Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s most popular novel. Written in 1797, when Jane Austen was 21 years old, it was originally titled First Impressions. The novel’s first sentence, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” is one of the best-known opening lines in literature. The epitome of a romantic novel, Pride and Prejudice follows the growing but tempestuous relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, one of five daughters of a country gentleman and his wife, who is anxious to see her daughters marry well, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a wealthy landowner. The continuing popularity of the novel is attributed to the character Elizabeth, her father’s favourite (and reportedly Jane Austen’s favourite character too), on whom the action in the novel centres. Elizabeth flouts the conventions of the time, speaks her mind, refuses to bow down to social pressures, and follows her heart. She ends up a character to admire who has stood the test of time.