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Pride and Prejudice Reading GuideThe Four Ms: Money, Morals, Manners, and Men

Directions: The packet is divided up into various themes or issues. Divide up the questions amongst your group of up to four people and answer them as you complete your reading. Once your work is completed, copy and paste your team’s work into one packet in which the answers fall in order with the questions.

I. Themes:Change Versus Stability (Concern about the permanence of conservative values versus the idea of adapting solid moral principles to new circumstances/conflict between conservative stability and a new young individualism.)

Society, in Pride and Prejudice, is often presented as hierarchical, and its behavior is described as ceremonious or codified. Jane Austen often satirizes ceremonies and forms, but also suggests that these “codes” have an intrinsic value: they represent moral values of tolerance and compassion.

Q1. Think about the social aspect that Austen is satirizing in Mr. Collins’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Part 1 (Chapters 1-23). Do you agree or disagree with her attitude toward the situation?Q2. Look at the conversation between Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner concerning Wickham in Chapter 26 beginning with, “You are too sensible a girl, Lizzie, to fall in love merely because you are warned against it “ to, “I will try to do what I think is wisest; and now, I hope you are satisfied.” What ideas is Austen trying to convey? How do the characters respond to the situation?Q3. Note the conversation between Lady Catherine De Bourgh in Chapter 56 beginning with “You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet to understand the reason of my journey hither” to, “I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.” Analyze the attitudes expressed by both women.Q4. Landed men occupy an important position. They are presented as trustees, holding influence, which they can use well or badly and holding the happiness of others in their power. Consider this in terms of the character, Darcy.

Good Manners Mirror Good Morals (There is the assumption that manners reveal a person’s character.)

One critic argues that Jane Austen uses Elizabeth to define two principles that underlie standards of propriety and to persuade the reader of their merit. Elizabeth’s principles include the idea that individuals ought to respect rules as a means of maintaining order and decency in society. Secondly, that moral judgment supersedes blind compliance with any rules. One can find numerous examples in which characters either misinterpret or violate both social and moral rules and, in doing so, reveal their moral and intellectual flaws. By establishing each character’s manners when he or she first appears, Austen gives the reader a dependable measure with which to judge the characters.

Q5. All forms of propriety are there for a purpose (be that purpose basically moral or basically a matter of social convenience). Think in terms of Elizabeth’s walk to Netherfield to see Jane in Part I.Q6. Misinterpretation of rules reveals character flaws-use the same incident from Q5 by thinking of the reaction of various characters’ to the event—Mrs. Bennet, Mary, Kitty, Lydia, and Mrs. Bingley.Describe how the characters display their moral shortcomings through their lack of manners:Q7. Charlotte, when she arrives to visit the Bennet family immediately after Elizabeth has refused Mr. Collins’s proposal of marriage in Chapter 20.Q8. Mrs. Bennet – take your pick of the many examples.

Pride and Prejudice (Elizabeth exhibits the language of prejudice, whereas Darcy the language of Pride. Each of these languages expresses the same flaw – love of self. Pride and prejudice are forms of the same

sin. Therefore, the structure of the novel depends less on the clash of mutually exclusive properties than on establishing a pattern of balance – a change in one element parallels an opposite change in the other. As Darcy and Elizabeth discard both pride and prejudice in order to find each other, they change their patterns of speech and thought to grow to share a less selfish rhetoric.

Though both pride and prejudice manifest self-love, each has its own characteristics or linguistic expression. The antagonism between Lizzie and Darcy is thus more a war of words than ideas. Pride nourishes itself through isolation and elevation; therefore, the language of pride is reserved and authoritative. Prejudice is an inordinate love of one’s own perceptions; therefore, the language of prejudice must be both fluid and dogmatic.

Darcy’s language is formal and precise. Even with his own social class – Bingley and his sisters and Lady Catherine – Darcy speaks with a detachment born of his intellectual superiority. Such language is not suited to intimacy but to the exercise of authority. Though sometimes ironic, it is not witty and never jocular.

