Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen began writing the novel after staying at Goodnestone Park in Kent with her brother Edward and his wife in 1796. It was originally titled First Impressions, and was written between October 1796 and August 1797. On the 1st of November 1797 Austen's father sent a letter to London bookseller Thomas Cadell to ask if he had any interest in seeing the manuscript, but the offer was declined by return post. The Militia were mobilised after the French declaration of war on Britain in February 1793, and there was initially a lack of barracks for all the militia regiments, requiring the militia to set up huge camps in the countryside, which the novel refers to several times. The Brighton camp for which the militia regiment leaves in May after spending the winter in Meryton was opened in August 1793, and the barracks for all the regiments of the militia were completed by 1796, placing the events of the novel between 1793 and 1795. Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812. As nothing remains of the original manuscript, study of the first drafts of the novel is reduced to conjecture. From the large number of letters in the final novel, it is assumed that First Impressions was an epistolary novel. She later renamed the story Pride and Prejudice around 1811/1812, when she sold the rights to publish the manuscript to Thomas Egerton for £110.
Austen sold the copyright for the novel to Thomas Egerton from the Military Library, Whitehall in exchange for £110 (Austen had asked for £150). This proved a costly decision. Austen had published Sense and Sensibility on a commission basis, whereby she indemnified the publisher against any losses and received any profits, less costs and the publisher's commission. Unaware that Sense and Sensibility would sell out its edition, making her £140, she passed the copyright to Egerton for a one-off payment, meaning that all the risk (and all the profits) would be his. Jan Fergus has calculated that Egerton subsequently made around £450 from just the first two editions of the book. Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes on the 28th of January 1813. It was advertised in The Morning Chronicle, priced at 18s. Favourable reviews saw this edition sold out, with a second edition published in October that year. A third edition was published in 1817. Foreign language translations first appeared in 1813 in French; subsequent translations were published in German, Danish, and Swedish. Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United States in August 1832 as Elizabeth Bennet or, Pride and Prejudice. The novel was also included in Richard Bentley's Standard Novel series in 1833.
Pride and Prejudice, like most of Austen's works, employs the narrative technique of free indirect speech, which has been defined as 'the free representation of a character's speech, by which one means, not words actually spoken by a character, but the words that typify a character's thoughts'. By using narrative that adopts the tone and vocabulary of a particular character, Austen invites the reader to follow events from Elizabeth's viewpoint, sharing her prejudices and misapprehensions. The learning curve, while undergone by both protagonists, is disclosed to us solely through Elizabeth's point of view and her free indirect speech is essential for it is through it that we remain caught within Elizabeth's misprisions. Across the novel, around 40 letters are quoted or alluded to, such that many commentators have proposed that Austen's novels may both first have been drafted as epistolary novels consisting entirely of letters. This theory is defended in Character and Caricature in Jane Austen by DW Harding in Critical Essays on Jane Austen. Letters in the novel are several times given detailed description as physical objects, what envelopes they have, whether they have inserted sheets or are written entirely on the envelope sheet, and the size and quality of the writing. In an age when physical contacts, especially between unmarried persons of opposite sex, are highly constrained by convention and civility, a letter as an artefact handled over a prolonged period by the sender could stand as an active token of their physical presence.
Elizabeth Bennet meditates on her own mistakes thoroughly in chapter 36: Other characters rarely exhibit this depth of understanding or at least are not given the space within the novel for this sort of development. Mrs Bennet's behaviour reflects the society in which she lives, as she knows that her daughters will not succeed if they do not get married. 'The business of her life was to get her daughters married: its solace was visiting and news.' This shows that Mrs Bennet is only aware of material objects and not of her feelings and emotions. A notable exception is Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth Bennet's close friend and confidant. She accepts Mr Collins's proposal of marriage once Lizzie rejects him, not out of sentiment but acute awareness of her circumstances as one of a large family. Darcy and Elizabeth come to recognise their faults and work to correct them through their interactions and their critiques of each other. Elizabeth refuses Mr Darcy's first proposal on the grounds that it is, as his behaviour towards her and her family's has consistently been, not gentlemanlike. Mr Darcy is incredulous at the charge; but eventually comes to accept the truth of it: 'Your reproof, so well applied, I shall never forget: Had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.'
For more than a century, dramatic adaptations, reprints, unofficial sequels, films, and TV versions of Pride and Prejudice have portrayed the memorable characters and themes of the novel, reaching mass audiences. Foreign language translations first appeared in 1813 in French; subsequent translations were published in German, Danish, and Swedish. Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United States in August 1832 as Elizabeth Bennet or, Pride and Prejudice. The novel was also included in Richard Bentley's Standard Novel series in 1833. R. W. Chapman edited a critical edition in 1923 which established the text used today. In 1940, a film version starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier brought the story to cinema screens with lavish production values. Subsequent decades saw numerous television serials, including the acclaimed 1995 BBC adaptation starring Colin Firth. Modern literature continues to draw from Austen's work, with authors writing unofficial sequels that explore what happens after the happy ending. These derivatives maintain the core themes while adapting them for new generations of readers who seek to understand the social dynamics of
the early 19th century through contemporary lenses.
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Common questions
When was Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen?
Jane Austen wrote the novel between October 1796 and August 1797. She began writing after staying at Goodnestone Park in Kent with her brother Edward and his wife in 1796.
Who published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice on the 28th of January 1813?
Thomas Egerton published the first edition of Pride and Prejudice in three hardcover volumes on the 28th of January 1813. He acquired the rights to publish the manuscript from Jane Austen for £110.
What narrative technique does Jane Austen use in Pride and Prejudice?
Pride and Prejudice employs free indirect speech as its primary narrative technique. This method represents a character's thoughts through words that typify their internal state rather than actual spoken dialogue.
How did Jane Austen sell the copyright for Pride and Prejudice?
Jane Austen sold the copyright for Pride and Prejudice to Thomas Egerton from the Military Library, Whitehall for £110. She had originally asked for £150 but accepted the lower one-off payment instead of publishing on commission.
When was Pride and Prejudice first translated into foreign languages?
Foreign language translations of Pride and Prejudice first appeared in 1813 in French. Subsequent translations were later published in German, Danish, and Swedish.