Wealth looks for a wife

As soon as you read the opening words of the novel you are immediately transported into a new era or “old era”. Pride and Prejudice was first published 198 years ago and you can sure feel the change in the text.

The novel starts talking about a wealthy man that arrives to Longbourne village were the Bennet family is currently looking for a spouse for any of its 5 daughters. It is important to remember that at the time it was common for the parents to choose the daughters husband, preferably from a higher social status to elevate the families social class.

After Mrs. Bennet asks her husband to get a “date” with Mr. Bingley for her sisters Mr. Bennet manages to make an appointment for Bingley to greet the family.

A couple of days later Bingley heads over to the Bennet house for dinner but doesn’t get a chance to meet the sisters due to the fact that he has to go back to London. After a number of days he gets back with his sisters, brother in law, and his friend Darcy. They all attend a ball which is in my perspective a pretty great deal for the XIX culture. A ball is a place, reunion or party where the main event is a contemporary dance. In this ball Jane the oldest sister gets to dance twice with Bingley while Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth stating that he needs someone from a higher social status and not some random girl. After the ball the sisters talk about the evening and Elizabeth tells Jane she is unaware of her beauty. I think Jane is an innocent girl, not like the rest of her sisters.

A new character is introduced to the novel and that is Charlotte, Elizabeth’s “bff” they talk about Jane being too concealing with Bingley which is good to a certain point, they have a discussion about it. Then we know that Darcy is falling for Elizabeth which is very ironic because we understand from the beginning of the novel that Darcy doesn’t like people that don’t match his social status.

In the next chapters Jane in invited to Bingley´s place as a plan elaborated by his father he sends her in hoarse knowing it will rain so she could spend the night at Bingley´s. Unfortunately she get sick and can’t go to Bingley´s house. Elizabeth in the other hand visits Bingley, Darcy, and his sisters. The sisters gossip about the Bennet family being to poor to be good wife’s, immediately Elizabeth enters the room and the topic is changed to Darcy´s library. This passage demonstrates how superficial and hypocritical even in this times society was.