Review of "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen 2 years later!

Today, I will be re-reviewing Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. After rereading the novel this past fall for the first time in three years, I realized that I have so much more I would like to say about the book than I did last time and wanted to re-examine Pride and Prejudice through a different lens now that I am older.

Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813 by Jane Austen, focuses on the Bennet family and the love lives of the family’s five daughters– Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia– in 18th century England. As their daughters navigate the marriage scene, attending balls and meeting new suitors, the main tensions of the novel stems not from twists and turns of the plot itself, but from the nature of the relationships between certain characters.

In my previous review of Pride and Prejudice, I stated that the two most important themes in the book were the rejection of social norms and the ability to marry for love or design. While both these themes are fundamental to the novel, I also believe that the theme of alienation and loneliness is central to the plot development and relationships between all characters. 

Mr. Darcy is awkward and rude, Jane is overly-optimistic, Lydia is inconsiderate, Kitty is jealous, Mrs. Bennet is obsessive, Mr. Bennet is apathetic, Mr. Collins is pompous, Charlotte is desperate, and Elizabeth strays from social norms. Each character has their own very distinct personality, but this is a quality easily found in every book. However, with such variance and depth in each character in a setting like that in Pride and Prejudice comes constant disagreement and social isolation. Through this social isolation, and characters’ personal growth from their experiences, can we see characters for who they truly are. Additionally, I have found that women authors creating social isolation and internal tension for the male characters in their novels to be extremely powerful because so often authors, particularly male authors, do not allow their male characters any emotional self-contradiction, and it is rather the women who are seen as unreasonable and hysterical in their actions.

When I first read this book, this particular theme was not immediately obvious to me, nor did I believe it to be very important. Looking back, I realize that alienation as a theme has come up in several novels I have read, especially those written by women. Alienation and tension in differing opinions makes novels more profound, and, as I mentioned, many novels written by women are sustained purely through these tensions rather than through dramatic or violent plot. Female authors, such as Austen, have cultivated and perfected how to make novels interesting in this way, maintaining the same level of intrigue and ultimately leading to an altogether more interesting and perceptive understanding of the novel’s characters.