though Bingley's sisters are rude and condescending to her (Caroline Bingley wants Darcy for herself), Darcy's attraction to her deepens. Elizabeth, however, continues to consider him a snob. Meanwhile, Mr.Collins, a pompous clergyman and Mr. Bennet's cousin and heir, visits the Bennets in search of a marriageable daughter. At about the same time, the Bennet sisters also meet Wickham ,an army officer Elizabeth finds charming, and who claims Darcy wronged him in the past. Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy hardens. Soon after, at a ball at Netherfield, Mrs. Bennet,vmuch to Darcy's annoyance, comments that a wedding between Jane and Bingley is likely to soon take place. Collins, in the meantime, proposes to Elizabeth, who declines, angering her mother, but pleasing her father. Collins then proposes to Elizabeth's friend Charlotte Lucas, who accepts out of a desire for security rather than a need for love. Bingley suddenly departs for London on business, and Caroline informs Jane by letter that not only will they not be returning, but moreover her brother is planning to wed Georgiana, Barcy's sister. Jane is crushed. Elizabeth is sure Darcy and Caroline are deliberately separating Bingley and Jane. The sisters' aunt and uncle, Mr. Gardiner and Mrs.Gardiner, invite Jane to London hoping that she will get over her disappointment, but after she arrives caroline snubs her and she regrets letting herself fall in love with Bingley.

  Elizabeth visits charlotte and Mr. Collins,where she encounters Collins' patron and Darcy's relative, the wealthy and formidable Lady Catherine. Darcy arrives and surprises Elizabeth by joining her for long intimate walks. She grows angry, however, when she learns that Darcy advised Bingley against marrying Jane. Oblivious, Darcy announces his love for her and proposes marriage. Elizabeth refuses his proposal, accusing him of ruining Jane's marriage and Wickham. In a letter Darcy explains that he intervened because he felt Jane did not truly love Bingley.

Wickham, he writes, is a liar and a scoundrel. Elizabeth begins to feel she has Bennet sisters constantly have to navigate their mother's plans and schemes. While male characters like Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley have much more social and financial independence, they still rely on the judgment and opinions of female family members like caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Individuals are judged according to the behavior of their family members, which is why Darcy points out to Lizzy that he is doing her a favor by proposing even though she comes with embarrassing family connections. The theme of family shows that individuals never lead totally autonomous lives, and that individual actions have wider communal implications

Conclusion 

In the end, Elizabeth Bennet overcomes her prejudice and realizes Mr. Darcy’s true worth, while Darcy sets aside his pride and admits his love for her. Their marriage represents the triumph of understanding, respect, and genuine affection over social class and misunderstandings. Other marriages, like Jane and Bingley’s, also highlight love and happiness, whereas unions based only on money or appearance seem less successful.

Home assignment 

 2.Major theme of " pride and Prejudices

Introduction 

The novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen deals with several important themes that reflect both personal relationships and social life in the 19th century. The central theme is the danger of pride and prejudice in judging others, as seen in the misunderstandings between Elizabeth and Darcy. Marriage is another key theme, showing different reasons people marry—love, money, or social position

Gender :

Gender is a key theme in Pride and Prejudice. The story takes place at a time when gender roles were quite rigid, and men and women had a very different set of options and influences. Marriage is a pressing question for female characters like Charlotte Lucas and the Bennet sisters because marriage is the only way women can achieve economic stability and autonomy. As upper-class women, they would not have been able to work to earn Living, or live independently. Marriage offered one of the only ways to move beyond their birth families. However, a woman's marriageability relied on an impeccable reputation for chastity, and for women like Georgiana Darcy or Lydia Bennet, a reckless decision to trust the wrong man could permanently ruin their future prospects. Lydia's elopement causes Lizzy to exclaim with horror that "she is lost forever." If Lydia is living with Wickham without being married to him, her reputation will be  destroyed.

Prejudice

As the title suggests, prejudice is one of the main themes of the novel. Prejudice is one of many obstacles that gets in the way of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from connecting quickly. For example, Mr. Darcy's prejudice toward Elizabeth is largely because of her social standing. He does not notice the strength of her character for a long time since he is above her in class. The narrator says, 'Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty... and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.

Here, the narrator demonstrates how Mr. Darcy's initial prejudice initially clouds his ability to see Elizabeth for the strong, intelligent woman that she is. Once he is able to disregard their social differences, he allows himself to fall in love with her. Austen's attention to Mr. Darcy's prejudice and subsequent transformation into a humbler perspective shows the issues that social prejudice can cause, and the good that can come from removing those prejudices from society.

