Enjoyable Essay

I’ve been going over possible thesis for a paper. I like the novel and I admit I want to enjoy writing about it in an essay as I do when blogging about it, because writing an essay stresses me sickly and usually I DON’T enjoy it. I expect to change that. ;)

- Pride and Prejudice villain: Miss Bingley
- Pride and Prejudice villain: Mr. Wickham
- Romantic Quotes
- It’s All About the Looks, Beauty in Pride and Prejudice
- Pride According to Jane Austen
- The Letters
- Marriage According to Jane Austen

That’s it, for now.

Mr. Wickham

Who the hell is he?

His first appearance excited me, I must confess, first in the book and later in the movie. I had not passed page 150 or part 7 in the YouTube videos of the movie. “His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address.” (pg. 54) I actually thought this guy could be the one for Elizabeth, to whom I had favoritism already of course. The way he flirted with Lizzy, the fact that he was very handsome and a soldier made him attractive. In the movie he appears as the only handsome character, the rest are ugly (including Darcy who is supposed to be the prettiest). The actor Rupert Friend is hot I must say. It is all about the looks once again. “Mr. Wickham was the happy man towards whom almost all female eyes was turned, and Elizabeth was the happy woman by which he finally seated himself; (…)” (pg. 57). I fell, like Elizabeth did and the rest of the town did into his good looks and agreeability.

More so when he reinforces the negative reputation that Mr. Darcy already has we (the novel’s characters and me) accept him most pleasantly. That’s natural. When you are meeting someone, usually the first conversations are about things you have in common, including the people you know and your opinion about them. When the opinions match you tend to like the person more, and the fondness is stronger when the opinion of a common known person is negative, don’t know why. This happened to Elizabeth and Mr. Wickham. BUT! Wickham, to our ignorance, was playing the cards carefully to hide his own dishonest character.

We find this out in a letter (pg. 147) from Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth that not only twists our image of him (to the point of loving him) but reveals Mr. Wickham true essence supported with prove. Not only Wickham’s false accusations to Mr. Darcy, but that he was a gambler, a fortune-hunter and had deceptive ways. The letters convinces us.

By then I hate Mr. Wickham because I felt cheated for feeling the excitement I felt when I met him, following exactly the feelings that Jane Austen wanted to arise in me. And the scandal is not done when he runs away with Lydia, the young Bennet sister, only sixteen years old and they are not even married. Lydia, not amazingly pretty nor intelligent, silly and absurdly immature and vain that cannot provide him with any of the fortune he searches for, what the hell is he doing? Who the hell he is? What is Mr. Wickham’s true essence? What are his true intentions? I feel betrayed by this character.

Beautiful Words

My reading was behind and I got home to read like a maniac and be able to catch up with the rest of the class. My father came in and asked me about the book. After telling him how stressed I was and how much I had to read I told him how difficult it is to perfectly understand Jane Austen’s writing and to prove my point and started reading out loud to him. To my surprise he said “How beautiful it sounds! I can’t keep up with what you are saying but it definitely sounds beautiful.” And I realized that it actually did.

Jane Austen’s words are beautiful. Leaving aside what the story is about and the romance’s and love’s beauty, the mare words are beautiful.

“The sanguine hope of good, however, which the benevolence of her heart suggested, had not yet deserted her(…)” (pg. 212)

Forget the meaning of what is being told, even though it is gorgeous too. Read each word out loud. Sanguine - sang-gwin and benevolence - buh-nev-uh-luh ns are two words that stand out to me. Both because of their pronunciation, and because I doubted their definition. If pronounced with British accent, like it’s meant to be, it sounds pleasant to the ears. The looks of the words are also beautiful, benevolence with four es in four syllables and sanguine with the ui. Their definitions are pleasant as well: Sanguine means cheerfully optimistic, hopeful and benevolence means an act of kindness, or the desire to do good to others. Hope, good and heart are also nice sounded words and have pretty definitions. And this is just a random half sentence I picked up! The structure of the sentence is beautifully done too. The sentence could be structured like this:

“The benevolence of her heart suggested her not to desert the sanguine hope of good (…)”

But it would not sound, or look as good. I appreciated then, thanks to my father’s comment, Austen’s effort and success at producing “her own darling child”.

