The title shot of the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, and was first published on 28 January 1813. It was Jane Austen's second published novel and was originally titled as First Impressions. Hundred years had passed since it was first published, Pride and Prejudice continues to charm people and became one of the most loved books among fans.
Jane Austen
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Elizabeth Bennet, one of the five daughters of a country gentleman in 19th-century Hertfordshire, England, faces a dilemma in her future – as their father's property is entailed to a male heir upon his death, they will be turned out of their house and left to fend for themselves unless she and her sisters can find advantageous husbands, something which consumes her mother. An opportunity arrives in the form of Mr. Bingley, a wealthy young gentleman who takes a country estate near to the Bennet's home, accompanied by his sisters and his good friend Fitzwilliam Darcy. Whereas Bingley is well-liked in the community, Darcy begins his acquaintance with Elizabeth, her family, and their neighbours with smug condescension and proud distaste for all of the country people; despite Mrs. Bennet's embarrassing interference Mr. Bingley and Jane begin to grow closer. Elizabeth, stung by Darcy's haughty rejection of her at a local dance, makes it a point to match his coldness with her own venom. When the militia arrive in the town, earning the admiration of Elizabeth's flighty and immature younger sisters, Elizabeth begins a friendship with Mr. Wickham, a charming soldier with a prior acquaintance with Darcy. Upon hearing Wickham's story of his misfortune at the hands of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth immediately seizes upon it as another, more concrete reason to hate Mr. Darcy. Unbeknown to her, Darcy finds himself gradually drawn to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Bennet
Mr. Darcy
When Bingley leaves the countryside suddenly and makes no attempts to contact Jane any more, the young woman is heartbroken. Elizabeth, having previously thought well of Bingley, believes that there is something amiss in the way that he abandoned Jane and suspects Darcy's involvement. She is also approached by her cousin, the foolish and pompous clergyman Mr. Collins, who offers marriage to her; despite the fact that Collins is the male heir who will inherit her father's property upon his death, Elizabeth is unwilling to subject herself to a union that she knows will be unhappy for her and refuses him, much to her mother's distress. Collins subsequently marries Elizabeth's friend Charlotte Lucas, who invites Elizabeth to stay with them. Collins' parish is adjacent to Rosings Park, the grand manor of Darcy's aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whom Collins is greatly obsequious towards; as a result, Elizabeth is frequently invited to Rosings, where she is again forced into contact with Darcy, who is visiting his aunt at the time. During this time, Elizabeth learns that Darcy indeed played a part in separating Bingley and Jane.
Elizabeth is shocked when Darcy admits his love for her and proposes marriage. Insulted by his high-handed and insulting manner of proposal, Elizabeth refuses him, confronting him with his sabotage of Bingley's relationship with Jane and Wickham's account of their dealings. Shocked by Elizabeth's vehemence towards him, Darcy writes her a letter justifying his actions and revealing that Wickham in fact cheated him, and attempted to seduce his younger sister Georgiana in the process. He also justifies his actions towards Bingley and Jane with the defence that Jane did not visibly show any interest in his friend, whom he was attempting to protect from both heartache and a disadvantageous association with Elizabeth's embarrassing and uncouth mother and younger sisters; Elizabeth is prompted to question both her family's behaviour and Wickham's credibility, and comes to the conclusion that Wickham is not as trustworthy as his easy manners would indicate and her early impressions of Darcy may not have been accurate. During a tour of Derbyshire with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, Darcy's grand estate, and presented with a more flattering, benevolent impression of his character from the locals who know him. When the party encounters Darcy as they tour the grounds of Pemberley, he makes an effort to behave in a gracious and welcoming manner towards them, thus strengthening Elizabeth's esteem of him.
Pemberley
Elizabeth and Darcy's renewed acquaintance is threatened when news arrives that Wickham and Elizabeth's reckless younger sister Lydia have eloped, thus threatening the family's reputation and the Bennet sisters with ruin. Lydia and Wickham are soon found and married, delighting Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth is surprised to learn from Lydia that Mr. Darcy was secretly responsible for both finding the couple and arranging their marriage at great expense to himself. Soon after, Bingley and Darcy return to the area; Bingley proposes marriage to Jane, and this news starts rumours that Darcy will propose to Elizabeth, prompting Lady Catherine to confront Elizabeth and imperiously demand that she never accept such a proposal. Elizabeth's refusal to bow to Lady Catherine's demands convinces Darcy that her opinion towards him has changed, and he once again proposes marriage. Elizabeth, by now in love with Mr. Darcy as well, accepts, and the two are engaged.
