Jane Austen decisively sets the tone for her novel from the very first lines: "[A]ny single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." While for some, Austen's tale of sisters searching for true love (whatever that is) may seem superficial and trivial, from the very beginning she puts a sarcastic twist on her words, suggesting a deeper meaning to her silly novel.
Consider Chapters 1-3, the characters (especially dialogue) and narration, and comment on the tone of the novel. What is the deeper meaning to the simple romance that is being spun? What underlying issues come to the surface, through double meanings, ironies and sarcasm?
Remember-- use the blog entries as the opportunity to have a conversation with each other. Feel free also to comment on other observations.
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Well, i felt as though she wanted us to see the difference between the girl's and Mr. Bennet's idea of what marriage and, well, love meant to each. She makes it look as though the deciding factor of whether or not a woman will fall in love is the amount of money that the guy holds, since Mrs. Bennet gets super happy at the idea of a very rich man coming to their town. And it also seems as though the girls have been brainwashed enough so that they also believe that money is the most important thing to consider. (I think maybe Lizzy will be the only one to not care about money, since Mr. Bennet talks about her like she was the smartest of his daughters).
Though Mrs. Bennet is overly joyed at the idea of finding a great husband for her daughters, we can see that Mr. Bennet doesn't give a damn, though he still goes to see Bingley, maybe because he wanted to see what kind of man he really was before sending any of his girls. I feel as though Mr. Bennet thinks that maybe money is not as important as true love, but he still sees it as a valuable asset to anybody.
All in all, i feel that the mayor theme in here is Love vs Convenience, in the sense of Personality and looks vs possessions and words. (True love vs Interested love)
In the first three chapters of Pride and Prejudice we are only shown a glimpse of the story that is to come. In that glimpse we see the unraveling of the two main relationships. We now have strong view as to what the mood of the novel is and how the characters react to one another, Darcy and Elizabeth "hating" each other, Mrs.Bennet's attitude towards the newcomer Bingley, etc. What i gathered as far as sarcasm goes is that Jane Austen is poking fun at the stereotype of the marriage-for-money/the-eldest-daughters-must-be-sent-away-first principle of most middle-class European families. I also found how Mrs.Bennet shows dislike towards her daughters' competition and even towards of the 400 wealthiest Englishmen (Darcy). I guess money isn't her only ambition, she wants her daughters to be sort of happy. There is some sarcasm in the fact that Mr.Bennet is slightly bothered by Mrs.Bennet's desires (could this be because he, being a man, believes that money shouldn't be a basis for finding a partner or maybe because he is scared that the Mrs. married him for that reason).
The novel begins with pride(showing us Mr. Darcy's side), gossip and the disposition a man or women would give to each other. The amount of money or estates is what trully contributes to how they thought they would find "true love", also contributing is the appearance and the talent the person has.
Mrs. Bennets only purpose as she said is to find her daughters a good name and man. Ironically she desperately wishes to meet the newcomer Mr. Bingley but when she is not able to be introduced decides to become proud and make her family believe she has no more interest in being acquainted, although its only on the surface.
In the first ch. austen writes that being fond of dancing was a step closer to falling in love. Meaning there will be pleny of balls and partys and that maybe thats why the girls have to be always dancing. On the other hand this could be something to which we could apply to Mr. Darcy, not wanting to dance at all if it were possible I guess, and being so critical and proud.
The first three chapters of the novel give us an idea of what life was like for every middle class English family during that time. Women's lives were practically defined by the kind of man they were able to marry (rich or poor), and therefore, they strived to look for the best prospect available. This is one pragmatic approach to the novel but one of Pride and Prejudice’s main themes is the idea of love. Mrs. Bennet’s life purpose is to find her daughters a decent, rich man because she wants them to have a respectable life, but the idea of true love was somehow behind all of this.
The element of sarcasm is portrayed in these chapters by Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s different reactions towards the same situation.Mr. Bennet somehow considered meeting with Mr. Bingley important but not in the same way as his wife. Mr. Bennet is a man who has high regard for his family, but doesn’t quite view the idea of marriage in the same way as his wife and daughters do. Probably because he is a man and he never had to be married in order to guarantee a secure life or maybe because he just considers their reactions as something silly. Here is where he shows preference for Elizabeth and how she seemed to have “more of quickness than her sisters.”
The presumptions of social class levels is one of the most present issues throughout the book. Elizabeth's belief in Mr. Darcy's condescending attitude became the basis of a love-hate relationship to come, yet the true meaning behind his feelings was simply shyness. The humor which we find in the first line of the book sets up the entire comedic part of the book. Mrs. Bennet, the ever whining and crying mother of the five Bennet daughters is the perfect example of the pushy woman who would say that first line. Her sole purpose in life is to marry off all her daughters to adequate people. The pride displayed by elizabeth, when she rejects possible partners, deeply worries her mother. The irony of mr. darcy's true feelings and that of which he shows elizabeth are hilarious to keen eyed readers.
Love was not a major basis for marriage in those times, so this novel is a nice change of pace to the typical "romance".
The first three chapters of the novel are pretty much as an introduction to the whole story that is about to come. We can really have an idea of what marriage meant in those days, it was all about money. What I find very interesting though is that in the very first line, Jane tells us about a single man with money looking for a wife; but in just the glimpse of the story we have seen it is the girls looking for the wealthy man. They are the ones who want to marry the wealthy guy. It is funny how Mr. Bennet shows no interest on bringing bingley to meet his daughters, but anyways goes to meet him. Mrs. Bennet thinnks only on the money and how exciting it would be that one of her daughters married Bingley. Darcy (Prejudice) is such an arrogant when he says what he said about Elizabeth (pride) so now they dont even know each other, but they already hate themselves. We will later come to understand all of this, but in three chapters we can only grasp an idea.
