Pride and Prejudice for ever

 Why do I continue to reread ' Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen  time after time ? 

It is now more than fifty years since I first read it this novel.  Yes that's right 50 years . I read it as my set text novel for my 'A level studies at my South Wales grammar school. I remember liking it then and appreciating many of its features. I can't  recapture exactly how I felt about it then because of the infinite number of people whom I have  come across , the places I have seen and the  emotions I have enjoyed or suffered since that far off time.    I  was 18 and looking forward to life and relationships and romance and so free of prejudice or unhappiness borne of experience. 

So now in 2020 I am rereading it during a pandemic when everything seems uncertain and circumstances keep changing. I think I appreciate it now for its changelessness. It is the same text now  as  it has been since 1813 , or in the prototype ,  'First Impressions, 1796.

So how can a novel written two and a quarter centuries ago have anything to say to us today?

It is a classic story of boy meets girl. At first  they are not mutually  attracted  but something happens to change their opinion of each other. They grow closer but have to overcome the actions of  others who  try to push them apart.  In the end love triumphs.

I know what is going to happen at each stage of the plot. The high  matrimonial hopes of Mrs Bennet when eligible bachelor  Bingley comes to the neighbourhood blossom rapidly when he appears to fall in love with her beautiful eldest daughter, Jane.  But her plans  will be thwarted at least temporarily by the machinations of Bingley's sisters and his friend, Darcy.   Lots of plot strands will have to come together before Mrs Bennet will be satisfied. 

The hero and heroine whose faults are represented in the title are Darcy and Elizabeth. 

They are both influenced by the behaviour or the opinions of others to form an incorrect impression of the other. However Darcy falls in love despite his best intentions and succeeds in winning Elizabeth's hand when he sets aside his pride. It takes a marriage of convenience between Charlotte and Mr Collins and a visit to Derbyshire and an elopement by silly Lydia and wicked Wickham to bring them together. I know that Lady Catherine de  Burgh's efforts to thwart the match will fail and that Bingley's sisters nasty tricks to separate Bingley and Jane will not succeed. 

What do I love if the plot holds no secrets for me ?

Jane Austen cleverly gets into the minds of her characters, reveals their frailties  and delineates their hopes ,  their worries, their opinion of others, the way they judge, the way they misjudge. Appearances are deceptive.   The villain may be good looking and plausible.  But he tells lies, he leaves a trail of trouble behind him. What is satisfying is that our heroine finds out that the man she was attracted to is mercenary and immoral.

I like the fact that the language , though written two hundred years ago , is accessible to the modern reader. We would not use the same way of speaking but we perfectly understand what the  characters say to each other.

And if you think about it the people and places in 'Pride and Prejudice ' are interconnected and everything converges in Longbourn. 

The Bennets are the catalyst. To Longbourn house come  first Bingley accompanied by Darcy both destined to marry a Bennet sister. Then comes Wickham as part of the militia. He is attracted to one Bennet sister but ends up eloping with another. Then comes Mr Collins ,  heir to Longbourn. He proposes to Elizabeth Bennet  but when refused marries Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte. 

Wickham is connected to Darcy and Pemberley. A spendthrift and wastral he tried to abduct Darcy's sister Georgiana. Darcy pays him to marry disgraced Lydia to save the shame of the Bennets. 

Mr Collins' patroness ,  Lady Catherine de Burgh is Darcy's aunt and Elizabeth's  visit to the Collins puts her into Darcy's  path again. Even Lady Catherine reluctantly  visits Longbourn in order to try to prevent the marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth.

Gradually the threads of the novel are spun into a satisfying whole.  

Pride and Prejudice for ever indeed.