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Pride and Prejudice: study guide
By Jane Austen. A spoiler-light guide with themes, characters, vocabulary and questions to discuss.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen · 1813 · public domain
The story
The five Bennet sisters need to marry well, because their father’s estate is entailed away from them. Elizabeth Bennet’s quick judgment of the proud Mr. Darcy, and his of her family, are both tested as the two keep meeting and each learns how wrong a first impression can be.
This summary avoids the ending, but later sections of a guide can spoil details.
Main themes
- Pride and prejudice
- Class and marriage
- First impressions
- Reputation and women’s limited choices
Characters
- Elizabeth Bennet
- Witty and independent, but quick to judge.
- Mr. Darcy
- Wealthy, reserved and proud; his character is slowly revealed.
- Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley
- The gentle eldest sister and the cheerful friend of Darcy who falls for her.
- Mr. Wickham and Mr. Collins
- A charming officer and a pompous clergyman, two very different ways of being misjudged.
Words worth knowing
- entailed
- legally restricted so property passes to a particular heir, here a male relative.
- civility
- formal politeness.
- condescension
- acting as though one is superior; also, in Austen’s day, kindly stooping to a lower rank.
- propriety
- conforming to accepted standards of behavior.
Questions to discuss
- Who is prouder, Elizabeth or Darcy, and who is more prejudiced?
- How does Austen use money and property to shape the characters’ choices?
- Which marriage in the novel seems the most sensible, and which the happiest?
- Why does the opening sentence use the word “universally”?