My Pride and Prejudice

Perhaps only the Bible and the Bill of Rights can rival Pride and Prejudice for the sheer variety of interpretations it has undergone. Its irony and ambiguity mean that even those who don’t fall instantly in love with the novel usually find something to admire. A few, however, were unconvinced. Here are the thoughts of a few such fools, I mean, people.

Early critical reception for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was good, but for Lady Jane Davy, writing in 1813, the book was found wanting. Written for mere amusement, in her view, the novel nevertheless largely failed to amuse:

‘Pride and Prejudice’ I do not like very much. Want of interest is the fault I can least excuse in works of mere amusement, and however natural the picture of vulgar minds and manners is there given, it is unrelieved by the agreeable contrast of more dignified and refined characters occasionally captivating attention.

Charlotte Bronte was another fierce critic, annoyed at the lack of wilderness, open air and the elements contained in the novel. A kind of mirror image of Mr Collins, with his endless lectures on the smallest details of Lady Catherine’s estate, it seems that Ms Bronte wanted more on the weather, the trees, the hills and the streams.

Why do you like Miss Austen so much? I am puzzled on that point… I got the book and studied it. And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden with neat borders and delicate flowers – but no glance of a bright, vivid physiognomy – no open country – no fresh air – no blue hill – no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses.

Charlotte Bronte’s review was positively glowing next to Mark Twain’s, who’s contempt for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice took his imagination to quite extraordinary places:

I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin bone!

Later, Winston Churchill critiicized the book from a different angle. Its world was too small and isolated, and its characters insular to the point of self-obsession:

What calm lives they had, those people! No worries about the French Revolution or the crashing struggle of the Napoleonic Wars. Only manners controlling natural passion as far as they could, together with cultural explanations of any mischances.

So there we have it. If Pride and Prejudice had more refined characters, less refined wilderness, more on the Napoleonic Wars and generally less to encourage Mark Twain to pick up his spade, then everyone would be happy!

Jane Davy, Charlotte Bronte and Mark Twain are quoted in Robert Morrison’s Pride and Prejudice; A Sourcebook (2005) available from Amazon.

Here is our second feature on the endings of Pride and Prejudice dramatizations. For the 1980 adaptation click here and for the 2005 movie here

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This time we have a transcript of the final scenes from the BBC 1995 adaptation, which goes a little further than the 1980 adaptation by showing the actual marriages of the Bingleys and Darcys, and ends with a famous freeze frame of Mr and Mrs Darcy in mid-kiss.

Unlike the 1980 series, however, it does include the wonderful scene in which Elizabeth declares her love of Mr Darcy to her father, at which point he heartily gives his consent.

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Elizabeth and Darcy are walking together. Bingley and Jane are some way ahead.

DARCY:
I have been a selfish being all my life. As a child I was given good principles but I was left to follow them in pride and conceit. And such I might still have been but for you, dearest loveliest Elizabeth.

Jane and Elizabeth are before their mirrors.

JANE:
Engaged? To Mr Darcy? No. You are joking! It is impossible.

ELIZABETH:
This is a wretched beginning. If you don’t believe me I’m sure no-one else will. Indeed, I am in earnest. He still loves me, and we are engaged.

JANE:
No, Lizzy, it can’t be true. I know how much you dislike him.

ELIZABETH:
(Laughs) No, no. It is all forgotten. Perhaps I did not always love him as well as I do know, but in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.

JANE:
Dearest Lizzy. Do be serious. How long have you loved him?

ELIZABETH:
It’s been coming on so gradually, I hardly know. But I believe I must first date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley!

They laugh.

JANE:
Lizzy!

Mr Bennet gets out of his chair.

MR BENNET:
Are you out of your senses to be accepting this man, Lizzy? Have you not always hated him?

ELIZABETH:
Papa…

MR BENNET:
I’ve given him my consent. He’s the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare to refuse anything. But let me advise you to think the better of it. I know your disposition, Lizzy. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. He’s rich, to be sure, but will he make you happy?

ELIZABETH:
Have you any objections apart from your belief in my indifference?

MR BENNET:
None whatever. We all know him to be proud, unpleasant sort of man, but this would be nothing if you really liked him.

ELIZABETH:
I do. I do like him. I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He’s perfectly amiable. If you only knew his generous nature… I didn’t always love him, but I love him now so very dearly. He is truly the best man I have ever known.

MR BENNET:
Well, my dear. If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you to anyone less worthy, Lizzy.