Gatsby Vs. Pride and Prejudice

I cannot help but to connect one novel with another. As I did after reading The Road and blogging about it I am doing with Pride And Prejudice. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby has jumped to my mind more than once in my reading. The big parties, the fancy house, the wealth importance, the social status, the society characteristics and the unending desire for material things are some of the themes that Fitzgerald’s and Austen’s novels share.

Gatsby’s character compares with Mr. Darcy’s. They are both wealthy, yet they have no particular drive and passion for their wealth. This could be misunderstood with Gatsby, he seems to love his wealth but he actually is indifferent towards it, he continuously tries to fill his self hollowness with money and fails. Mr. Darcy’s pride does not involve him being proud of his money, instead he is humble. They both seem to be lonely and are searching, in their particular ways, for a female companion. Apart from the similar themes stated above, both novels share the search for an emotional companion. Both characters happen to have one whose love is not easy to be corresponded and the relationship seems to be impossible to happen: Gatsby with Daisy and Mr. Darcy with Elizabeth.

The balls in Pride and Prejudice and the big parties in Pride and Prejudice are both an excuse to rank each member in the society in a social status. Not only in terms of their wealth, but their relationship status (like Facebook), accomplishments, dance skills, behavior, countenance, and based on come up with a detailed analysis of each person attending. Fitzgerald’s opinion of society differs to Austen’s opinion. Fitzgerald evidently criticizes it while Austen seems to like it. Fitzgerald finds the social ranks and superficial mentality of the time ridiculous. Austen seems to find a reason for it, and maybe she does not agree with all of what characterizes XVIII century society she does not find it ridiculous. Her biography influences in her point of view. Her parents were members of “substantial gentry families.”

I hope that among the similarities of both novels, Gatsby’s end differs to Darcy’s. And I hope Darcy’s love is not only corresponded (because I know it is) but successful.

Now What?

I’m afraid I reached the climax of the novel. I know my blogs have not been about the literary devices that Austen uses, or irony, or satire or analysis of the plot but rather my female teen opinion of what literally is going on. But I can’t handle the need to write about it. When everything seemed to be calm and monotonous and even boring BOOM Austen decides to shake my world with Mr. Darcy’s confession.

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” (142)

I swear there is no way for anyone to not feel anything when reading this. I know girls obviously get much more excited, scream, laugh, cover their mouth with their hand, open their eyes, sigh among other reactions, but boys… I am certain they feel something too. These four sentences are the most important sentences in the whole novel. After 142 pages of a hernia waiting for him to spit it out, he finally does and so unpredictable that I feel as dumbfounded as Elizabeth. I never expected Mr. Darcy to confess his feelings that way. Notice that the first three sentences are incredibly short in comparison to the long and elaborated previous ones of his unique dialogue. He is nervous and indeed, struggling to make words come out of his mouth. He finally manages to do so, childish. The length and conciseness of the sentences show how desperate he was that he lacks the patience to tell her his feelings slowly and romantically. That’s why he protagonists the novel, very different to any other male character and to the standard gentleman of the time.

The story will change its course drastically, what we had been wishing for happened and now what? Elizabeth rejects him but then what? She cant now move on like nothing happened, she is a woman and her heart was shaken violently by a man she believes to hate. The story can’t go on now talking about Jane’s beauty or Mary’s piano performances or Mrs. And Mr. Collins or the irritating excellency of Lady Catherine or the books Elizabeth reads. Nah ah. I want some romance!

Prides Attract Each Other

There is a dialogue between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth that I enjoyed because both prides are evident. Elizabeth is about to play the piano and Mr. Darcy feels the need to make her nervous. Previously he had been talking to Lady Catherine about his sister’s amazing skill playing the piano so when Elizabeth is about to play he obviously will pay attention to compare her playing with the praised one of his sister.

