Tips for Your Pride and Prejudice Essay

Pride and Prejudice Essays are very requested by teachers

This famous novel was written by Jane Austen and published in 1813, sixteen years after the author had finished the original manuscript. Originally called First Impressions, the manuscript was eventually retitled and published as Pride and Prejudice. Today, the book has sold some 20 million copies worldwide and it is one of teachers’ favourite topic when it comes to write literature essays. A Pride and Prejudice essay then, is not supposed to be shockingly original but solid, well-based on personal readings and logically sustained. Here are a few tips on how to success if this is what you were asked to write.

The plot of the novel

Read Pride and Prejudice. It is a great book and you will probably have some fun with the irony displayed by the great Jane Austen in every single dialogue. Well, we don’t mean you have to read it right now, since you are obviously busy with all the writing to do… we can provide the basic facts you need to know about the plot. Pride and Prejudice essays should have at least one section dedicated to the main lines of the plot.
It is a story about a family who has five unmarried daughters, all of which will be poor one day if the father dies and no one can provide for them. Their mother is, of course, desperately looking for husbands for her girls. One of them, Elizabeth Bennet, is the main character. All along the novel she deals with issues of manners, moral rightness, education, upbringing and, of course, marriage in the aristocratic society of early 19th century England. She meets a gentleman, Mr Darcy, whom at first she despises since he seems so proud. But events will eventually change her mind. The story is placed in the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, quite close to London.

Pride and prejudice as topics

Be careful: not all critics agree on the title being the key to the main topics. After all, the title could just as well have been chosen for economical factors. Besides, other major themes have been aknowledged, such as the importance of environment and education on the development of people’s character and morality. Feminism, or at least, proto-feminist ideas in the novel, could be a Pride and Prejudice essay topic as well. As a young woman, Elizabeth fights for her right to choose her life-partner, despite what society (or, in her case, a desperate mother or a rich aunt) may say.

Getting some inspiration

There are many adaptations of this novel to the big screen (as well as some to television and theatre). The most recent film dates from 2005, with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy. Very popular Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, which started as a newspaper column before becoming a novel and a film, was also inspired by an adaptation of the BBC for television. You may watch any of them to get some inspiration before writing your Pride and Prejudice essay.

Tags: literary essays, literature essays, Pride and Prejudice Essay