Pride And Prejudice | Summary, Characters, Author, Book, Movie ...

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• Introduction & Top Questions
• Characters: The Bennets, Darcy, and all the rest
• Plot summary: A universal truth and romantic pursuits
• Analysis of setting and characterization
• Movies and other adaptations

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• Literary Devices - Pride and Prejudice
• Chicago Public Library - Historical Context of Pride and Prejudice
• Jane Austen Society of America - "Pride and Prejudice"
• International Journal of Science and Research - Darcy as Saviour and Supreme Personality along with his Patience towards Love and his Contrast with Elizabeth Whose Relations is Source of Different Loves and Justifies the Title of Jane Austen‟s Pride and Prejudice
• Digital Commons at University of Georgia School of Law - A Funhouse Mirror of Law: The Entailment in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - A Funhouse Mirror of Law: The Entailment in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (PDF)
• Columbia College - The Core Curriculum - Historical Context for Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences - Pride and Prejudice Adaptations: A Comparative Study
• ABC News - Delights of a 200-year-old love affair
• The Criterion: An International Journal in English - Pride and Prejudice in the Peripheral Characters: An Analysis of the Titular Traits in Jane AustenÂ’s Novel (PDF)
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Quick Summary Ask the Chatbot a Question Also known as: “First Impressions” Written by Sarah Dillon Sarah Dillon's work appears in Encyclopaedia Britannica as part of a joint publishing agreement with the publisher of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, where the work originally appeared. Sarah Dillon Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Dec. 11, 2025 •History Table of Contents Table of Contents Quick Summary Ask the Chatbot a Question Top Questions

When was Pride and Prejudice written?

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, but its first version was completed between October 1796 and August 1797. The original title was First Impressions. In 1797 Austen’s father contacted a London publisher for publication, but the offer was declined. In 1809, after settling in Chawton, England, in a cottage on her brother’s estate, Austen renewed her determination to prepare Pride and Prejudice for publication. It was at last published in January 1813.

When does Pride and Prejudice take place?

The novel Pride and Prejudice, published by Jane Austen in 1813, takes place at the turn of the 19th century in England, in the countryside of Hertfordshire and Derbyshire.

What is the plot of Pride and Prejudice?

Pride and Prejudice, which was published by Jane Austen in 1813, follows the burgeoning relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and the wealthy, reserved Fitzwilliam Darcy. They must overcome their central flaws of pride and prejudice in order to fall in love and marry.

What is Pride and Prejudice?

Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel of manners by Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813. It has inspired many stage and screen productions, one notable adaptation being a 1995 BBC TV miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. Learn more in Britannica’s List of Jane Austen Film and TV Adaptations.

Who is the author of Pride and Prejudice?

Jane Austen is the author of Pride and Prejudice (1813). She published three other novels during her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815). Her novels Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1817.

What is the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice?

The famous first sentence of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) is: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

What was Pride and Prejudice originally titled?

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) was originally titled First Impressions.

Pride and Prejudice, romantic novel of manners by English author Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813. A classic of English literature, written with incisive wit and superb character delineation, it follows Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, as she navigates social expectations, family pressures, and her shifting—and initially misjudged—relationship with the wealthy, reserved Fitzwilliam Darcy. It was Austen’s second published novel. Upon publication, Pride and Prejudice was well received by critics and readers. The first edition sold out within the first year, and it never went out of print.

Characters: The Bennets, Darcy, and all the rest

Pride and Prejudice is set in rural England in Hertfordshire and Derbyshire at the turn of the 19th century, and it centers on the Bennet family, which includes five very different sisters. The eldest, Jane, is sweet-tempered and modest. She is her sister Elizabeth’s confidant and friend. Elizabeth, or “Lizzy,” the heroine of the novel, is intelligent and high-spirited. She shares her father’s distaste for the conventional views of society as to the importance of wealth and rank. The third daughter, Mary, is plain, bookish, and pompous, while Lydia and Kitty, the two youngest, are flighty and immature.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”—first sentence of Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Bennet is the family patriarch. He is fond of his two eldest daughters—especially his favorite, Elizabeth—but takes a passive interest in the younger ones, ultimately failing to curb their childish instincts. An intelligent but eccentric and sarcastic man, he does not care for society’s conventions and mocks his wife’s obsession with finding suitable husbands for their daughters. As several scholars have noted, however, Mrs. Bennet is rightfully concerned. Because of an entail (a law that limited the transfer of property to male heirs), the modest family estate is to be inherited by William Collins, Mr. Bennet’s nephew, who is the next male in line. Indeed, as Austen scholar Mary Evans noted, “If Mrs. Bennett is slightly crazy, then perhaps she is so because she perceives more clearly than her husband the possible fate of her five daughters if they do not marry.” Unfortunately, Mrs. Bennet’s fervor and indelicacy often work against her interests. A woman of little sense and much self-pity, she indulges her lively youngest daughters.

Throughout the novel, the Bennet sisters encounter several eligible bachelors, including Charles Bingley, Darcy, Lieutenant George Wickham, and Collins. Bingley has recently let Netherfield estate, which neighbors the Bennets’ home, Longbourn. Austen describes him as “good-looking and gentlemanlike; [having] a pleasant countenance and easy, unaffected manners.” He has come by his fortune through his family’s interest in trade, which was seen as a less respectable means of obtaining wealth than by inheriting it, as his friend Darcy has done. Darcy is clearly a product of this hierarchical thinking: he believes in the natural superiority of the wealthy landed gentry. He is arrogant but perceptive.

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Darcy’s estates were once managed by Wickham’s father, but he and Wickham are no longer friendly. Wickham is attractive and charming, making him immediately popular among the women in the nearby town of Meryton, where he and other soldiers have been stationed. Collins, on the other hand, is “not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society.” He is a clergyman whose patron, the controlling Lady Catherine de Bourgh, is Darcy’s aunt.

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Other supporting characters in the novel include Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte Lucas, who is described as sensible and nearing an age where marriage is unlikely; Charlotte’s parents, Sir William and Lady Lucas; Mrs. Bennet’s brother, Edward Gardiner, who works in trade, and his wife, both of whom are generous and well-grounded; Bingley’s sisters, the snobbish and scheming Caroline and Louisa Hurst; and Darcy’s 16-year-old sister, Georgiana, who is painfully shy but good-humored.