If I were Elizabeth my hands would have sweated, my heart pounded and I would simply paralyzed and said “could I please be excused I feel suddenly very ill and I’m afraid I am not in my best condition to play” and leave. Mr. Darcy obviously spark some particular emotions in Elizabeth that even though she wants to hide and deny but fails. Yet we know Elizabeth is like no other so my reaction to Mr. Darcy’s presence is not an option for her, instead she faces it right away: “‘You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming all this state to hear me? But I will not be alarmed, though your sister does play so well. There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.’” (pg.131)She first makes Mr. Darcy feel attacked and tries to intimidate him switching his first intentions and confusing him. She then makes it clear that for her his presence makes no difference, that his trial to intimidate her makes her even play better. She mentions stubbornness, this characteristic had not been mentioned before. I see stubbornness very much linked to pride. When pride is so abundant that it becomes almost like arrogance, you are likely stubborn as well because you believes that you earns the right to do things your own way which is the best way possible, no suggestions are allowed. I was not surprised that Elizabeth considers herself a stubborn person, I considered her one before when she rejected Mr. Collins and when she walked to Mr. Bingley’s house and other occasions.

Mr. Darcy, as a proud man as well wont let Elizabeth make him look bad so he replies as strongly, “I shall not say that you are mistaken, because you could not really believe me to entertain any design of alarming you; and I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know that you find great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not your own.” (pg. 131) He denies that he actually is trying to intimidate her, making then her look bad for feeling so important as to be his target. And then he accuses her of not speaking her own thoughts but others. He twisted her statements around yet neither won the discussion, but both made their point which actually means that they are very aware of each other’s movements and intentions and they like it.

And I like it too. They flirt so elegantly and subtle that it’s hard to catch it but impossible to miss. I can’t wait for Jane Austen to stop my impatience and make one of them drop their pride and kiss the other.

See It

Mr. Bingley

What a lie of a man. I never expected him to be so weak of character to let his sisters make a choice for him. My first impression of him was that of a handsome man, not so tall, not so short, outgoing and pleasant to be around but also educated and smart. Evidently a wealthy man too, that earned his own money and seems to deserve it respectably. That’s his appearance, to me and to most of the other characters. I never thought of him as a stupid man until he goes away to London and Caroline Bingley sends a letter. Then I doubt about his true self.

In the film Pride And Prejudice 2005 I was surprised to see Mr. Bingley as a dumb, jumpy, hollow man. Red haired, this feature usually links to dull men and rather short which takes away a lot of respect. Every time he talks in the film he sounds childish. Seeing him as that character that the movie portrays it surprises me less to find out that Mr. Bingley lacks the determination and authority to command his own life and make his own decisions based on his emotions and not his sister’s.

Easily can you change a person’s image due to their physical appearance. Austen describes very well the characters but the description is not complete unless you see it.

Editing Austen

Mr. Collins gets on my nerves. Jane Austen does a fantastic job to make a character inspire a feeling in the reader. Ever since he is mentioned for the first time he annoys me. He is introduced to the story as a bother and inconvenience and even a target of joke for Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet. He is the perfect example of someone who gets tangled up in irrelevant conversations and useless wordiness. He reminded me of Writer’s Workshop on wordiness and how to avoid it and conciseness. I constantly edited Mr. Collins’ lines cutting out half of them or even leaving him quiet.

Here is an example:

“ ‘I am not now to learn, that it is usual with young ladies to reject the address of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.’ ” (pg. 81)

And a revised version of my own:

“I know young ladies initially reject a proposal from a man even three times before accepting, so don’t worry about me because I keep my hopes that we will marry.”