In the epilogue, the fates of the characters are more or less revealed. Elizabeth and Darcy have settled in Pemberly; Mr. Bennet misses his second daughter greatly and visits Pemberly often. Mrs. Bennet is still as frivolous and silly as always, and she loves visiting the new Mrs. Bingley and talking of the new Mrs. Darcy. Later, Jane and Bingley move from Netherfield to avoid Jane's mother and Meryton relations and to locate near the Darcys in Derbyshire. Elizabeth and Jane manage to lead Kitty down a more sensible path, and Mary learns to accept the difference between herself and her sisters' beauty and mixes more with the outside world. Lydia and Wickham are always moving, leaving their debts to Jane and Elizabeth to pay off every time. Lydia and Wickham frequently come to visit and stay at their sisters' estates in Derbyshire. This annoys even Bingley who begins to talk about dropping hints to their leaving as soon as possible. In Pemberly, Elizabeth and Georgina grow exceedingly close, though Georgina is surprised at the playful manner which Elizabeth talks to Darcy with. Lady Catherine is still very angry with her nephew's marriage but overtime the relationship between the two is repaired and she even eventually decides to wait on them at Permberly. Elizabeth and Darcy are also often visited by the Gardiners, and the Darcys are exceedingly thankful to them for bringing them together.
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Characters
(Characters pics used are from the 1995 BBC adaptation)
Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet is the main female protagonist. The reader sees the unfolding plot and the other characters mostly from her viewpoint. The second of the Bennet daughters at twenty years old, she is portrayed as intelligent, lively, attractive and witty, with her faults being a tendency to judge on first impressions and perhaps being a little selective of the evidence she uses to base her judgments upon. As the plot begins, her closest relationships are with her father, her sister Jane, her aunt Mrs. Gardiner and her neighbour Charlotte Lucas. Her realization of Darcy's essential goodness eventually triumphs over her initial prejudice against him.
Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy
Fitzwilliam Darcy is the main male protagonist. At twenty-eight years old and unmarried, 'Mr. Darcy' is the wealthy owner of the famously superior estate Pemberley in Derbyshire and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Portrayed as handsome and intelligent, but not convivial, his concern with decorum and moral rectitude is seen by many as an excessive concern with social status. He makes a poor impression on strangers, such as the people of Meryton, but is valued by those who know him well. Over the course of the novel, he tempers his class-consciousness and learns to admire and love Elizabeth for her strong character.
Susannah Harker as Jane Bennet
Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet sister. Twenty-three years old when the novel begins, she is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer and equally sensible but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. Jane is closest to Elizabeth. She later marries Mr. Bingley.
Crispin Bonham-Carter as Mr. Bingley
Charles Bingley has just rented the Netherfield estate near Longbourn when the novel opens. Twenty-two years old at the start of the novel, handsome, good-natured and wealthy, he is contrasted with his friend Mr. Darcy as being less intelligent but kinder and more charming (and hence more popular in Meryton). He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others. Mr. Bingley is also blissfully uncaring about class differences.
Benjamin Whitrow as Mr. Bennet
Mr. Bennet has a wife and five daughters. He is the patriarch of the Bennet family, a gentleman of modest income. Mr Bennet has a sarcastic, cynical sense of humour. Portrayed as a bookish and intelligent man somewhat withdrawn from society and one who dislikes the frivolity of his wife and three younger daughters, he offers nothing but mockery by way of correction. Rather than trying to lead his younger daughters down a more sensible path, he is rather intent on laughing at them. 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. His estate, Longbourn, is entailed to his nephew, Mr. William Collins, upon his death and so, his daughters will not inherit it.
Alison Steadman as Mrs. Bennet
Mrs. Bennet is the wife of Mr. Bennet and mother of Elizabeth and her sisters. Her main objective in life is to find (wealthy) husbands for her five daughters, but she lacks the subtlety to execute her goals. She is portrayed as frivolous, excitable and narrow-minded. She is susceptible to attacks of tremors and palpitations, and her public manners are embarrassing to her eldest daughters. Her favourite daughter is the youngest, Lydia.
Lucy Briers as Mary Bennet
Mary Bennet is the middle Bennet sister, aged around eighteen. The only plain one of the five, she strives to be the most accomplished. She spends most of her time reading and studying, but without understanding. Of the sisters, she thinks most highly of Mr. Collins.
