Plot Summary
The Bennet family — five daughters, a sardonic father, and a nervous mother — lives in rural Hertfordshire. Mrs. Bennet's primary concern is marrying her daughters well, since the family estate is entailed to a male cousin (Mr. Collins) and the girls will be left with almost nothing when Mr. Bennet dies.
When the wealthy Mr. Bingley arrives in the neighborhood, he and the eldest daughter Jane fall quickly in love. His friend Mr. Darcy, however, makes a terrible first impression — he refuses to dance with Elizabeth at a ball and calls her merely "tolerable." Elizabeth decides she hates him.
Her dislike deepens when she meets Wickham, a charming officer who claims Darcy cheated him out of an inheritance. Elizabeth believes every word. Meanwhile, Darcy finds himself attracted to Elizabeth despite his contempt for her family's low social standing.
Darcy proposes to Elizabeth — insulting her family in the process. She refuses him furiously, accusing him of ruining Wickham's prospects and separating Jane from Bingley. Darcy writes her a letter that dismantles every accusation: Wickham is a liar who tried to elope with Darcy's fifteen-year-old sister for her fortune; Darcy separated Jane and Bingley because he genuinely believed Jane didn't love Bingley.
Elizabeth reads the letter and realizes she was wrong about everything. The second half of the novel traces their gradual rapprochement — accelerated when Darcy quietly rescues the Bennet family from scandal after the youngest daughter Lydia elopes with Wickham. Darcy and Elizabeth marry, having each overcome the flaw named in the title: his pride, her prejudice.
Key Themes
- First impressions: The novel's original title — both Elizabeth and Darcy misjudge each other based on incomplete evidence
- Pride and prejudice: Darcy's class pride and Elizabeth's prejudice against him are mirror images of the same error
- Marriage and economics: For women in Austen's world, marriage is an economic institution first and a romantic one second
- Irony: Austen's narrator constantly exposes the gap between what characters say and what they mean
- Self-knowledge: Both protagonists must recognize their own faults before they can see each other clearly
Key Characters
- Elizabeth Bennet: Witty, independent, quick to judge — and wrong about the most important judgment she makes
- Mr. Darcy: Proud, reserved, genuinely good — but incapable of expressing it until Elizabeth forces him to change
- Jane Bennet: Elizabeth's older sister, sweet and trusting, whose happiness depends on Bingley
- Mr. Bingley: Darcy's amiable friend, who loves Jane but is easily influenced
- Mr. Wickham: Charming and dishonest — the novel's lesson in how appearances deceive
- Mr. Collins: The pompous cousin who will inherit the Bennet estate — Austen's finest comic creation
- Mrs. Bennet: The girls' mother, whose social anxiety is both ridiculous and justified