Basically the same thing is said. I am well aware that Austen’s merit lays in the vocabulary she uses and the way she writes. Obviously her version is more beautiful and fits the time period and I know it should be praised that way, but I can’t help noticing the wordiness and an uncontrollable desire to cut it down. Yet it only bugs me with Mr. Collins, I love the wordiness in Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. In that Chapter Nineteen when he refuses to accept Elizabeth’s rejection I felt the urge to slap him in the face. Elizabeth’s response pleased me enormously. This is an authentic chick flick. Similar emotions I felt while reading the Twilight Saga and now that I am watching the movie, I feel equally excited.

Definitions

I have to make an effort to understand what is going on. The vocabulary is ostentatious and the dialogue is full of sarcasm, irony and some intentions behind of what is being said that close attention is required. Certainly is the opposite to The Road were every word was needed and not one could be for spare. Jane Austen decorates her writing and descriptions so much that I have felt like if I know the characters and their tone of voice and way they move.

Despite that I understand everything, and even bond with the characters, there are some words that I lack in my knowledge due to the fact that English is my second language and the English I speak is two hundred years younger.

Patronage: -noun “the financial support or business provided to a store, hotel, or the like, by customers, clients, or paying guests.”
Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s help to Mr. Collins.

Rectory of this parish..: The leadership, in charge or, the local church.

Phaeton: -noun “ Any of various light, four-wheeled carriages, with or without a top, having one or two seats facing forward, used in the 19th century.”
Referring to Lady Catherine’s wealth and possessions.

Countenance: -noun “appearance, esp. the look or expression of the face: a sad countenance. “
Jane Austen’s part of almost everybody’s description.

Incumbent: -adjective “obligatory (often fol. by on or upon ): a duty incumbent upon me.”
I erroneously thought it meant to intrude like the Spanish word “incumbe”.

Bequeathed: -verb “to hand down; pass on.”
Mr. Wickham’s story about “late Mr. Darcy” handing him his gift that later Mr. Darcy denies him.

Veracity: -noun “habitual observance of truth in speech or statement; truthfulness: He was not noted for his veracity.”
Elizabeth’s thought about Mr. Wickham.

Some connotations of the words vary because of the time period and the way they are used by Jane Austen, but I get a pretty good idea what they mean and in context I understand better their true meaning.

I Was Right

My evidence to my suspicion:

“He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention” (pg.43)

“Miss Bingley was then sorry that she had proposed the delay, for her jealousy and dislike of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other.” (pg. 44)

“She attracted him more that he liked-and Miss Bingley was uncivil to her, and more teasing than usual to himself” (pg. 44)

I like how Jane Austen thinks.

Some Suspicions

I have some suspicions about some feelings and relationships in the novel: Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are attracted to each other, but they are not aware of it yet and Miss Bingley feels strongly attracted to Mr. Darcy as well. Elizabeth was warned not to fall, or feel any attraction of any kind for Mr. Darcy because he is the most arrogant and “disagreeable” man of all, and obviously not worthy of her. But we know since page one that Elizabeth is not like the others and has a mind of her own so probably she won’t follow entirely what her mother tells her. Miss Bingley knows Mr. Darcy before Elizabeth and probably has been with him a lot because he is her brother’s friend. I don’t know Mrs. Bingley age but I guess she is about Elizabeth’s or younger because she has shown some immature behavior. Therefore is common that the younger sister like the older bother’s friend, more so if this friend is handsome and doe not pay attention to her. Mr. Darcy on the other hand, denies himself that he actually feels attracted to Elizabeth. But slowly he has been captive by Elizabeth’s strong personality and her rejection.