Love:

Pride and Prejudice contains one of the most cherished love stories in English literature: the courtship between Darcy and Elizabeth. As in any good love story, the lovers must elude ando 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. (Of course, one could also say that Elizabeth is guilty of prejudice and Darcy of pride ride-the title cuts both ways.) Austen, meanwhile, poses countless smaller obstacles to the realization of the love between Elizabeth and Darcy, including Lady Catherine's attempt to control her nephew, Miss Bingley's snobbery, Mrs. Bennet's idiocy, and Wickham's deceit. In each case, anxieties about social connections, or the desire for better social connections, interfere with to workings of love.

 Darcy and Elizabeth's realization of a mutual and tender love seems to imply that Austen views love as something independent of these social forces, as somethingt that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape the warping effects of a hierarchical society.  Austen does sound some more realist (or, one could say, cynical) notes about love, using the character of Charlotte Lucas, who marries the buffoon Mr. Collins for his money, to demonstrate that the heart does not always dictate marriage. Yet with her central characters, Austen suggests that true love is a force separate from society and one that can conquer even the most difficult of circumstances.

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 socia norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism. This theme appears in the novel, when Elizabeth walks to Netherfield and arrives with muddy skirts, to the shock of the reputation-conscious Miss Bingley and her friends. At other points, the ill-mannered, ridiculous behavior of Mrs. Bennet gives her a bad reputation with the more refined (and snobbish) Darcys and Bingleys.Austen pokes gentle fun at the snobs in these examples, but later in the novel, when Lydia elopes with Wickham and lives with him out of wedlock, the author treats reputation as very serious matter. By becoming Wickham's lover without benefit of marriage, Lydia clearly places herself outside the social pale, and her disgrace threatens the entire Bennet family.

The fact that Lydia's judgment, however terrible, would likely have condemned the other bennet sisters to marriageless lives seems grossly unfair. Why should Elizabeth's reputation suffer along with Lydia's? Darcy's intervention on the Bennets' behalf thus becomes all the more generous, but some readers might resent that such an intervention was necessary at all. If Darcy's money had failed to convince Wickham to marry Lydia, would Darcy have still married Elizabeth? Does his transcendence of prejudice extend that far? The happy ending of Pride and Prejudice is certainly emotionally satisfying, but in many ways it leaves the theme of reputation, and the importance placed on reputation, unexplored. One can ask of pride and Prejudice, to what extent does it critique social structures, and to what extent does it simply accept their inevitability?

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 are treated as such. Austen satirizes this kind of class-consciousness, particularly in the character of Mr. Collins, who spends most of his time toadying to his upper-class patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Though Mr. Collins offers an extreme example, he is not the only one to hold such views. His conception of the importance of class is shared, among others, by Mr. Darcy, who believes in the dignity of his lineage; Miss Bingley, who dislikes anyone not as socially accepted as she is; and Wickham, who will do anything he can to get enough money to raise himself into a higher station. Mr. Collins's views are merely the most extreme and obvious. The satire directed at Mr. Collins is therefore also more subtly directed at the entire social hierarchy and the conception of all those within it at its correctness, in complete disregard of other, more worthy virtues.

Through the Darcy-Elizabeth and Bingley- Jane marriages, Austen shows the power of love and happiness to overcome class boundaries and prejudices, thereby implying that such prejudices are hollow, unfeeling, and unproductive. Of course, this whole discussion of class must be made with the understanding that Austen herself is often criticized as being a classist: she doesn't really represent anyone from the lower classes; those servants she does portray are generally happy with their lot. Austen does criticize class structure, but only q limited slice of that structure.

Family :

Family is an integral theme in the novel. All of the characters operate within networks of family connections that shape their decisions and perspectives. For the female characters in particular, the influence and behavior of their family members is a significant factor in their lives. Because "the business of [Mrs. Bennet's] life was to get her daughters married", the Bennet sisters constantly have to navigate their mother's plans and schemes. While male characters like Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley have much more social and financial independence, they still rely on the judgment and opinions of female family members like caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Individuals are judged according to the behavior of their family members, which is why Darcy points out to Lizzy that he is doing her a favor by proposing even though she comes with embarrassing family connections. The theme of family shows that individuals never lead totally autonomous lives, and that individual actions have wider communal implication

Conclusion 

In the end, Elizabeth Bennet overcomes her prejudice and realizes Mr. Darcy’s true worth, while Darcy sets aside his pride and admits his love for her. Their marriage represents the triumph of understanding, respect, and genuine affection over social class and misunderstandings. Other marriages, like Jane and Bingley’s, also highlight love and happiness, whereas unions based only on money or appearance seem less successful

Essay

Detail note of Jane Austen 

Biography: jane Austen

Birth: 16 December 1775, Steventon, Hampshire, England

Death: 18 July 1817 (aged 41), Winchester, England

Parents: Reverend George Austen (clergyman) and Cassandra Leigh Austen

Siblings: 7 (she was the second-youngest; especially close to her sister Cassandra)

Jane Austen grew up in a close-knit family belonging to the lower gentry. Her father, a rector, had a large library and encouraged her reading and writing. From a young age, Austen wrote short stories, plays, and parodies, which were read aloud within her family circle.

