Katie Tevebaugh
Mr. Jennings
AP Literature and Composition
September 19, 2013
Love to Hate, To Love Again
When I first hear that my English class was to read Pride and Prejudice I was beyond excited. I had seen the movie, after all, and it had become one of my favorite love stories. I couldn't wait to have the book in my possession. I was counting down the days until we could discuss the lovely Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in class. After the first reading assignment was given I reacted just as thought I would. I swooned over Darcy, Idolized Elizabeth and Longed for the unity between Jane and Mr. Bingley. All was good. One could say I was still in the honeymoon stage of the book. But that bridge burned soon after it had been ignited. There was now a new problem;It was nothing like the movie. The Movie ruined my reading of Pride and Prejudice. At first I blamed it on my English class. The made what was so obvious, but hidden behind the movie, clear to me and I wanted nothing to do with it. I loved the movie, I grew up with the movie making a regular occurrence on my TV screen, and then when I read the book I realized the harsh truth that Elizabeth wasn’t independent, Jane was stupid, Darcy was a jerk, bingley was clueless, and Mrs. Lucas was the most sensible character in the book. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact the what I once saw one of the world’s best love stories was just a mask with a pretty face, and once you took the mask off you got the true inners of the book.
Let’s start off by Looking at the character of Elizabeth. My initial impression of her from the movie was a strong independent woman who went against the “social norm” of her time and fought for the right of love. But when you really look at the text she does everything a typical woman in that era would do plus being a self-righteous hag. To start off she denied Mr. Collins proposal to marriage. This woman had the opportunity to give safety to her siblings but instead doomed the fate of Mr. Bennett’s estate into the hands of a religious freak. But hey she wanted to be happy. So I guess that’s cool too. I believe I was more against this unity due to the way that the movie portrayed Mr. Collins as a scrawny, nervous man who just seemed pitiful. But in the book it clearly stated “He was a tall, heavy-looking young man of five twenty years” (Austen 58). Yes I was not fond of him when I read but maybe that was the fog of prejudice that the movie cast before my eyes. Once I cleared the fog I just found Elizabeth stupid for not taking the offer. And when she denied the proposal of Mr. Darcy I was in clear shock, well not really I did already know the plot thanks to the movie. It was more of wanting to yell at Elizabeth at the top of my lungs “what are you thinking he is rich and handsome and perfect”. But was he really? I feel like this opinion also had to do with the fact I had previously seen the movie. Again they don't give much description when first introducing Darcy; Austen just vaguely states that he is handsome. But in the movie, wow, was Mr. Darcy attractive. it feel the only women who disagree would have to be blind. Back to the book, what once was the heroin of the book began to infuriate me. When she went to Pemberley she thought “I might have been the mistress!” (Austen 220).Yeah you could have had everything and more, including love, but your prejudice against a perfectly good man blurred your vision. Elizabeth is so lucky that Mr. Darcy asked her again, most men would give up, and get the hint. (IDK how to continue)
Let’s go on to Jane. I believe she is the runner up to Lydia when it comes to stupid and naive in this book. Don’t get me wrong when I first saw the movie I saw nothing but positive butterflies and rainbows. In the movie yes she is quiet and positive but nothing close to the delirious positive that she was in the book. Let me tell you, positive and happiness gets boring after a while. It has nothing to hook you and honestly it just took up time when i was reading this book. I looked past Jane’s stupidity in the book when she defended Darcy after the ball, I even looked over her having high hopes about Mrs. Bingley, but boy was I upset when she defended Wickham. I finally realized how much Jane makes me want to throw up. There is honestly nothing good about that man, set aside his looks. But she defended him and told Elizabeth not to expose him. Her defensiveness is what leads Elizabeth not to reveal Wickham's true self. Which could have stopped the elopement between Lydia and Mr. W. Good job Jane. I blame you. Also what I first saw as the “perfect relationship” of the movie, it quickly turned to be so fictitious and shallow that it made me sick. As I started to really read about Jane and Mr. Bingley’s relationship I just thought fake, shallow, unreal. As a woman you don’t just find a man who is totally in love with you and sit back quietly but hey it still works out because he really likes you. No it would come off as her being uninterested and him moving on. However on Jane’s side it is much more likely to happen, a pretty woman liking a man(who we know not his age or likeliness) who has a large sum of money and them “falling in love”. can we say gold digger? With how veg Austen has been how are we to know she isn’t? So many people add goodness to this novel why not put a little harsh reality?
When I watched the movie I had one true love, Mr. Darcy. He was so perfect looking in the movie that anything he said was perfect. e\Even if he was the most judgmental person in the story. the movie made Mr. Darcy so perfectly handsome that every woman looked over the horrible things he did. He called Elizabeth “Barely tolerable” and said she wasn’t pretty enough to catch his eye. Then he personally insulted her family? And she forgave him? My family is far from ideal but the minute you say anything bad about any member of my family, whether I said this comment previously, you are out of line and iI most likely won't talk to you for a long time. He insulted Elizabeth’s father. The one person in her family who understood what she was going through and didn't want her to get married to someone just because. You don’t stoop that low. Mr. Darcy also broke up Jane and Mr. Bingley. Another attack at Elizabeth’s family. Mr. Darcy you are no longer the object that I strive towards in my life, you are now what I avoid.
Not even Mr. Bingley could catch my eye after I read the book. The movie made Bingley out to be was a cute, shy, adorable man who needed a hug and a wife. Of course in the movie I was giddy over Jane and Bingley. They were “perfect” for each other. Then the words of the book came flowing into my mind and the whole relationship was a lie, and bingley was just a clueless man. This girl rides horse back to your house, stays at your house for days, and you don't get the hint about how much she likes you? But even if he did understand how much she liked him he still listened to Mr. Darcy and Mrs. Bingley, the two ass holes of the novel, and just moves? Mr. Bingley you are one big push over.
Most characters in the movie, after reading the book, made a drastic turn of how i viewed them. Most of them in a less than positive way.that is every one besides Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte, to me, has to be one of the most sensible women in this book. Although her appearance in the movie is more of a pushover, shy, settler, it shows through the text that she knew what she wanted and she obtained it. Mrs. Lucas, in Elizabeth’s words, wasn't one for romance. She mainly just wanted safety for her family, something that Elizabeth obviously didn't see as a big deal. I commend Charlotte for seeing Mr. Collins paying him the attention no one else would give to him and saying yes to him when he proposed. I Believe she knew what she was doing the whole time. Charlotte was Elizabeth’s naborior for their whole lives, and she must have known the circumstances due to Mrs. Benet’s big mouth and Elizabeth telling her problems. She pounced on the opportunity. In the end she had security a man who loved her (for listening to him), and Lady Catherine speaking highly of her. She had it good considering that time period and her background.
In the end I wish I had never watched the Pride and Prejudice. That movie full contaminated any thoughts i had on the book, and it took a lot more to actually understand what Austen was trying to put out there instead of what the movie had shown me. I understand that no movie based on a book can ever amount up to the book that is if you read the book first. In my case the book did not amount up to the movie in any way. The whole plot was flipping and turning in my head with every word I read. i can see why this book is so highly acknowledged in the art of literature but i feel as the movie was pure garbage in relations to the book. What was supposed to be making fun of women back in that time period actually made women of our era idolize Elizabeth and strive toward a husband like Mr. Darcy. The movie put a false idea of what relationships meant into woman's head, into my head. I what the movie did to my head, and I love the book that slapped it with reality.