Doing something that you know are not supposed to is always a little more exciting. Mrs. Bennet said “But I can assure you, that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing.” (pg. 9) she has a warning. Elizabeth herself doesn’t like the man either, “to her he was only the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with.” (pg.16) But she was able to change his view of her the next time they met and left him dazzled. At that same scene I started to suspect that Miss Bingley felt an attraction to Mr. Darcy. She tries to please him and her conversations and remarks. Every time she talks near him, she does it to be heard by him and agreed by him more than to share her own authentic thoughts. As to be expected, she fails, “He listened to her with perfect indifference…” (pg. 20) This reaction often conquests a woman’s heart. Indifference is the best technique to make someone fall in love. Jane Austen is aware of that because she is a women, and despite the fact that times have changed, indifference then and indifference now make you fall in love. Mr. Darcy is a victim of Elizabeth’s indifference and Miss Bingley is a victim of Mr. Darcy’s indifference. Elizabeth’s behavior with Mr. Darcy is voluntarily, she does not want to feel any attraction to such an arrogant man, and she acts that way to deny herself the fact that she actually has an interest in him. Mr. Darcy’s behavior is not on purpose, he actually doesn’t care about Miss Bingley, he finds her annoying because her desperate need to have his attention is irritating.

If my suspicions are right I will blog about it. :)

Research

Before opening the book I made some research.

Originally, the book was called First Impressions, written between 1796 and 1797, it was believed to be a collection of letters exchanged between the characters, not a novel. This may explain the title: Pride And Prejudice.

Pride : n. “Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.”

Prejudice: n. n adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.
A preconceived preference or idea.”

Both words have a negative connotation and a similar denotation, judgment. When you read someone’s letter to note the person’s tone and what he means to say, is challenging. Therefore you can easily fall in judgment of that person unreasonably because you miss the information that the tone of a voice gives you. I guess that’s why there are so many misunderstanding through BBM. Yet the book as we know it is written as a narrative, it’s different.

This version, published in 1813 attributes Jane Austen as her best and most popular novel that describes through a romantic story the classy rural life of the time. The title represents the kind of uneasy relationship that the two main characters carry, Elizabeth and Darcy. This acknowledgement surprised me, I find myself believing that most of today’s relationships have a big deal of pride and prejudice. Not only love relationships, but friendship, family and at school or work.

Not bad for a first glimpse at the next novel that will require a lot or time and response writing.

A Bit Of Humour

Death is always a matter of debate. Its psychologically impossible, I think, to accept the fact that one day we are leaving earth and never come back, or that one day someone we know, or love, is leaving us forever. The only thing that stays is the memory. There are books about deaths, movies, songs. It is like love, unexplainable but inevitable. Act V of Hamlet is mainly about death. All characters die. Ironically. It even starts with two gravediggers debating about the death of Ophelia and the role and importance of a gravedigger. I really liked that scene, it is meant to be funny and it actually is, but in between the jokes and gossip of these two gravediggers there is truth.

“Will you ha' the truth on ’t? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o' Christian burial.” (Act V, scene 1, line 21-23) The social class was an issue then. The difference before God because of how much money one has. A “gentlewomen” is one with money and status, part of the noble people. The ones that live in a castle. If she was a common women she would not have received a Christian burial because suicide is something to be ashamed of, it is a disrespect of live, a sin for God. Here the issue of suicidal comes up again. Hamlet had before stated it in the soliloquy “to be or not to be” and he knows that it is not honorable to die committing suicide, no matter how eager he was to take his own life because of misery. But since she is a “gentlewomen” the gravediggers know that she will have a Christian burial anyhow.

Some of Hamlet’s lines reminded me of the Jorge Luis Borge’s sonnet El Olvido Que Seremos “Ya somos el olvido que seremos. El polvo elemental que nos ignora” starts like that. “we are already the forgotten we will be. The elemental dust that ignores us.” He basically states that there is no way to escape being forgotten or die and become dust. Hamlet surprises with this fact when he holds Yorick’s skull. That even Alexander The Great, after all his conquers and achievements, he becomes a dirty rotten stinky skeleton. That no matter how much make up a women wears, a skull underground is her destiny. I agree with Hamlet but I do not want to see life that way. If I do I will end up locked up in my room crying my eyes out and asking myself “to be or not to be?” day and night until I jump off the window. I prefer the gravedigger’s humor and simple way of living. “I like thy wit well, in good faith” (Act V, scene 1, line 45)