Pride and Prejudice Questions

Pride and Prejudice Questions

1. Consider Mr. Wickham's function in the movies in terms of the geometry (think love triangles) of desire. What is the source of Elizabeth's attraction to in Mr. Wickham? What role does he play in her attraction to Mr. Darcy? What is the significance of his own amatory adventures?

1. Consider the importance of reading in the movie. Mr. Darcy says that a real gentleman would never neglect his library in this day and age. And Elizabeth says that she likes to make a study of character. In particular, consider the letter, which Mr. Darcy writes to Elizabeth after he proposes to her. Which of these two is the better reader of the other? Why?

1. Continuing along the same vein, what is the relationship which Austen is trying to draw between novel reading and education? Give examples to support your answer.

1. How does the visit to Pemberley affect Elizabeth's feelings towards Mr. Darcy? What does she learn about Mr. Darcy as a result of her visit?

1. At what moment does Elizabeth begin to fall in love with Mr. Darcy"

1. How do issues of class get raised in the novel? How does the novel resolve these issues? What role does gender play in how Austen engages issues of class in the novel?

1. Why does Austen call Elizabeth by her first name and Mr. Darcy by his last name throughout the movie? What is the effect of this naming? What are its social implications?

1. Consider the final resolution of the movie. Is the ending a fairy tale one (recall that fairy tales end with "and they lived happily ever after")? How does the novel expand upon and complicate this ending? Does the ending play up the romance, or the social satire? What is the final message, which the novel leaves us with?

1. What is the significance of the pairings and doublings, which Austen gives us: Jane and Elizabeth, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, Kitty and Lydia, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet? How do those pairings shift through the course of the novel?

1. An earlier version of Pride and Prejudice was entitled First Impressions. What role do first impressions play in the story? In which cases do first impressions turn out to be inaccurate, in which cases correct?

1. After Jane becomes engaged to Bingley, she says she wishes Elizabeth could be as happy as she is. Elizabeth replies, "If you were to give me forty such men, I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness." Do you think Elizabeth's statement is true? Is it better to be good, to think the best of people, and be happy? Or is it better to see the world accurately, and feel less happiness?

1. Mr. Bennet's honesty and wry humor make him one of the most appealing characters in the book. Yet, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that he has failed as a father. In what ways does Mr. Bennet let his children down? How does his action, or inaction, affect the behavior of his daughters? His wife? The course of the story?

1. Charlotte doesn't marry Mr. Collins for love. Why does she marry him? Are her reasons valid? Are they fair to Mr. Collins? Do you think marrying for similar reasons is appropriate today?

1. Both Elizabeth and Darcy undergo transformations over the course of the book. How does each change and how is the transformation brought about? Could Elizabeth's transformation have happened without Darcy's? Or vice versa?

1. Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh are famously comic characters. What makes them so funny? How does Elizabeth's perception of them affect your trust in Elizabeth's views of other people in the book, particularly of Wickham and Darcy?

1. For most of the movie, pride prevents Darcy from having what he most desires. Why is he so proud? How is his pride displayed? Is Elizabeth proud? Which characters are not proud? Are they better off?