pride and prejudice

WORKSHEET OF LITERATURE Alessia Gasparin

TITLE OF WORK

Pride and prejudice Oxford bookworms 6

AUTHOR

Name: Jane Austen

LITERARY GENRE

(Fiction, poetry, Drama)

Fiction. It’s an epistolary novel; infact, through letters exchanged between different characters, the reader can understand the psychology of the characters and their points of view.

STORY OR SITUATION

The story is set in Longbourn, a village near Meryton, where the Bennet family lives. Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters: Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia, Mary and Kitty.

When an unmarried man in possession of a large fortune rent a very big house, Netherfield Park, Mrs Bennet wants him to marry one of her daughters. Infact, one day, during a public dance, Mr Bingley, the rich man, meets Jane and falls in love with her. But, unfortunately, when a good friend of him, Mr Darcy, realizes how serious his attachment is, he persuades him not to marry her and when he shows his personal feelings to Elizabeth, she rejects him, accusing him of the separation of her sister with Mr Bingley.

Mr Darcy replies with a letter, where he describes his relationship with a young officer, Mr Wickham, that accuses him to have treated him very badly and the reasons about his behaviour against the wedding of her sister with Mr Bingley. In the meantime Lydia runs away to Scotland with Wickham and Mr Darcy discovers them and persuades Wickham to marry Lydia as soon as possible. So, Elizabeth changes her mind about him and at the end of the story the two eldest sisters marry their lovers.

SETTING

TIME: XVIII century;

PLACE: it’s set in Longbourn, England.

ATMOSPHERE: funny, entertaining.

CHARACTERS

Description: ELIZABETH: has a strong spirit of indipendence; she refuses to take on the roles which her family attemps to impose on her. She accuses Mr Darcy of pride, while he accused her of prejudice.

MR DARCY: is unsociable, he seems rude and proud. He’s selfish and domineering.

MR BINGLEY: is quite young, very handsome and estremely charming. He loves dancing. He was good-looking and gentlemanlike.

ELIZABETH’S YOUNG SISTERS: they behave in a vulgar way.

MR COLLINS: Elizabeth’s cousin. He was a tall, heavy-looking young man of twenty-five. His expression was serious and his manners very formal.

LADY CATHERINE: Mr Darcy’s aunt. She is a person of high birth and she treated with disdain Elizabeth. Some people consider her proud.

JANE: is very nice and politte. In the story she’s not happy, because of her continuous warm affection for Bingley. She is sweet.

THEMES

Main ones: the theme that the author tries to convey is about marriage, presented from several points of view. Infact the individual values are usually in conflict with the social code that encourages weddings for money and social standing.

NARRATOR

The narrator is omniscient and he’s untrusive. There’s also the first person of the letters.

POINT OF VIEW

The angle from which the scene is described has irony. The actions are usually presented from the point of view of Elizabeth, closed to her mind and consciousness.

STYLE

Attitude: the characters don’t know that things are not the way they seem, while the reader does.

Language: it appears very simple to read.

Technical devices: there are a lot of passages of dialogue, often directly.

PERSONAL OPINION AND REACTION

I like this author, exspecially this novel, because the author uses a simple language and it’s interesting, because it keeps my attention with funny letters.

POINTS YOU HAVE SELECTED FROM THE TEXT

“Don’t think me as an elegant female, but as a thinking creature speaking the truth from the heart”.

WORKSHEET OF LITERATURE Maura Pitton

TITLE Edition	Pride and prejudice; Oxford bookworms 6.
AUTHOR	Name: Jane Austen.
LITERARY GENRE (Fiction, poetry, Drama)	It’s fiction (epistolary novel). The author alternates letters, dialogue and reflections.
STORY OR SITUATION	At Longbourn, a little town in Hertfordshire, Mr Bennet and Mrs Bennet live with their five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia and Kitty. One day a young rich man rents Netherfield Park in Longbourn.Mrs Bennet wants to marry one of her daughters to him because he is single and it would be a good marriage. They take part to a series of balls and Mr Bingley, the rich man, falls in love with Jane, the oldest of the Bennets’girls.She falls in love, too. Besides Mr Darcy has the opportunity to observe the second daughter, Elizabeth who finds him a proud man. While he feels attracted to her, she hates his rude behaviour. Mr Bingley decides to return to London and nobody understands this choice. Elizabeth considers Mr Darcy responsible for the separation between Bingley and Jane because of her prejudice. He declares his love to her but she refuses inpolitely accusing him to have been wicked in the past with a friend of hers, Wickam. He explains with a letter his position and Elizabeth realizes that she had a wrong opinion about him. Wickam and her sister Lydia escape together and it is immediately scandal but Darcy finds them and provides for their marriage.Little by little Elisabeth discovers she has fallen in love with Darcy and she accepts his new proposal.Meanwhile Mr Bingley returns to Longbourn and he is engaged to Jane.There is only an obstacle still: the proud Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt,who wants to marry her daughter to him.But this problem is overcome, too and the two couples can finally get married.
SETTING	TIME:At the beginning of 19^th century. PLACE:it is set at Longbourn, in Hertfordshire in England. ATMOSPHERE:it is developped in a middle-class context.The atmosphere is funny.
CHARACTERS	Description:MrBingley: a single man with a large possession moved in Longbourn. He is young, handsome, charming and with good manners. Mr Darcy: the best friend of Mr Bingley, he seems proud and rude. He is wealthy, too. Jane Bennet: she is one of the five daughters of Mrs Bennet. She is the oldest, most sensitive and most beautiful. Elizabeth Bennet. She is the heroine of the novel. She is more intelligent than the other daughters. Mrs Bennet: a pretty but foolish mother who has the purpose to marry her daughters. Mr Bennet: an intelligent man who cannot stand his wife. Wickham: he is a wicked man who seems very polite. Mrs Catherine De Bourgh: a very proud woman, she is the aristocratic and arrogant aunt of Darcy.
THEMES	Main ones: the main themes are the prejudice of Elizabeth against Mr Darcy and the pride of high-classes.Then other values are love, marriage and status.
NARRATOR	An external narrator. The author employs the third person and sometimes the mind and counsciousness of one character narrate the events.
POINT OF VIEW	It is the point of view of the author, who is omniscent.
STYLE	Attitude: the characters employ an attitude of good manners. Language: The language is of the middle-classes of 19^th century. It is a formal language of respect.
PERSONAL OPINION AND REACTION )	I loved this book this book. It has given the pleasure of reading to me. I loved the irony of the replays in the dialogues. It is an intersting comedy because you discover little by little new aspects of the characters. Infact the heroine is victim of her first impression and little by little she has to change her opinion about another character. She realizes of having had a big prejudice. I liked the novel, too because it is a nice love-story.

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