Review: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

in Hive Book Club3 years ago

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Pride and Prejudice will always be one of my favorite novels of the genre, in fact, it was my introduction to reading the classics and, although it is considered one, its reading is quite fresh and fast compared to other books of its time that tend to be heavier; with this I conclude that it is not in vain when it is said that Jane Austen was always ahead of her time for the way in which she wrote her books and the messages she transmitted through them. Perhaps a way of catharsis among her own characters, relating the life that perhaps she aspired to but could not have.

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Synopsis of the book: The Bennet family has five daughters, so the arrival in the neighborhood of Mr. Bingley, a rich young bachelor, is quite an event. While Mr. Bingley is captivated by Jane, the eldest of the sisters, the haughty Mr. Darcy and the cheerful Elizabeth soon become entangled in a series of misunderstandings and misunderstandings that they must recognize and confront in order to achieve happiness. Synopsis extracted from my book by Alfaguara Publishing House

Argument: Pride and Prejudice is a story that tells us about an unusual romance between Darcy and Elizabeth, who go through different stages, something like falling in love from hate to love. In addition, we also have the romance between Jane and Bingley, who have a more harmonious connection between them than Darcy and Elizabeth, however, the drama does not wait between this couple when Darcy is forced to interfere between Jane and Bingley's relationship.

Throughout the plot we can see the evolution of a relationship governed by prejudice, where both protagonists maintain Pride as a characteristic in their personality, Darcy's arrogance is what bothers Elizabeth the most, perhaps to the point of feeling insulted by him. However, the encounters become inevitable and, as they happen, the love interest outweighs the hatred.

We have a plot that revolves around the functionality of this relationship, her friends and family play important roles in the protagonist's decisions and progress.


Review

As far as I am concerned, I feel that the work has the two older Bennet sisters as its protagonists, although the weight of the story runs between the development of the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth, it does not take away a leading role to the drama that kept the relationship between Jane and Charles Bingley, which fills you with equal or perhaps more emotion than Darcy and Elizabeth.

The author shows us with satirical nuances the reality of the time in which she lived with her character of Elizabeth, expressing rejection to those customs that strengthened a stereotype of women makes it a work of the genre without equal. The romantic novels of that time dealt more with the acceptance and the role that women had to play to reconcile some advantageous relationship, becoming the typical romance that lacked strong personalities, only submissive, with vain, materialistic characters, or, charmed by the myth of romantic love.

However, Elizabeth, who is considered our main protagonist, breaks with all those labels that a lady of that time had to present, demonstrating that her value as a woman went far beyond the acceptance of a man and a marriage. It is that bold spark of hers that draws us into the proud relationship she will have with Darcy, as the two of them, being at odds over Elizabeth's strong personality, present their ups and downs.

Jane Austen allows you to empathize with both older sisters, who must face a family situation surrounded by a hostile and superficial environment, where they are sheltered by a vain and superficial mother. Also, as the reading progresses, we empathize with Mr. Darcy, as he is confronted with Wickham's betrayals and manipulations once Darcy becomes responsible for his small family.

This story reflects a reality regarding love relationships, the process of getting to know a person, making mistakes and also, having certain thoughts about their attitudes is something completely real and is very far from the romantic myth, and then, as we evolve the relationship with that person, is where we dissent from our first prejudices and we get to a real relationship. That is perhaps what connects you most with the novel, that reality.

The evolution of the main characters is quite tangible and, that is appreciated during the reading, in addition, the fact of creating different environments that are not explicitly focused on the romance of the work is also quite appreciated. The development of the book is always moving forward and the feelings that you start to feel for each of the characters also changes as the reading goes on, because we must admit that Darcy's character is quite heavy from the beginning.

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This novel, although it may never have been her intention, presents us with a feminist personality in its protagonist, showing us a woman who trusts her own convictions more than the role imposed on women at that time. It is also for this reason that Jane Austen is attributed the title of ''visionary''.

Pride and Prejudice is a work without equal and, the reading enjoyment is quite easy. Although in my opinion, it lacked a bit of development with some characters that in fact, without their presence, the story would have gone exactly the same, as is the case with Mary (one of the younger sisters). Perhaps, if a little more personality had been applied to those characters, they would have had a greater context in the plot.

I must say that among all the adaptations, the one I have liked the most so far is the film directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, I have seen it about 50 times and I hope to continue watching it about 50 times more.

It will always remain my favorite romance book, I know it has a lot of details to refute, but we can't really ask anything from a novel of 1813, rather, it has given us a lot to appreciate in this era in which we live.

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This is the first book review I have written about a book, and I hope I have done it right 😂. I send you a warm embrace.


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Translated with the help of deepL
Photos edited in canva
All photos are my property taken with my iPhone 6s

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Just, I love it 🥰

I love this novel. I have seen the movie many times and still enjoy it. I liked your post about it. Thanks for sharing...

Hi danielapevs,

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