At rst glanceparticularly for most high school studentsAustens popularity is hard to fathom.

. Austen wrote about the problems and pressures of 19th century courtship and marriage. Action and adventure are limited to a walk in a rainstorm or a ride in an open carriage without a chaperone; powerful feelings and desires are expressed indirectly, if at all; conversation is a high art, flavored with ironic wit and the discussion of weather. Her characters behavior and life choices are dictated by standards and values that can seem utterly foreign in a world as rapidly changing as our own. Perhaps modern readers and viewers continue to be drawn to Austens work because of the very limitations that may make us wary at rst. The physical and social landscape within her work is restricted, but the eld of themes, emotions, and even desires she explores there is deep and broad. How, her novels ask, does a person do the hard work of creating a good, happy, balanced life? Catherine Morland is a nave girl with a fanciful imagination; how will she learn to distinguish reality from fantasy and come of age? What does it feel like to be Anne Elliot, disappointed by life before the age of twenty, and how will she nd the courage to redeem the mistakes of her past? And why, we might ask Fanny Price, do love, respect, and affection not go to those who deserve them? Finally, all the novels ask a question that resonates today as powerfully as it did in Austens time: What chance do the needs of the heart and mind have in a world dominated by money? The world of Jane Austens novels may be small, but it is not simple.

The opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice does several things very adoitly. It serves as a thesis sentence for the entire novel. It displays Jane Austen's subtle sense of human. It also displays her understanding of her world and of human relations. The construction of the sentence also suggests that the novel is going to be full of contradictions, circumlocutions, subterfuge, equivocation, and outright deceit. What the sentence really means is that when there is a single man who is possessed of a good fortune living in the neighborhood, a number of young unmarried women are going to take a keen interest in him. Their mothers, aunts, and other older female relatives are also likely to take a keen interest. The novel is about young women competing for husbands in a world where women were largely dependent upon men and had no really attractive career oppoortunities outsie of marriage and child-bearing. The opening sentence of the novel has been frequently discussed by eNotes editors. You can see some very good and thorough answers by clicking on the reference links below. What is especially appealiing about Pride and Prejudice is that Austen deals with an extremely serious matter in a witty and satirical fashion.

Setting: You could use quotes along the lines of "A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year" (Mrs Bennet when talking about Bingley to Mr Bennet) to show the culture, as four thousand a year is absolutely nothing by today's standards. Also, furthering tht quote, you could use the nature in which Mrs Bennet thinks only of her daughters marrying such a wealthy man to show the different attitudes of that era towards marriage. There are several indications as to place, you just need to find one that suits your information. As for time, you could use a series of quotes that highlight activities and attitudes specific to the 1800s (e.g. the balls at various houses). Characterisation: Characterisation could be linked with conflict. Using quotes such as " In spite of her deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man's affection...etc. etc." - (Elizabeth

Bennet when Mr Darcy has just confessed his love for her the first time) show not only the conflict (i.e. Darcy's unreturned love for Elizabeth) but also Elizabeth's character in the way she feels pity but is strong and independent. In addition, quotes from various places throughout the book where Elizabeth meets Darcy and gives an opinion of him (gradually more loving) could symbolise not only her character, but also his in the way he appears to others. (E.g. when Darcy is at the first ball "His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world...")

Key Facts
FULL TITLE Pride and Prejudice AUTHOR Jane Austen TYPE OF WORK Novel GENRE Comedy of manners LANGUAGE English TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN England, between 1796 and 1813 DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION 1813 PUBLISHER Thomas Egerton of London NARRATOR Third-person omniscient CLIMAX Mr. Darcys proposal to Elizabeth (Volume 3, Chapter 16) PROTAGONIST Elizabeth Bennet ANTAGONIST Snobbish class-consciousness (epitomized by Lady Catherine

de Bourgh and Miss

Bingley)
SETTING (TIME) Some point during the Napoleonic Wars (17971815) SETTING (PLACE) Longbourn, in rural England POINT OF VIEW The novel is primarily told from Elizabeth Bennets point of view. FALLING ACTION The two chapters of the novel after Darcys proposal TENSE Past tense FORESHADOWING The only notable example of foreshadowing occurs when Elizabeth

visits Pemberley, Darcys estate, in Volume 3, Chapter 1. Her appreciation of the estate foreshadows her eventual realization of her love for its owner. TONE Comicor, in Jane Austens own words, light and bright, and sparkling THEMES Love; Reputation; Class MOTIFS Courtship; Journeys SYMBOLS The novel is light on symbolism, except on the visit to Pemberley, which is described as being neither formal, nor falsely adorned, and is clearly meant to symbolize the character of Mr. Darcy. Post-colonial literature is a term that describes literature written after a countrys colonial period. It typically describes how a new country is formed, and recovers from the legacy of colonialism. Pride and Prejudice, on the other hand, is novel of Victorian England. While England itself was never a colony, it did have many colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Many of the ideas of Victorian England were imposed upon some of these colonies of Great Britain. For example, ideas relating to property and marriage were brought over. Pride and Prejudice describes issues of social class, especially related to property and marriage. Social class and marrying to improve ones fortune were just as common among the expatriates who traveled from Victorian England to its various colonies. They brought their prejudices, ideas and traditions with them.