ESSAY YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

ESSAY : YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK

I have decided to talk about Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. It's not really an original choice, but I believe that when a book acquires that much recognition, it can be nothing but great. And indeed, this story and those characters have bewitched me, body and soul, since I've first read it when I was twelve.

A lot of people perceive this book as a kind of cheesy love story, a sort of caricatural fairy-tale, but I will try to show you that it is far more than that.

It is, first of all, a story full of humour, as it is often the case when it comes to Jane Austen writing. Pride and Prejudice is a perfect demonstration of the author's wit: embodied here by some characters such as Mr Bennet, my personal favourite. As an example, one of his best interventions: "An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."

Humour is also a great way here to portray the country society of 19th century England, it's inner workings and habits. Austen applies herself to show the importance of duty and protocol in the gentry, especially about marriage, a theme at the heart of her work. Thereby Elizabeth Bennet is often described as a feminist character, refusing the codes of her time, that would have made her marry her ridiculous cousin.

Eventually, Pride and Prejudice is a great love story, that even became a myth: two opposite, yet strong, characters reject then attract each other, until they became the embodiment of the “happily ever-after” story. After two centuries since its publication this book has still the same success and impact on its readers. We could finally add that the adaptations of the work on screen, in diverse contexts (such as a recent Bollywood movie), demonstrates both the story’s universal and peculiar aspects.

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