Elizabeth’s language, on the other hand, is dominated by a sense of irony and the wit that such an ironic viewpoint generates. In respect to Darcy, Elizabeth’s language is subversive; she seeks to undermine his authority through verbal aggression.

Q9. Provide examples of how Elizabeth’s language demonstrates prejudice.Q10. Provide examples of how Elizabeth’s language demonstrates pride.Q11. Provide examples of how Darcy’s language demonstrates prejudice.Q12. Provide examples of how Darcy’s language demonstrates pride.Q13. Provide examples that show changes in Elizabeth away from prejudice.Q14. Provide examples that show changes in Darcy away from pride.

II. A Series of Social EventsIf taken as a whole, the plot consists of a series of social events; there are visits, dinners, walks, and formal balls. Groups of characters meet, and the story moves on, during these social events. The plot is made up of many social events, so one of them is similar to a brick that builds the plot: one social event is a “part” of the structure of the plot. To determine how this works, one can examine how one social event fits into the novel as a whole.

Some social events are smaller, involving only two or three characters, and others are bigger. As one analyzes one event, think of the whole plot, keeping a distance from the text. Is there a social occasion that stands out because it is a turning point, a significant “unit” in the string of occasions that is the plot? The Netherfield ball is important because it brings the first stage of the novel to an end. Also, almost all of the characters are present. Several persons go away straight after the ball, so it is the last time the large group of characters we have come to know are all together in one place.

Q15. What expectations do the characters have before the event? Analyze the event itself and the outcome.Q16. What do people say before, during, and after the ball?Q17. What do their conversations imply?Q18. What are they thinking about?Q19. Describe the elements of the characters which affect their behavior in the scenes.

III. Letters, Letters, Letters

Jane Austen employs the device of letters for a variety of purposes – to reveal character, to reveal actions, and to further the plot line. Find an example of each and discuss how Austen accomplishes her purpose through the letters.

Q20. Example of a letter revealing character: Explain what quality is revealed.Q21. Example of a letter revealing Action: Show what action is made known.

Q22. Example of a letter revealing plot line: Explain how the letter is a necessary tool in furthering the sequence of events.

IV. ChangeAn obvious issue of change is expressed as a vigorous movement towards discovering real values that will stand up to rational scrutiny; and the discarding of false, superficial values, the trivia and absurdities so abundant in Longbourn and Meryton at the start of the novel.

Q23. The most obvious example would be the character of Darcy. From the time of Darcy delivering his letter to Elizabeth after her refusal of his marriage proposal, until the couple reunite at Pemberly, Darcy is not “on stage.” What changes does Darcy go through and why do they occur?Q24. While Darcy’s changes are more shocking and occur outside of the action, Elizabeth remains the focus of the piece. What purpose is served by having her change be subdued, albeit more revealed through action and dialogue?

V. IronyQ25. Jane Austen uses the Horation style of satire or irony, in which she gently scoffs at “man’s” foibles. It evokes “gentle laughter” from the reader. Find three examples and explicate their uses and meaning.

VI. HousesThere are several examples of homes that serve as “mirrors” the personality of the owner. Explain how each does this so well.

Q26. NetherfieldQ27. PemberlyQ28. Rousing Park

VII. MarriageThere are six marriages detailed in this novel: Mr/Mrs. Bennet, Jane/Mr. Bingley, Lydia/Wickham, the Gardiners, Charlotte/Mr. Collins, and Elizabeth/Darcy.

Q29. As you read the novel, what is Austen relating about her point of view of this institution?Q30. What does Austen say about a good marriage?Q31. What does she say about falling in love and love itself?

VIII. First LinesQ32. The first sentence is probably one of the most famous and most important first sentences in literature? Analyze it. How is it important to the piece? What does it reveal? How is it, or does it, contradict Austen’s views on marriage and love?