Resumo de Pride And Prejudice

In Jane Austen's book, it is not so much the characters that are important, but rather, the very structure of Victorian society: a society more unforgiving than any other had been (except, perhaps, Indian society) toward women. The structure of the story is simple and, despite slightly comic appearances, tragic: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have only girls, five of them. The law, however, does not allow them to inherit the family house, where they were raised, with both firmness and joy. On the death of their father, already quite elderly, they will inevitably be sent away and the home will go automatically to a distant male relative, a faraway cousin who shamelessly waits for "his" inheritance, showing up unexpectedly, examining the furniture, and so on. The drama intensifies since the impoverished parents - we are in a relatively enlightened middle-class part of the English countryside where neighbours visit each other freely - have no dowry to offer their too-numerous daughters, an essential requirement for an appropriate marriage. In this society, though, it is out of the question to marry beneath one's class. And so, the five daughters are reduced to having to run after a "good catch" who will offer them just a roof over their heads, as quickly as possible. If the father appears haughtily condescending regarding his daughters' fate and his wife's frenzied quest, Mrs. Bennet, in contrast, is anxious, scouring the neighbourhood, tracing male lineages, plotting and calculating desperately and incessantly to save her daughters. In the Victorian era, such situations regularly befell women, who were doomed to becoming veritable prostitutes in their marriages, even if Austen deliberately chose a light genre. Beneath the breezy tone, we see humiliation and anxiety, even revolt. Mrs. Bennet barely, if at all, considers any given neighbour's looks, age or ability to raise children, his personality and obsessions, but simply his immediate availability for marriage. If this is the case, she makes every effort to attract and seduce him - or have one of the girls do so. The girls, though, are well-bred, educated and light-hearted despite the tragedy of their situation, and too proud to give in to a loveless marriage, which distresses their mother, though it remains unspoken. Where will they find that rare creature, Mrs. Bennet bemoans to her husband, who slumps in his armchair and barely looks up. One of the girls, the prettiest one, will succeed. What about the others? They are relegated to a life of respectable old maids, gathered in the homes of friends who wish them well, albeit at a cost. The girls know that this fate will befall them, even if Austen leaves some doubt as to the end of the novel. Their lightheartedness is heroic, a danse on the top of a volcano. Is it funny? No.

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