Pride and Prejudice is ostensibly a simple love story, as it might seem from its plot outline. However, there the novel has much more depth than this and close reading reveals more than just a simple romance, which is evident even in its summary. The timeline of the events is set in the early 19th century, between 1811 and 1812.
The central characters of the novel comprise the Bennet family: Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, and their five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. The novel opens with a focus on Mrs. Bennet and her primary concern of finding husbands for her daughters. On finding that a potentially eligible man has moved into the estate nearby, she insists that her husband, Mr. Bennet, go talk to the new neighbor, Mr. Bingley. The Bennets are a wealthy landed family, unfortunately, according to the laws of inheritance at the time, upon the death of Mr. Bennet, the entire estate will pass to a male heir leaving the sisters effectively destitute if they do not marry properly. This is what worries Mrs. Bennet and accounts for her preoccupation to see that her daughters are married.
The second oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is a free spirit and spends her days in the library. She is also committed to marrying only for love, rather than for a proper inheritance. The sisters themselves seem to take little seriously, teasing each other about finding a proper mate.
The Bennets eventually meet Mr. Bingley. They attend several formal occasions in his presence. Also in attendance are Mr. Bingley’s two sisters and a Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley is taken with Jane, the oldest, while the mysterious Mr. Darcy remains proud and arrogant. He is generally offensive to the girls including Elizabeth. She overhears Mr. Bingley say that Elizabeth was only tolerable and that she was not attractive enough to tempt him. The entire village finds him odious and prideful. It is here that Mr. Bingley’s sister Caroline invites Jane to visit.
On the way to visit Mr. Bingley Jane is caught in the rain and contracts a serious cold. Elizabeth pays a visit to Jane at Netherfield. Darcy now starts to find Elizabeth attractive thus arousing the jealousy of Miss Bingley who has feelings for Darcy.
Mr. Bennet’s cousin, Mr. Collins, a wealthy heir to the Longbourne estate, pays a visit to the Bennet family. He is an unlikeable and conceited clergyman who simply expects that one of the Bennet sisters will want to marry him because of the inheritance he brings. He decides he will marry Elizabeth.
Along the way, Elizabeth and her family meet the charming George Wickham who singles out Elizabeth and explains the Darcy deprived him of a position in a wealthy parish where he would have served as clergyman, a position that would have granted a living for the rest of his life. This position was a promise from Darcy’s late father. This story confirms Elizabeth’s contempt for Darcy.
Elizabeth is later compelled by circumstances to dance with Darcy at a ball in Netherfield. It is here that the Bennet family, with the exception of Jane and Elizabeth, behave with a complete lack of manners appropriate to the event and are exposed to ridicule.
Eventually Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth who rejects him. This brings the wrath of her mother while her father is relieved. Shortly after this, they find out the Bingleys must leave abruptly for London with no intention of returning. After the rejection by Elizabeth, Mr. Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas, one of Elizabeth’s friends. Charlotte is older and willingly accepts the marriage for the comfort and security it holds for her. Elizabeth is disgusted by the thought of marrying for any reasons other than love. Jane is heartbroken by the recent events and goes to London to visit her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner. Because her Aunt and Uncle live in an unfashionable address, Miss Bingley expresses her disinterest in visiting in Jane which upsets Jane considerably.
As spring approaches, Elizabeth pays a visit to Charlotte and Mr. Collins. While there, they are invited to an event at the upper class home of Lady Catherine de Bourg in Rosings Park, Kent. Lady Catherine is the wealthy patroness of Mr. Collins and she is also the extremely wealthy aunt of Mr. Darcy. She also has the expectation that Mr. Darcy will marry her daughter. As it happens, Mr. Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, are also visiting Rosings Park. During this visit, Colonel Fitzwilliam explains to Elizabeth how Darcy persuaded a friend to avoid a bad marriage by convincing him that the woman he was interested in was largely indifferent. Elizabeth realizes that he is talking about Jane and becomes furious at Darcy. She is horrified that Darcy intervened in this way and caused so much pain for her sister. At the same time, Darcy has fallen in love with Elizabeth and proposes marriage to her to which, Elizabeth angrily rejects him. She further accuses him of treating Mr. Wickham unjustly. Darcy reacts angrily to this accusation and accuses her and her family of being of low quality.
Later, Darcy sends Elizabeth a letter and explains that Wickham actually refused the position he was offered and took money instead. Wickham was a spendthrift and wasted the money. He now claims he is owed the position only because he is now impoverished. Once he was refused, Wickham tried to run off with Darcy’s sister Georgiana who is only 15 so as to procure her dowry. He also explains that he genuinely believed Jane was indifferent to Bingley because of her behavior. He apologizes for the harm he may have cause Jane. Elizabeth begins to change her mind about Darcy.
Several months later, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle Gardiner visit the Darcy estate. While there she overhears a servant describe Mr. Darcy generous and kind. Darcy returns unexpectedly to the estate during their visit and he is warm and friendly toward Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle. He invites them to go fishing with him and his sister and Elizabeth is pleasantly surprised at how kind he is toward her. Elizabeth receives sudden news that her sister Lydia had eloped with Mr. Wickham. She explains to Darcy that she must leave immediately. She fears she will never see him again since her sister’s actions will severely damage the reputation of her family.
After a difficult wait, Mr. Wickham is persuaded to marry Lydia. This restores some measure of decency to the family name. Lydia pays a visit to her own family and tells Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy was at her wedding. Elizabeth later finds out form Mrs. Gardiner that it was in fact Darcy who arranged the wedding and that he may actually have had some other motive for doing so.
Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy return to Netherfield. Bingley proposes to Jane and she accepts. Lady Catherine intrudes upon the scene after hearing rumors that Elizabeth may marry Darcy. She demands that Elizabeth refuse his proposal and Elizabeth explains that she will do no such thing. Lady Catherine leaves in fury. Darcy become heartened to hear about all of this and proposes to Elizabeth. She accepts. Darcy visits Longbourne to ask for Elizabeth’s hand in marriage. Elizabeth explains to her father that she wants to marry Darcy for love rather than money and security. It is only after Elizabeth’s father is persuaded of the decency and honesty of Darcy that he accepts the marriage.