There is no true love in the story at the moment, it can be called and "interested" love since the basis of the relationship would be money. the fact that the father prefers Lizzy and that she is the one that wasnt able to dance for two songs i believe should be analized and that it has some importance. is it that she is not as pretty as all the other girls? the pride the mother shows is clearly seen them Mr. Darcy refuses to dance with elizabeth and she says they are not interested in him and that he is a horrible person. i saw the mother as if she had a job: to marry her daughters. the situation between the other families also is very interesting because they are also looking for the same thing so there is like a rivalry.
This novel seems to be based on the importance of marriage, happiness for their parents was to see their daughters married and specially with a guy that comes from a wealthy family, this was their main purpose. Jane I believed saw other things in guys since even though Mr. Darcy was a really elegant and wealthy man she still thought he was conceited and not pleasing as she mentions at the end of chapter 3. Irony can be seem later that comparing how Jane expresses herself about Mr. Darcy and after up to the point that they end up to together, she would have never thought because at the begging she expresses herself giving bad comments about Mr. Darcy.
to cristiana: I don't believe Mr. Bennet's character is there to balance out and be some complete opposite of Mrs. Bennet by not caring for the girl's futures. I see him as a person more down to earth who can't be the grand display his wife gives off. He wants as much for his daughters as Mrs. Bennet (this being the reason he actually went to go visit Mr. Bingley).
I personally find it all very comical. The point of view in which she wrote the novel is third person, very distanced. Why?
The deeper meaning tothis simple "hehe" of all these teenage girls is that in the end, we must settle down one way or another for the better of our person. Back then, the only way to settle down was to marry. Now, it's the chase in the book to marry down with something that complete fits you. Love? Yeah :)
The way life was portrayed in the story was very robot like. There were rules for everything. They didn't seem to put things out too clearly. The way of things seem quite odd to me because of the whole marrying off your children as soon as possible thing.
I mean everyone they met or talked about was to be seen as u future husband. I don't agree with they way that they behaved. If the guy didn't have money, then forget it, their daughters could never marry them. Jane is the one everyone is in love with but out of all the girls Elizabeth is the one that i like. She seems wittier(is that how u spell that word?,anyways...)than the rest of her sisters. She does what she wants and doesn't let her mothers opinion effect her choices. Elizabeth seems different from her mother and her sisters. If anything she seems more like her father. He seems to have the girls best intrests at heart even though he isn't as invovled as the mother is. I think he favors lizzy out of all the girls mostly because she is the one that is mor down to earth and values what matters rather than caring much about how much money they guy they are dancing with has.
I agree with alberto in the part were he said that jane austen makes it seems as if money was the one and only thing people think about when marring but when she uses a sarcastic tone it makes me thin that she is prepariong us for the exeption of the rule where money is not gonna be the definning factor, as if money was actually just gion to get in the way of the two lovers. It feels as if she uses a foreshadowing irony and sarcasm to tell us that money does not deside love.
When reading the first chapters in pride and prejudice I could see that in those times as it was for Mrs. Bennet it was really important for mothers to accomplish their daughters marriage with wealthy gentlemen, always looking for the best one of them to marry each one of them. Mrs. Bennet is struggling that her five daughters get to marry with wealthy man and it is actually obvious since we can see that she seems desperate that Jane is the first one to see Mr. Bingley now that he is in search of a wife.
Real love is expressed in the novel, regardless of money; Mr. Bingley and Jane feel something towards each other, a kind of attraction.
this is ale gonzalez, the first comment with my name was fabiana
Well, well, well, I believe that Albert is wrong because in line 22, he misspells vs, because it's actually with a period. I believe that the story is ironic and sarcastic in a certain way, where the author is telling us that what we are about to read is the sad reality of that time(in the book), due to how people think and how the system works. The irony in this is that even though she tells us that it's retarded that wives and husbands are only a tool for social purposes, she knows its the reality and there's nothing that can change it. Her purpose to write this, in another sense, means to tells us the exception of that sad reality, whereas it may occur when we least expect it and that true love between this kind of people is capable of existing.
Elizabeth subconciously might now it is wrong to be interested in money from marriage when she commits the error. It just tends to be Elizabeth's personality. Her opinion is feisty and I think even if she is wrong, she doesn't like to be proven wrong. Hence, how subconciously she hides her contradictions about marriage and money.
Why would Eliza be into Wickham so much? The stimulating conversation? I have no idea really besides the fact that I think Wickham and Eliza have a mutual attraction no matter who ever gets in their way. Eliza probably sees purity in him, which she rarely sees in everyone (due to all her prejudice).
Colonel Foster in the end is hot because he's a good guy (charming) and his money. Money might not as important factor now, but I compare it to something like many women prefer glory in their men (like your current musician/rockstar). Something different about them besides the fact of money, so you don't feel too bad for being into them. I'm giving Eliza reason in the end to love materialistically.
Since the very beginning of the book “any single man… wife” we can immediately see what the story will be about. But right in that sentence it is pretty clear that the main subject is not only love, since she clearly stated “single man in possession of a good fortune”- this brings forward the importance of wealth in the book and how does it apply to love and marriage. The meaning behind the novel involves interest, love, and well.. “price, and prejudice”. Throughout it, the reader is capable of understanding the situations of the time, and the importance of a social status and wealth (to the point that women sacrificed their happiness and the idea of Love, in order to be comfortable and provide for their families.) Behind the love story portrayed, there is a special message – the importance of love, specially proving that it is more important than money!
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