Polly Maberly as Catherine Bennet
Catherine (Kitty) Bennet is the fourth Bennet sister, aged seventeen. Portrayed as a less headstrong but equally frivolous shadow of Lydia. In the epilogue of the novel, Kitty, rescued from Lydia's bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society
Julia Sawalha as Lydia Bennet
Lydia Bennet is the youngest Bennet sister, aged fifteen. She is repeatedly described as frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socialising, especially flirting with the military officers stationed in the nearby town of Meryton. She dominates her older sister Kitty and is supported in the family by her mother. She later marries Mr.Wickham.
Adrian Lukis as Mr. Wickham
George Wickham is an old acquaintance of Mr. Darcy, and an officer in the militia unit stationed near Meryton. A superficially charming man, he forms a friendship with Elizabeth Bennet, prompting many to remark upon his suitability as a potential husband. He spreads numerous tales about the wrongs Mr. Darcy has done to him, colouring the popular perception of the other man in local society; it is eventually revealed that these tales are distortions, and that Darcy was the more wronged man in their acquaintance.
David Bamber as Mr. Collins
Mr. William Collins is Mr. Bennet's cousin and a clergyman, aged 25. Since Mr. Bennet has no sons, Collins is in line to inherit Mr. Bennet's estate. Jane Austen described him as "not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society". Collins is thought to be naively stupid by Mr. Bennet, and Elizabeth rejects his marriage proposal. She is very distressed when her friend Charlotte Lucas decides to marry Mr. Collins out of interest in his estate rather than his personality. Collins constantly boasts about his acquaintance with the wealthy and pompous Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Lady Catherine
Lady Catherine De Bourgh is haughty, egotistical, and domineering. Because of her wealth and social standing she believes she can command anyone around her. People such as Mr. Collins contribute to this personality by acting as sycophants who bow to her every command. Her nephew Darcy initially does whatever his aunt requests out of respect for her, but by the end of the text, he makes the choice to go against her wishes and marry Elizabeth.
Anna Chancellor as Miss Bingley
Miss Caroline Bingley is Mr. Bingley's snobbish sister. She bears inordinate disdain for Elizabeth's middle-class background. Her vain attempts to garner Darcy's attention cause Darcy to admire Elizabeth's self-possessed character even more.
Lucy Robinson as Mrs. Hurst
Mrs. Louisa Hurst is Mr. Bingley's other sister. She and her husband, Mr. Hurst tag along with Bingley and Caroline wherever they go. She is much like her sister in temperament.
Rupert Vansittart as Mr. Hurst
Mr. Hurst is the husband of Mrs. Louisa Hurst, and brother-in-law of Mr. and Miss Bingley. He mainly just sits around, eats, sleeps, and occasionally can be roused to hunt.
Emilia Fox as Miss Darcy
Miss Georgiana Darcy is Mr. Darcy's sister. She is immensely pretty and just as shy. She has great skill at playing the pianoforte. Georgiana is more than 10 years younger than Darcy. Wickham tried to seduce her and she nearly eloped with Wickham. However, the intended elopement was stopped by Mr. Darcy, and Wickham subsequently leave.
Miss Anne de Bourgh
Miss Anne de Bourgh is Lady Catherine's daughter, who, unlike the Bennet daughters, will inherit her family home upon the death of her mother. She is very sickly. Lady Catherine is convinced that she will be able to bring about a marriage between Anne and Darcy and insists that they are already engaged.
Colonel Fitzwilliam
Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam is Darcy's cousin and co-guardian of Gerogiana since the death of the Darcy's parents. He accompanies Darcy to visit their aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Tim Wylton as Mr. Gardiner
Joanna David as Mrs. Gardiner
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Gardiner are Mrs. Bennet's brother and his wife. The Gardiners, caring, nurturing, and full of common sense, often prove to be better parents to the Bennet daughters than Mr. Bennet and his wife. Mr. Gardiner is a lawyer and lives in Cheapside, London, to the horror of Mr. Bingley's sister. Though he and his wife are Elizabeth's low connections they are much more pleasant than any Mr. Darcy has to offer. His wife is an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman, and a great favourite with all her Longbourn nieces. She gives very good advice, is kind and motherly
Lucy Scott as Charlotte Lucas
Miss Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth's dear friend and the daughter of Sir William Lucas. Pragmatic where Elizabeth is romantic, and also six years older than Elizabeth, Charlotte does not view love as the most vital component of a marriage. She is more interested in having a comfortable home. Thus, when Mr. Collins proposes (after Elizabeth has turned him down), she accepts.
