Pride and Prejudice is the quintessential love-hate-love-love-hate-love story. Stripped of all the big old English words Jane Austen used to tell the story of the Bennet households’ bucolic (a fancy way of saying provincial) life and the children’s pursuit of the socially acceptable endgame for women at that time-which is marriage, the first line sentence I used sums up what Austen tried to say in more than 700 pages. Set in a period when people were judged on their level of “agreeable-ness” (“Do you find him agreeable?” is probably the modern day equivalent of the loaded question “soo kamusta naman sya?” in Pinoy slang) and where social standing and decorum were highly valued ideals, the book tells a story of what is like for people to fall in love in these material conditions. The main characters of the book are Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy. The book is mostly told based on Elizabeth’s point of view. From her initial account of Mr Darcy, the guy is nothing more than an arrogant, proud prick. This perception changed and eventually, she found herself in love to Mr Darcy. Mr Darcy initially resented Elizabeth but later he found out he has feelings for Elizabeth and after a 1st failed attempt of wooing Elizabeth, Mr Darcy again confessed his love to Elizabeth and they lived happily ever after. In between this oversimplification of a love story are conflicts and story arcs that make the story more real and more human and relatable- an imperfect family setting, an evil aunt, good aunt, a good set of friends, evil friends, a reliable sister, a rumormongering neighbourhood etc.
Here’s a trailer of a 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie which gives a good summary of the entire book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJA27Jujzq4
The book is a well written love story that everyone at a certain plane, can relate to. The highlights of the book for me include the scene when Mr Darcy confessed his love to Elizabeth the 1st time and was flatly rejected; when Elizabeth read Mr Darcy’s letter clearing his name; and when Elizabeth visited Pemberley- the estate of Mr. Darcy and saw him again after a long period of absence. In these scenes, you can feel the tension between the 2 characters and their restrained feeling of hate/love towards each other. These scenes adequately capture that moment when ones’ pride and prejudice can be a stumbling block to achieve happiness.
I enjoyed reading the book and found myself at times sympathizing with the different characters involved. Ploughing through the book is a worthwhile exercise if only to be reminded that love transcends perceived class differences and even pride and prejudice.
20 comments:
"Pride and Prejudice is the quintessential love-hate-love-love-hate-love story."
sadly, i have seen the main plot of this story in most korean rom-coms and tagalog action-comedy flicks (besides the fact that it is the basic premise of all draco ginny fanfictions), that i cannot enjoy so much this book, which possibly put forth the scenario originally
i am pretty amused by the highlights you have picked from the book don, because i hated lizzy in everyone of them, especially when she very suddenly believed the contents of darcy's letter. and the progression of their relationship, even if encompassing several months, still felt hurried to me. the novel did show that engagements could occur overnight, but lizzy is aiming for love and her interactions with darcy just didn't seem enough (maybe in a modern POV) for me. what do you think?
and the novel features several love/relationship stories, which is your favorite or which do you find most agreeable :)
and in connection to that, who is your favorite character (since it also goes to some lengthy character exposition)?
to answer my own questions, my favorite pair is lydia and wickham because we only got second hand info about them and we dont know if any of those are really true (and because lizzy seemed to hate them). i want to give them the benefit of the doubt and wish them good luck.
i felt most frustration with jane and bingley. they would have been my favorite couple if bingley just had more spine and if jane was not so easily forgiving and not so much of a mary sue (but she may not be, i can just blame lizzy's perception of her).
my favorite character is charlotte, because i agree with her thoughts and comments :)
So how should Lizzy have reacted when she read the letter from Darcy? You seem to have a high standard on love and relationship Aria! haha
You are right, the book is biased when it comes to the presentation of the different characters. Lizzy has her own prejudice towards the other characters so ultimately, the story is tainted with her own version of morality, what is acceptable, and other things.
i dont understand how she can believe him right away. she could have investigated or inquired about the matter from other persons. but doing so would also hint that she is also interested in darcy. hmmm. so i guess she should have simply burned the letter after deciding that everything written on it are lies. hehe. i don't know, if it were you, would you believe it?
so don, who did you like most? which relationship appeared to be most realistic? who are the other characters compromised to the readers by lizzy's prejudice of them?
My favorite character is Darcy because he is the most romanticized character in the book :) He's a gentleman and it's somewhat easy to spot a Mr Darch around us- arrogant and sometimes awkward in the outside but capable of transcending all these stereotypes for love haha
I like what Darcy's character represents and how people of his ilk are still capable of change haha ang babaw lang eh
"transcending all these stereotypes for love"
ayun oh. pero don, mas bingley ka e, very likeable. wag ka lang gagaya sa kanya na insecure sa love ng gf nya.
I love Elizabeth Bennet.Binasa ko nun di ko natagalan.Boys talaga ako.LOL. Mr. Darcy is at least a true gentleman.You know this hierarchy still prevails in some parts of the Philippines like in Ilocos.Yung marriage minsan doon hindi consideration ang love. Its property which is very sad.
Regarding a person's character, hindi lahat ng panahon ay ganun tayo.Sometimes I could be Bingley or Darcy depending on the people I met. Don, mga Bingley ang mga di makakahanap ng totoong Love. Yung mga Darcy ang makakahanap.
Don I think this novel teaches on a lesson on cosmopolitanism. Yun magandang takeoff na yun.
yun naman pala don e. wala tayong reviewer next week, baka gusto mo na ilatag ang cosmopolitanism.
nakahanap naman ng true love si bingly e, pero through luck (help ng friend). kung ayaw mo ipabahala sa swerte ang lovelife mo, kelangan mawala yung takot mong masaktan: tulad nga ni darcy, na out of nowhere ay nagpropose.
si mr collins baka di makahanap ng true love, pero mukhang magiging happy naman.
haha yes si bingley may pagka insecure sa kanyang feelings at very impressionable din sya na character. Pero diba he was just being "rational" nung tinuro sa kanya ni Darcy (although mali yun impression ni Darcy din) na wala syang pag asa kay Jane? But I guess that's the point, he was being rational when love is an irrational concept
Pwede ako mag book review ulit soon pero parang di ko kaya sa 18 ma rush hehe siguro sa 21 pwede pa pero tignan natin basta kung may natapos ako na reviewin ipopost ko na agad dito :D
I could try: Bless Me, Ultima.Another "coming of age" novel. Ughhh. Sawa na ako.NinetyEigthyFour sana by Orwell(read it a sophomore in UP). Big Brother is a derogatory word.?
Pick one:
Bless Me, Ultima-Rudolfo Anaya
NineteenEigthyFour (1984)-Eric Blair aka George Orwell
Miss ko na katropa sa Ex Libris at "friends" ko sa CAL.
1984! haha I'm a big fan of George Orwell :D
Its really quite ironic Don na yung lugar na nagserve siya as colonial police (he write a novel Burmese Days), Myanmar that is, is close from becoming a Big Brother country. Ironic.
1984 na lang. haha. so next friday ikaw marvs?
Nope.need to fix some things.honestly cheerful na novel na lang sana. actually love story/betrayal yung novel na yun. I might but Friday is not definitive talaga.
But I'll try.Tell you mga last week.
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