Jane Austen

Chapter One:

Answer explanation

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet speak of marrying off one of their five daughters. Mrs. Bennet wants to put good word in for their daughter Lizzy, however Mr. Bennet declines, saying "Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome than Jane, nor half so good-humored as Lydia. But you are always giving her the preference." Mr Bennet continues saying; "they are silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters."

Mr. Bennet

Answer explanation

The patriarch of the Bennet family, a gentleman of modest income with five unmarried daughters. Mr. Bennet has a sarcastic, cynical sense of humor that he uses to purposefully irritate his wife. Though he loves his daughters (Elizabeth in particular), he often fails as a parent, preferring to withdraw from the never-ending marriage concerns of the women around him rather than offer help.

Mrs. Bennet

Answer explanation

Mr. Bennet's wife, a foolish, noisy woman whose only goal in life is to see her daughters married. Because of her low breeding and often unbecoming behavior, Mrs. Bennet often repels the very suitors whom she tries to attract for her daughters.

Pride and Prejudice Vocabulary

Answer explanation

Scrupulous: adjective: (of a person or process) diligent, thorough, and extremely attentive to details. Deigned: verb: do something that one considers to be beneath ones dignity.

Chapter two:

Answer explanation

Mr. Bennet waits to meet Mr. Bingly's acquaintance

From your reading of the first five chapters of Pride and Prejudice, describe two central ideas of the novel. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Answer explanation

Here are two major ideas in Pride and Prejudice: The concern for getting daughters married into good families pervades the novel. The opening line stresses the importance of marriage. Marriage meant stability, financial security, and social mobility for an English woman in Austen's time. For other women, marriage simply meant survival. Here are some excerpts from the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice that support this point: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters. ... .. "Is he married or single?" "Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" "How so? How can it affect them?" "My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them." "Is that his design in settling here?" "Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes." Society's preoccupation with class distinctions is also a major focus of Austen's work. The Bennets hold an inferior position among the gentry, while the Bingleys belong to a higher rank. The women at Netherfield laugh at Elizabeth for disregarding manners when she walks into their house with a mud-splattered petticoat. Here is an excerpt from chapter 4 of Pride and Prejudice that illustrates the theme of class distinction in the novel: They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others.

"...And so you like this man's sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his." "Certainly not—at first. But they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her." Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgement too unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade. Read and listen to the excerpt from chapter 4 of Pride and Prejudice. Then respond to this question: How did listening to the audio recording of the excerpt affect your understanding of the text?

Answer explanation

Listening to the excerpt makes the tone of the dialogue clear and helps convey the emotions of the characters better. Hearing the characters speak makes them seem more real. Elizabeth's prejudiced nature and Jane's naïveté come to the fore. This excerpt is an example in which Austen uses dialogue to highlight traits of her characters. The author's sarcastic comment on the behavior of the Bingley sisters is clearly conveyed.

The passage below from chapter 10 of Pride and Prejudice is an example of free indirect speech. Describe how this type of narration affects your understanding of the story. Does it provide more information to you as a reader than dialogue would? Explain. 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. She could only imagine, however, at last that she drew his notice because there was something more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in any other person present. The supposition did not pain her. She liked him too little to care for his approbation.

Answer explanation

Sample Answer: In this example, free indirect speech gives the reader an inside view of Elizabeth Bennet's inner thoughts and feelings. Especially interesting is that she thinks Mr. Darcy is looking at her because he dislikes her, unable to imagine at this point that he has had a change of heart about her, although the reader knows he has begun to change his attitude toward her. The third-person narrator knows how he has come to feel, so the narration here is clearly tracking her point of view. The gap between the views of the two characters also fuels the intrigue about their potential relationship, making the reader wonder how they might overcome their distance to admit to one another and to themselves that they do like, respect, and even love one another.

Find an example of an ironic statement in chapters 1-5 of Pride and Prejudice. Explain why the statement is ironic and what point Austen makes by using irony in this way.

Answer explanation

Your answer may include excerpts and descriptions such as these: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men." (chapter 3) Mr. Darcy's statement about Elizabeth Bennet in chapter 3 of Pride and Prejudice is ironic because he falls for her charm only a few chapters later: Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. (chapter 6) A different kind of irony occurs in the following description of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet: 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. (chapter 1) This description makes an observation about an ironic situation: the Bennets are mismatched as a couple and yet their relationship has endured.

Read the following excerpt from chapter 2 of Pride and Prejudice. Then rewrite the dialogue in your own words. Describe which parts of the dialogue changed. What meaning was lost in the translation? Was anything gained? "Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for Heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces." "Kitty has no discretion in her coughs," said her father; "she times them ill." "I do not cough for my own amusement," replied Kitty fretfully. "When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?" "To-morrow fortnight." "Aye, so it is," cried her mother, "and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself." "Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to her." "Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teasing?"

Answer explanation

"Stop coughing, Kitty. Please! You're getting on my nerves." "Kitty doesn't have the sense to time her coughs for our convenience." "I am not coughing for fun," replied Kitty sounding annoyed. "When's your next ball scheduled, Lizzy?" "In two weeks." "That's right!" cried her mother. "But Mrs. Long won't be back till the day before the ball, and she won't be able to introduce him because she won't have met him." "Then you should volunteer to introduce her to Mr. Bingley as a good friend." "Oh, don't be silly, Mr. Bennet. How can I when I haven't met him myself?" The main change in the reworded dialogue is the tone: the more modern wording is more direct and less subtle. However, you can still get the sense that Mr. Bennet is mocking his wife and that she's oblivious to it. It's also a little hard to imagine this conversation actually occurring in a modern family, so something about the time is lost in the change in language.