Sir William Lucas
Sir William Lucas is a neighbour of the Bennets who's knighthood "had given him a disgust to his business and to his residence in a small market town; and quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, ... where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and, unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all the world". He is the father of Charlotte and Maria Lucas.
Maria Lucas
Maria Lucas is the younger sister of Charlotte Lucas. Maria accompanies her father and Elizabeth to visit the Collins near Rosings Park.
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A quote from Elizabeth Bennet while visiting Mr. Darcy's estate, Pemberley
I first read this book few years ago... probably two or three years ago? o.o Anyway, while searching in the Internet for good romance book, I found the title Pride and Prejudice pop up as "one of the greatest love story of all time". Got curious, so I went to Wikipedia to look at the book summary and information. Thought it was interesting and saw that Wikisourse has the original text of Pride and Prejudice, so I read it. At first, I was very indifferent and confused about the story, because of the English. The English is a bit hard for modern English-speaking people. However, I just went through the problem and read through. Slowly, I am caught up in the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. I really like their relationship and finds pleasure in reading the interaction between these two characters. And then I find myself skipping through paragraphs and chapters just to read the interaction of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. -_- I bought the book (original text of course) from Best Eastern. By now, reading the book is not as challenging as it first was. I could understand 90% of the book's language. ^^ Currently, I'm re-reading the book, WORD-TO-WORD, no skipping paragraphs or whatever, and now I'm at the chapter where Mr. Collins went to visit the Bennets.
Part of the 2005 film adaptation movie poster
The Penguin Classics Deluxe book cover version
The cover of the Pride and Prejudice book that I owned
With the popularity of this novel, it is by no doubt that the story has been adapted into several movies and drama series. I've watched the near ending of the 2005 movie staring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet (the movie poster is the cover of my book, actually -_-) and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy. Well, in my opinion, the Mr. Darcy of the 2005 movie is not that handsome to be Mr. Darcy. -_- Anyway, I've also watched the 1995 television version by BBC, staring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, in Youtube. I decided to watch this version because it was highly regarded by fans and critics as the best adaptation among all of Pride and Prejudice adaptation. It's also highly acknowledged among fans that Colin Firth is the best Mr. Darcy ever. And I agree this statement.
Mr. Darcy
The 1995 BBC adaptation consists of 6 episodes, one hour for each episode. Imagine my joy when I found out that Youtube has it. ^^v I think that among the five Bennet sisters, the actress who played Elizabeth is the prettiest of them all. Jane was supposed to be the prettiest, as stated in the book. However, the Jane in this adaptation is... well... not the prettiest, that's all. -_- The character, Lydia, annoys the hell out of me, so I'll tip my hat to the actress who played as Lydia in this series. Mary is also annoying. However, the most annoying characters are Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins. OMG THEY ARE APPALLINGLY FOOLISH AND ANNOYING! So, again, my applaud to the actor and actress for doing a great job. =) Elizabeth was a great character, not to mention rather pretty and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, goodness, I finally see why people regarded him as the best Mr. Darcy. HE IS MEANT TO BE MR. DARCY! HE'S SOOOOOOO SUITABLE FOR THE ROLE AND I WAS (AND STILL AM) CHARMED BY HIM! HE IS LIKE, THE ULTIMATE MR. DARCY!!! XD He conveyed Mr. Darcy's emotion and feelings throughout the drama really well. Really, it makes me fall in love with Mr. Darcy even more (even if I didn't watch this adaptation, I had already fallen in the enigmatic charm of Mr. Darcy from reading the novel). The music and soundtrack of the drama was well blended with the plot and the sceneries are breathtaking. This adaptation stays very true to the novel. I love the ending, where it shows the wedding of Mr. Bingley and Jane, and Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. And then the newlyweds are whisked away in separate carriages. And the very last shot of the drama is the scene where Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy kisses. A perfect ending. ^^ This ending scene is not in the book. However, I liked it. This could be the first time where I'm really satisfied at a book-to-movie adaptation. As in, I have no complaints about this drama as it is the truest towards the book.
The wedding scene
In short, Pride and Prejudice is one of my most favourite books in the world, and it is in my top list. I think, one of the many reasons why I love this story, was because of it's light-heartedness. And one of the reason why I love the drama adaptation... because I love period dramas. ^^v
Below are some pictures which I saved from the Internet
A wallpaper I found in the Internet
The Bennet Sisters (1995 TV adaptation)
The Bennet Sisters (2005 film adaptation)