Literary Career

Austen began writing seriously in her teens and early twenties.

Her works often explore women’s lives, marriage, class, and social manners, written with wit, irony, and keen social observation.

She published anonymously—her books were first credited to “A Lady,” since it was not considered proper for women to be public authors at the time.

Major Novels

1. Sense and Sensibility (1811)

First published work. Explores the contrast between rationality (“sense”) and emotion (“sensibility”) in love and family.

 2.Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Her most famous novel. Features Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, showcasing themes of class, pride, prejudice, and personal growth.

3. Mansfield Park (1814)

A more serious novel dealing with morality, family duty, and social class.

4. Emma (1815)

Centers on a wealthy, self-assured young woman who misjudges situations and meddles in others’ lives.

5. Northanger Abbey (published posthumously, 1817)

A satirical take on Gothic novels popular in her time.

6. Persuasion (published posthumously, 1817)

A mature, introspective novel about lost love and second chances.

Writing Style and Themes

Irony and Wit: Her sharp humor and subtle irony critique social norms.

Marriage and Courtship: Often central to her plots, not just as romance but as reflections of women’s limited choices.

Class and Society: Explores mobility within the gentry, wealth, inheritance laws, and social manners.Strong Female Characters: Intelligent, independent-minded women like Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse.

Early Writings (Juvenilia)

Between ages 11–18, Austen wrote short stories, plays, and parodies for her family’s entertainment. These works are called her “Juvenilia” and include: Love and Freindship (1790, deliberately misspelled)

The History of England (1791), a comic take on history, with illustrations by her sister Cassandra various humorous sketches and burlesques mocking sentimental novels of her time these early works already showed her wit, irony, and talent for satire.

📖 First Attempts at Novels

In her late teens and early twenties, she began full-length novels: Elinor and Marianne (later became Sense and Sensibility) first Impressions (later revised into Pride and Prejudice)Susan (later published posthumously as Northanger Abbey) She revised and rewrote these multiple times, showing her perfectionism.

🖋️ Early Writings (Juvenilia)

Between ages 11–18, Austen wrote short stories, plays, and parodies for her family’s entertainment. These works are called her “Juvenilia” and include:

Love and Freindship (1790, deliberately misspelled)

The History of England (1791), a comic take on history, with illustrations by her sister Cassandra

Various humorous sketches and burlesques mocking sentimental novels of her time

These early works already showed her wit, irony, and talent for satire

📖 First Attempts at Novels

In her late teens and early twenties, she began full-length novels:

Elinor and Marianne (later became Sense and Sensibility)

First Impressions (later revised into Pride and Prejudice)

Susan (later published posthumously as Northanger Abbey)

She revised and rewrote these multiple times, showing her perfectionism.

🖋️ Publications

1811 – Sense and Sensibility

Published anonymously (“By a Lady”).

Success encouraged her to continue.

1813 – Pride and Prejudice

Published anonymously as well.

Became her most popular novel, even in her lifetime.

1814 – Mansfield Park

Earned her the greatest profits during her lifetime.

1815 – Emma

Published with the support of the Prince Regent (who admired her novels).

1817 – Northanger Abbey & Persuasion

Both published posthumously by her brother Henry, who revealed her name publicly for the first time.

✍️ Style and Contribution

Realism: She moved away from the exaggerated plots of Gothic and sentimental novels.

Domestic Focus: Instead of grand adventures, she wrote about everyday life, families, and relationships in the English gentry.

Psychological Depth: She gave her characters complexity, showing their inner thoughts and growth.

Narrative Technique: Pioneered free indirect discourse (blending narrator’s voice with a character’s thoughts), which influenced later writers like Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.

Satire & Social Commentary: Her works critique class divisions, gender roles, and the pursuit of wealth in marriages 

Narrative Technique: Pioneered free indirect discourse (blending narrator’s voice with a character’s thoughts), which influenced later writers like Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.

Satire & Social Commentary: Her works critique class divisions, gender roles, and the pursuit of wealth in marriage.

Conclusion:

Jane Austen remains one of the most celebrated authors in English literature. Through her keen observation, wit, and realistic portrayal of society, she created timeless novels like Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. Though she lived a short life and published only six major novels, her works continue to charm readers across the world