Boekverslag : Jane Austen - Pride And Prejudice
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 1184 woorden.
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 1184 woorden.
The author
The author is Jane Austen. The book was first published in 1813. The copy I read was published in Groningen, in 1992 by Wolters-Noordhof.
The author has also written a lot of other books, like:
? Sense and sensibility (1811)
? Mansfield Park (1814)
? Emma (1816)
? Northangar Abbey (1818)
? Persuasion (1818)
Like most women writers of her time, she published her novels anonymously.
Her novels have always been popular in England, but people really began to appreciate her work in the twentieth century. Her work was placed at the beginning of what they called ‘the Great Tradition’ of the English novel. Feminist critics also regard Jane Austen as one of the first women that wrote professionally.
The contents
The theme of the book is love and money, pride and prejudice (as the titel shows!). The whole book is about mr. And mrs. Bennet and their daughters, who have to marry a good (which mainly means wealthy!) man. Some mary for the money, some wait for their true love to come by.
The main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and mr. Darcy finally marry eachother. But in the beginning Elizabeth has a great prejudice against mr. Darcy. She thinks him a terrible man because he’s so proud, and he has ruined mr. Wickham’s life (at least: so she thinks). Mr. Darcy is a very proud man, but changes when he sees that he has to change if he wants Elizabeth’s love.
The book is about the Bennet family. The eldest daughter, Jane, falls in love with mr. Bingley, a young agreeable man. Mr. Bingley’s friend, mr. Darcy, is a strange person: he’s very proud and believes himself to be better than most people.
Some time passes and mr. Collins comes to visit mr. And mrs. Bennet. He will entail their house after mr. Bennet dies. During his stay he proposes to Elizabeth, but she refuses. Than he decides to marry Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s best friend.
Mr. Bingley leaves for London, with his sisters and friend. They stay away the whole summer and therefore the misses Bennet will have to be satisfied with the young officers of the nearby corps. One of them, mr. Wickham, seems very agreeable to Elizabeth. Only Jane is not at home, she spends a few weeks with her aunt in town.
In the summer Eliabeth leaves to stay a few nights with her frid Charlotte. At her new home she meets withlady Catherine de Bourgh, mr. Darcy’s aunt. She also meets mr. Darcy himself, whom she still dislikes very much, because she believes he has ruined mr. Wickham’s life and Jane’s relation to mr. Bingley.
She ’s vry surprised when he proposes to her, but of course she refuses. The next day he leaves and she receives a letter from him, which explaines everything he did and makes her change her mind about him completely.
When Elizabeth’s back she’s glad to hear Wickham’s leaving soon. His corps is moved. Elizabeth’s younger sister, Lydia, is going to this new place for a few weeks, with an aquaintance. In the mean time Elizabeth goes with her aunt to Lambton. They will spend their holiday there. They meet with mr. Darcy and spend some time in his mansion, which is nearby. They have a delightful time together.
Suddenly Elizabeth receives a letter from her sister Jane, saying that Lydia ran away with Wickham. This is a disaster to the family. Elizabeth and her uncle and aunt (mr. and mrs. Gardiner) quickly go home. Mr. Bennet and mr. Gardener go to look for Lydia in London. They find her and it is settled that she will marry Wickham.
Some time passes and mr. Bingley and mr. Darcy come back to Hertfordshire. They frequently visit the Bennets and the love between Jane and mr. Bingley is still there. Finally they decide to marry.
Elizabeth does not know what mr. Darcy thinks of her. They spend some time together and finally get to know all about eachother. They fall in love and also decide to marry, even though lady Catherine de Bourgh is against it (and she is a very powerfull woman).
Elizabeth, Jane and their husbands leave after their mariage and they live happily ever after.
The main characters are Elizabeth Bennet and mr. Darcy. Other very important characters are Jane and mr. Bingley. Elizabeth and mr. Darcy are round characters, they go threw a lot of character development. That is also the main theme: how they turn from proud individuals with prejudices into amiable characters.
The story is situated in many places, but mostly in Hertfordshire, the village where the homes of mr. Bennet, mr. Bingley and mr. Lucas are. Apart of the book is situated in London, a part at lady Catherine de Bourgh’s home and a part in Lambton.
The characters are mainly from the upperclass.
It is not clear when the story exactly takes place, but I believe it is somewhere around 1800, the timt it is written, because of the habits of the characters and their way of living.
Its form
The literary form of the book is a novel. It is mostly a love story, telling about the love between Elizabeth and mr. Darcy, Jane and mr. Bingley (Lydia and mr Wickham and Charlotte Lucas and mr. Collins). But it also has some psychological aspects. Sometimes we get to know some of Elizabeth’s thoughts.
Jane Austen’s stile is very vivid and not so difficult. She sometimes uses irony when she describes persons she does not like herself, like mr. Bennet and lady Catherine de Bourgh, who are a bit overreacting in their ideas.
Jane Austen often uses dialogue to convey her ideas. This makes the book more vivid, easier to read and makes you feel more close to the main characters. The book has been written from the point of an omniscient narrator.
It is easily built up: it is completely chronological.
Personal opinion
My opinion of this book is positive. I think it is a nice book to read. It is al love story that is not difficult to understand but keaps your attention till the end.
I mainly liked the satisfying end and the strong character of Elizabeth. She is very special, intelligent and strong for a woman from her time. I sympathized mostly with her, although Ia lso liked Jane, but she is a bit too positive about everyone.
The person I really disliked was mr. Wickham, because he did terrible things in his life. He decieves everyone and make them think bad of mr. Darcy, while he is the real sneaky person. He cares for nothing but money.
Two persons I also disliked were lady Catherine de Bourgh and mrs. Bennet, because they also care to much for money, and don’t have their own opinion: they only care about what people will think of them.
I really liked the book, and after having read the story I understood the first sentence better: it is characteristic for the book.
Home - Contact - Over - ZoekBoekverslag op uw site - Onze Boekverslagen - Boekverslag toevoegen