Introducing…

Pride and Prejudice

In your comp book…

OHow do you form judgments about strangers?

OHow do you “read” people you’ve never met before when you see them for the first time?

Jane AustenO Child number 6

in a clergy family of 7 children

O Born December 1775, Died July 1817 at age 41

O Wrote first book at 14

O On Austen

More Austen FactsO Father died leaving

family unprovided forO She and Cassandra

lived at the courtesy of relatives

O Earned only 700 pounds during lifetime from her writing

O Wrote 6 novelsO Considered the Shak

espeare of the novel

Regency EnglandO 1790-1830sO George, prince

of Wales, regent on behalf of King George III between 1810-1820

O Napoleonic Wars ongoing til Waterloo in 1815

Regency ArchitectureO Inspired by the

ancient Classical Period

O Symmetry, balance, clean lines

Regency FashionO Also neo-

Classical; revival of ancient Grecian and Roman styles

O Cotton crops ensured England was able to remain a fashion capital

Women’s FashionsO Neo-classical

simplicity meant bye-bye corsets, hello Grecian-style gowns

O Hair was worn au naturel…no more wigs

Regency EtiquetteO Impeccable

manners and spotless reputations ruled the day

O Specific behavior dictated for every situation

Some ExamplesO Unmarried women under 30 should

never been seen with a man without a chaperone

O A lady never called upon a gentlemanO Gentlemen were free to call upon

ladiesO Going upstairs, a gentlemen preceded

a lady; going downstairs, he followed (so as not to see her ankle)

O "...your dress should correspond with the station you hold in society."

Regency Etiquette

O How would YOU survive in Regency England?

From The Guardian’s Travel Section

O How to become a modern day Mr. Darcy

Pride and PrejudiceO Published in 1813O Wrote first version

in 1796: called it First Impressions

O Took 16 years to get published as was not fashionable

O Gothic novels were fashionable (The Scarlet Letter, Frankenstein)

Novel of MannersO Realistic: complex characters

with mixed motives who interact with many other characters and undergo plausible, everyday experiences

O Focuses on the customs, conversation, and ways of thinking and valuing of the upper social class

Social Class and $$$ in P and P

O Novel takes place among the landed gentry: inherited money

O Characters’ worth is discussed in terms of inheritance and yearly income…so a person with 10,000 a year is worth twice as much as a person with 5,000 a year

Working Classes at the Time

Bottom of the ladder: the poor

O Few were literateO Next level: The

farmersO Higher up: The

servantsO Marriage: the one

way for a woman to possibly move up a class

Marriage

O Cost moneyO Dowry

O Only 30 % of women over 20 married

O Your parents’ property went to your brothers

O Women inherited only through husbands

O To marry was a great prize and a woman’s aim

O Austen never married.O At 30 she became a

spinster (began wearing a cap)

Jane Austen and Satire

O “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

O First sentence of Pride and Prejudice

Enlightenment Philosophy

O “It is evident to any one who takes a survey of the objects of human knowledge, that they are either IDEAS actually imprinted on the senses; or else such as are perceived by attending to the passions and operations of the mind; or lastly, ideas formed by help of memory and imagination….” Berkeley, Principles and Dialogues

David HumeO The great variety of Taste, as well as

of opinion, which prevails in the world, is too obvious not to have fallen under every one's observation. – Hume, Of the Standard of Taste

Declaration of Independence

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal….”

Austen’s First LinesO Do a close reading of the first 2

lines of P and P.O What does Austen accomplish by

echoing these philosophical tracts in her opening line as she does?

O What is the tone she creates and how does she create it?

O What does it set us up to expect?

Austen’s humor: Satire & Irony

O Satire: A form of comedyO Relies on exaggeration and

understatementO Brings human ignorance,

weakness and cruelty (our own as well) to light and lets us laugh at them

DefinitionO Satire ridicules its subject

through the use of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it.

IronyO About reversal: what we think should be

is not; what we expect to happen does not; what someone says is the opposite of what he/she means.O Verbal: What is said is the opposite of

what is meantO Dramatic: The reader knows and

understands more than the characterO Situational: outcome of a situation is

contrary to what was expected; actions have the opposite effect that was intended

Characteristics of her fiction

O Omniscient narrator (third person)O Latin omnis (all) and scire (to know). An

omniscient narrator knows all about the characters.

O Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.

Pioneered Free Indirect Speech

O Remains in past tense and third person, yet the words belong to the character rather than the narrator (it’s the character’s voice). O Indirect means no quotation marks and no “she

thought” explicitly marking the thought process as the character’s

O Has an ironic effect because we know more than the character does (dramatic irony)

O Example: “She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man; and yet that he should look at her because he disliked her was still more strange.” P and P Ch. 10,p. 45

Characterization: How it is done

O By other characters, and in relation to how we feel about them

O Through their “own” wordsO Through the omniscient narrator

O Example: Ch. 1 P and P

Ch. 1: AnalysisO By the end of Chapter 1, Austen

has defined some of the primary themes of the novel and set up some of the basic relationships between characters.

O Work as a group to: O List the themes that you see in

Chapter 1, and…O Explain what you learn about the

characters and how you learn it

VOLUME 1: To consider…

O How do various characters think about/define marriage?

O Why do people marry in this society?

O How do people in this novel form judgments?