Resumo de Pride And Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice takes place in early nineteenth century England where the rules of propriety and conduct were very strict. For a young woman of the time period to be successful she must marry well. The story follows the lives of the Bennet family, a gentleman, his wife, and their five children, all girls, ranging in ages from 15 to 22. The Bennet daughters feel the pressure to find a wealthy husband very acutely because they will lose the family estate. When Mr. Bennet eventually passes away everything will go to his nearest living male relative, a distant cousin named Mr. Collins, whom Mr. Bennet has never even met, and the five daughters will be left with nothing. Jane Austen?s heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a very independent woman who has no intention of marrying someone she does not love, despite financial difficulties. Within the Bennet family there is a great divide between the members personalities and loyalties. The two oldest sisters, Jane and Elizabeth show good sense and intelligence and relate very well to their equally sensible father. On the other hand Mrs Bennet is an anxiety ridden, ridiculous woman who spends all of her time gossiping and conspiring to have her daughters marry rich men. The three youngest sisters share their mothers attitudes and traits, in particular the youngest Lydia who spends every waking hour talking about or spending time with the military officers encamped nearby.
The story begins with the news that a nearby estate, Netherfield has been taken by a wealthy single man, Mr. Bingly. When he comes to the neighborhood he brings with him, his two sisters, and his best friend, Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingly is an extremely friendly kind man who immediately takes to Jane, she is equally enamored of him. On the other hand Mr. Darcy appears rude and acts condescending towards people below his social station. He makes a very big mistake offending Elizabeth the one woman who has no problem telling him how bad his behavior is. At the many gatherings and dances they attend, Elizabeth attacks Mr. Darcy with her stinging wit. At this point in the story Mr. Wickham enters the social scene and Elizabeth is very attracted to his charming personality. Mr. Wickham knows Mr. Darcy from his youth and tells her about all the mistreatment he has suffered due to him. Elizabeth?s dislike of Darcy continues to grow, but she thinks that she will never have to deal with him again when Bingly leaves the neighborhood and takes his group of people with him. Unfortunately Jane also loses Bingly and any hope that they will marry.
Then for various reasons Elizabeth finds herself in situations where she must put up with Mr. Darcy?s presence. Including when she discovers that Darcy was responsible for Bingly?s decision to not marry her sister. On appearance Darcy seems to dislike Elizabeth as much as she does him, but in reality he is completely in love with her. When he confesses his true feelings, Elizabeth has built up so much anger that she gives him the worst of tongue lashings. Her words truly effect Darcy and he hadn?t realized how badly he had been acting towards people. But there was one part that Elizabeth had been misinformed about, his relationship with Mr. Wickham. It turns out that Wickham had actually done horrible things against Darcy, rather than the other way around. These acts included trying to steal Darcy?s sixteen year old sister?s inheritance by convincing her to elope with him. As to breaking up Bingly and Jane, Darcy admitted it proudly. He felt that Jane did not truly care for his friend. After learning about the situation with Wickham Elizabeth?s disgust with Darcy is only slightly lessened. But then through further meetings and situations that Elizabeth discovers that he is not the horrible person she once believed him to be.
To everyone?s surprise Elizabeth?s youngest sister Lydia is caught up a terrible scandal when she runs off with Mr. Wickham. This action threatens to ruin not only her own repputation, but that of all of her sisters as well. It is Mr Darcy who secretly takes care of the situation both financially and physically that prevents the Bennet family from ruination. At this point in time Elizabeth begins to respect the man she once hated. Then he does the unthinkable he admits that he was wrong to have prevented his friend from marrying Jane. Bingly then returns to Netherfield where he and Jane become engaged. It is then that Elizabeth realizes that she has fallen in love with Darcy. By then she believes it might be too late and that he does not care for her anymore. As fate would have it Mr. Darcy is encouraged that Elizabeth cares for him by a very unlikely source, his relatives that disapprove of the match. The novels ends with their marriage and return to their beautiful estate, Pemberley. This novel is very entertaining and also gives readers a chance to learn about the interesting class and social structure of 19th century England.

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