Key themes
- First impressions and their cost
- Marriage as economic necessity
- Class, performance and true merit
About this book
Wit, manners and misjudged first impressions in Regency England — the template for the modern romantic comedy and still the most quoted of Austen's novels.
Drafted in the 1790s as a playful epistolary novel, Pride and Prejudice was revised and published in 1813. It has never been out of print.
Discussion questions
- Elizabeth and Darcy are both guilty of pride and prejudice at the outset — whose fault is greater, and does it matter? How does Austen balance responsibility between them?
- How much genuine freedom does Elizabeth have, given the economic realities facing her family? Does her eventual choice feel like independence or the best available option?
- Austen is satirical about marriage as an institution yet ends with three weddings. How do you read this tension — is she endorsing marriage or simply acknowledging its inescapability?
- Which of the supporting characters — Mrs Bennet, Mr Collins, Lady Catherine — do you find the most effective as social commentary, and what exactly is Austen satirising through each?
- The novel was published over 200 years ago. Which of its observations about human nature, status anxiety and social performance feel most alive to you today?
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