Published in 1813 during the Regency period, the novel critiques the marriage market, entailment laws that excluded women from inheriting property, and the rigid class stratification of early 19th-century England. Austen uses free indirect discourse and irony to expose the gap between social performance and inner truth.

Key Themes

Pride & Prejudice (Self-Knowledge)Class & Social MobilityMarriage & EconomicsGender & Female AgencyAppearance vs RealityMoral GrowthFamily & Reputation

Characters

Elizabeth Bennet

Quick-witted protagonist; challenges class and gender conventions

Mr Darcy

Proud, wealthy gentleman who must overcome social prejudice

Jane Bennet

Elizabeth's kind eldest sister; represents conventional feminine virtue

Mr Bingley

Amiable, wealthy bachelor; contrasts Darcy's reserve

Mrs Bennet

Comic matriarch obsessed with marrying off her daughters

Mr Bennet

Sardonic, detached father; retreats into irony

Mr Collins

Obsequious clergyman; embodies transactional marriage

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Darcy's imperious aunt; enforces rigid class hierarchy

Wickham

Charming but deceitful; represents appearance vs reality

Lydia Bennet

Reckless youngest sister; brings family disgrace

Quotes

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possessio…”

FREE INDIRECT DISCOURSE / IRONIC NARRATORIAL VOICE

“Your pride... his pride... for you are really proud of your defects in…”

LEXICAL REPETITION / SEMANTIC REFRAMING

“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repr…”

SEMANTIC FIELD OF CONFLICT / MILITARY METAPHOR

“You are mistaken, Mr Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your decla…”

FORMAL REGISTER AS WEAPON

“Till this moment I never knew myself”

ANAGNORISIS / EPIPHANIC MONOSYLLABLES

“My good opinion once lost is lost for ever”

EPIGRAM WITH ABSOLUTIST DICTION

“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened …”

DECLARATIVE SELF-CHARACTERISATION

“You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. B…”

SEMANTIC FIELD OF EDUCATION

“She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me”

LITOTES / DAMNING UNDERSTATEMENT

“A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fi…”

ECONOMIC QUANTIFICATION

“If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield, a…”

EUPHEMISM & SEMANTIC EVASION

“You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerv…”

HYPERBOLE & SOMATISATION

“I am sure I cried for two days together when Colonel Miller's regiment…”

HYPERBOLE & ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh a…”

RHETORICAL QUESTION AS PHILOSOPHY

“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you mus…”

ANTITHETICAL PARALLELISM

“I am heartily ashamed of myself, Lizzy. But don't despair — it will pa…”

SELF-AWARE BATHOS

“Your mother will never be easy till she has exposed herself in every t…”

HYPERBOLE & CONTEMPT

“You ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian, but never to admit…”

OXYMORONIC MORAL LOGIC

“My reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it a right thing for …”

ENUMERATION / CATALOGUE STRUCTURE

“Your portion is unhappily so small that it will in all likelihood undo…”

BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT

“Lady Catherine de Bourgh... has condescended to advise me to marry as …”

DEFERENCE AS CHARACTER DEFINING

“I have been used to have my opinion consulted in all matters. I am not…”

IMPERATIVE ABSOLUTISM

“Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”

METAPHOR OF CONTAMINATION

“I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mot…”

ANAPHORA OF NEGATION

“She is a most charming young lady indeed. Lady Catherine herself says …”

UNRELIABLE TESTIMONY

“Mr Darcy can please where he chooses. He does not want abilities. He c…”

STRATEGIC CONCESSION

“A military life is not what I was intended for, but circumstances have…”

PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION AS SELF-EXCULPATION

“Till I can forget his father, I can never defy or expose him”

PERFORMATIVE CONTRADICTION

“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in pr…”

THE EXCUSE WITHIN THE ADMISSION