Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: Lecture on Volume II (Ch. 24-42) (Patreon)

'In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.'

Today we are spending time with our friends in Regency England on the next leg of our journey through Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

We're discussing character development, narrative trajectory, love and hate, romantic relationships, heartbreak, irony, pity, pride, rakes, passion, cognitive bias, seeing truly, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 character development, first impressions, epiphanies

2:00 being able to finally see the true state of things

4:00 sympathising with the heartbreak of first love

6:00 ‘there are few people who I really love…’

8:00 Elizabeth grows increasingly misanthropic

9:00 how we change whilst staying the same

11:00 painful wisdom from Jane Bennet/Jane Austen

12:00 when singular experience defines the universal

13:00 how Austen heals the rift between men & women

14:00 how our reading reflects emotional maturation

15:00 the psychology of identifying with characters

17:00 why we are always ultimately reading ourselves

19:00 the worst explanation isn’t the most likely

20:00 delighting in self-deprecating irony

22:00 thwarted by self-interested neighbours

24:00 locating the poetic DNA of Shakespeare in Austen

26:00 the complexity of Elizabeth’s character

27:00 ‘I have never been much in love…’

28:00 the relationship between love and hate

30:00 spaces are defined by who occupies them

32:00 natural world defined by who views it

34:00 the complementary reading of Molière & Austen

37:00 Lady Catherine, euphemism & polite society

38:00 on having the distinction of rank preserved

40:00 Lizzy’s defiance during the dinner inquisition

43:00 Elizabeth Bennet vs Lady Catherine de Bourgh

45:00 watching Mr Darcy fall in love with Elizabeth

46:00 courage rising with every attempt to intimidate

48:00 how character opens up & narrative unfolds

49:00 Elizabeth’s first impressions of Mr Darcy

50:00 on relating to the character of Darcy

51:00 ‘we neither of us perform to strangers’

52:00 Elizabeth & Darcy’s Myers-Briggs types

53:00 how Lizzy defines the true ‘Darcy spirit’

54:00 what to look for in a compatible partner

55:00 Elizabeth & Darcy in a room alone together

56:00 the nineteenth century’s repressed reputation

59:00 Darcy’s role in seperating Jane and Bingley

1:01:00 Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth Bennet

1:03:00 complimented and insulted simultaneously

1:05:00 ‘I have never desired your good opinion’

1:06:00 the importance of pity in great literature

1:07:00 narrative, peripeteia & anagnorisis

1:09:00 Aristotelian pride vs pride as deadly sin

1:10:00 different trajectories of tragedy vs comedy

1:11:00 the idea of spoilers being a modern concern

1:12:00 recognition as most powerful part of the story

1:13:00 appreciating Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth

1:14:00 the popular trope of the rake’s reform

1:15:00 the truth of Wickham and Darcy’s history

1:16:00 why Darcy separated Bingley & Jane

1:17:00 Elizabeth struggling with cognitive dissonance

1:19:00 ‘blind, partial, prejudice, absurd…’

1:21:00 understanding ourselves from viewing others

1:22:00 the geopolitical situation in the Regency era

1:24:00 Lydia fantasises about the officers in Brighton

1:25:00 Elizabeth Bennet vs George Wickham

1:27:00 ‘to Pemberley therefore they were to go…’

1:29:00 on our next book club discussions

1:33:00 what are you making of the novel thus far?

Recommended Resources:

Film Appreciation: You might find it to be a rewarding exercise to see how different film and television adaptations choose to portray key scenes in the novel. Here are the different ways Mr Darcy's proposal from volume two are presented: 1940 version, 1995 version, 2005 version. And, just for fun, you can see how 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' does it here. Which one is your favourite?

Discussion: As we spoke of Charlotte Brontë's view of Jane Austen during the lecture, you might like to check out this fantastic discussion that pits the two writers against each other. It is very often the case that readers will develop a strong preference for either Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters. In this video, John Mullan puts forward the case for Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice, whilst Kate Moss defends Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights. Which writers are you personally more drawn to?

Complementary Reading: In addition to the plays of Molière offering a great complement to Jane Austen, one would be very well served in thinking about the Shakespearean influence upon her writing. As mentioned in the lecture, I think a viewing of 'Much Ado About Nothing' would prove to be tremendously rewarding. My recommended film adaptation is here, and we have a discussion on the play here. In addition to Shakespeare, you might like to soak up some romantic poetry too. You can find one of my personal favourite collections of English Romantic verse here. And if you're in the mood for some illuminating non-fiction, then Ian Watt's 'The Rise of the Novel' offers fascinating cultural contextualisation.

Special Author: It's been wonderful to see that, along with the lifelong lovers of Jane Austen, there are many readers who have found themselves falling in love with her writing for the first time. Whenever you find a writer that speaks to you, it's worth considering embarking upon a longterm special author reading project. If you're interested in my advice on how to do this, we have a discussion on special authors here.

Becoming Jane: If you find biopics on the lives of these great writers (e.g. 'Shakespeare in Love', 'Molière: A Life') to increase your appreciation of their work, then you may wish to treat yourself with a screening of the 2007 film 'Becoming Jane'. Anne Hathaway stars as a young Jane Austen in love with Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy. As usual with these films, there is a lot of poetic licence taken but they are still great fun nonetheless. If you fancy a dramatised documentary instead, then I can recommend 'The Real Jane Austen'.

Reading Assignment:

Our next discussion will cover the third volume of the novel, which runs to chapter sixty-one and takes us up to page 367 in the Penguin paperback edition, and will take us to the end of the story.

Questions for You:

1) What can we learn about romantic relationships from Austen?

2) What elements need to be there for a great love story?

3) Have your first impressions ever been wrong? What changed your mind?

4) What resulted in the greatest changes in your character? And what about you always remains the same?

If this is your first reading of Pride and Prejudice, I would love to know how the story is meeting your expectations. 

If this is a reread for you, what is it like returning to the story? And please do share with us your favourite passages, scenes, ideas, and characters from the second part of the novel.

Happy reading, everybody!