1. Summary (and "Einordnung" in the context of the novel)

Jane Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice' deals with the English upper-class society in the early 19th century.

The main characters are the five daughters in the Bennet family, who have to marry into a wealthy family so that they can be financially taken care of. As there is no son in the Bennet family, all family possession will be inherited by the sisters' cousin Mr. Collins with whom they aren't on good terms.

When Mr. Bingley and his friend Mr. Darcy, who are two attractive and rich young men, move into the district, there is an opportunity for the daughters to get married.

A few days later there is a ball in the neighbourhood during which Mr. Bingley greatly admires Jane, the eldest of the Bennet daughters. Mr. Bingley is a very friendly young man and so everybody likes him, but his friend Mr. Darcy is very proud and arrogant. He only dances and talks with people from his party and as Mr. Bingley asks him to dance with Elizabeth Bennet, who is almost as beautiful as her elder sister Jane, but he declines because he doesn't find her beautiful enough.

Mr. Darcy's opinion on Elizabeth changes. He now considers her to be beautiful. On the next ball he tries to find out more about her. But Elizabeth doesn't like this and refuses to dance with him when the host, Sir Lucas, asks her to. Mr. Darcy however is still very interested in Elizabeth.

Elizabeth agrees completely with Jane's behaviour, who doesn't make it obvious for the public that she is in love with Mr. Bingley (compare p.19, first paragraph). But Elizabeth's friend Charlotte thinks that "[Jane] might lose the opportunity of fixing [Mr. Bingley]" if she conceals her affection from him. In Charlotte's opinion it is very important that a woman doesn't only show her real emotions to the man she loves but also exaggerates them to make sure that he notices her feelings (compare "a woman had better show more affection than she feels" and "he may never ... help him on"). Elizabeth on the other hand believes that Mr. Bingley has to find out if Jane loves him.

So the main difference in the friends' attitude is about the question how a woman should behave towards her possible future husband and for what reasons she should marry a man. Charlotte thinks that the woman has to make sure that she is financially supported and that her decision on who to marry for this reason shouldn't be based on her feelings but material aspects.

b) In the context of the first semester:

Their contrary positions become even more obvious in the second half of their discussion. In reply to Charlotte's statement that Jane has to "command [Mr. Bingley's] attention" whenever they meet until she is "secure of him", Elizabeth says that Jane doesn't have the plan to get well married. Elizabeth thinks that Jane has to meet Mr. Bingley more often to become aware of his character because she will only be able to marry him if she knows him better.

Elizabeth however is more emancipated and therefore doesn't accept her friend's point of view. She doesn't want to marry a man for financial reaso

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jane Austen's, Love Story, Bingley Jane, Pride Prejudice, Elizabeth Jane's, Love Schmove, Elizabeth's Charlotte's, Elizabeth Charlotte, Elizabeth Bennet, Collins Elizabeth, role society, elizabeth doesn't, woman's role, woman's role society, can't choose, 19th century, role society especially, society especially, behave towards, can't choose husband, opinion woman, financial reasons, doesn't accept, jane behave towards, towards future husband,
Approximate Word count = 1333
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)