Mr Bingley and Miss Bennet, and Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth are being married. There is much grinning…

MINISTER:
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman, and this man and this woman, in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate, instituted by God in the time of man’s innocence, signifying unto us the mystical union that is between Christ and his church and therefore is not by any to be enterprised lightly or wantonly to satisfy man’s carnal lusts and appetites, but reverently, discreetly, risedly, soberly and in the fear of God, duly considering the causes for which matrimony was ordained.

MINISTER (VOICE-OVER):
Firstly, it was ordained for the procreation of children.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is at home, looking rather grumpy next to her daughter, Anne, who is coughing into her tissue.

MINISTER (VOICE-OVER):
Secondly, as a remedy against sin and to avoid fornication.

Mr Wickham is sitting on a bed drinking wine, as Lydia strokes him with her foot.

MINISTER:
Thirdly, for the mutual society, help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity, into which holy estate these persons now here present come now to be joined.

Amidst great celebrations the married couples walk to their carriages. The Bingleys are seated first. The carriages leave together. Mr and Mrs Bennet are waving.

MRS BENNET:
Three daughters married. Oh, Mr Bennet! God has been very good to us.

MR BENNET:
Yes, so it would seem.

In their carriage, Mr and Mrs Darcy kiss.

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So this is where the curtain falls on the BBC 1995 Pride and Prejudice adaptation. The marriage is of course mentioned by Jane Austen, and both marriages do take place together, but the scene has been fleshed out considerably from the novels’ very brief description. I think it’s lovely to see Darcy’s face break into an uncontrollable beam at the end, and the marriage seems a natural finishing point, but what do you think of this ending, compared to both the book and the other adaptations?

Darcy

Mary Bennet has neither taste nor talent, and also has the unhappy distinction of being the only plain one of the Bennet family. She is well-read and works harder than her siblings for her accomplishments. Nevertheless, she lacks Lizzy’s charm at the piano and cannot match Elizabeth’s wit in conversation. Her performance at the piano is described as contrived and artificial, although in this scene in the 1980 adaptation it is wholly off-key and (I hope!) deliberately awful. Her father, also preferring the seclusion of reading and reflection, nevertheless finds his third eldest daughter absurd. It’s not easy being Mary.

To me, there is a certain meanness in the writing of Mary’s character. Jane Austen writes very unsympathetically about her in the novel, but we have little control over our physical appearance, none over our natural musical ability, and only a limited amount over our way with words. Mary struggles to better herself in a commendable way; she doesn’t give up because of her lack of natural advantages, but rather doubles her efforts. Her comments are longwinded, and largely lacking in substance, but this hardly a capital offence. Her pomposity, for example when she is at the ball having to sit by herself as nobody has asked her to dance, can surely be forgiven. It is probably better to pretend that you do not wish to dance than suffer the humiliation of sitting longingly alone all evening.

Mary probably disappointed her parents from birth. A third daughter would have represented the dwindling chance of producing a male heir to inherit Longbourn. Again, since Mary had no choice over her gender, one would expect this to be a cause of sympathy rather than mocking. Nevertheless, along with the more deserving Lady Catherine and Mr Collins, Mary is generally used as a target of Jane Austen’s humor.

While we all probably join Amanda Price in pining for the more civilized society and manners that her novels represent, in most ways I think we’re becoming gentler and more forgiving since Pride and Prejudice was written. Lucy Briers’ 1995 Mary is pretty close to Jane Austen’s vision, but in other cases she has been softened greatly for modern audiences. In the 1980 adaptation she is completely adorable. Tessa Peake-Jones’s Mary seems younger than Kitty and Lydia, is not at all ‘plain,’ and performs with such sweetness that all her pomposity can be put down to childish insecurity. The 1940 Pride and Prejudice, that seeks to make everyone likeable (even Lady Catherine de Bourgh), as nerdy and bespectacled, but sprightly and cute.

Likewise, in Lost in Austen, Ruby Bentall’s Mary is just about the cutest thing to appear on screen since Tiny Tim in the Muppet’s version of A Christmas Carol. She even gets excited about balls and joins in with her sisters’ silliness at every opportunity. In the 2005 movie, it’s hard to say much because Talulah Riley doesn’t get a lot to do, but in all the adaptations (save possibly for the 1995 version) Mary is a quirky, but likable young lady.

It seems that we’re not so comfortable with treating a character that hasn’t really done anything wrong so dismissively. We want to make her likeable, lovable even, while Jane Austen showed no particular need to do this herself. In our society we’re still incredibly judgmental and unpleasant of course, but I’d like to think that we’re less willing to aim our laughter so unambiguously at the misfortunes of others.

Your nerd in solidarity,

Lizzy

This is a review of the 2005 movie soundtrack. For the BBC version, click here.

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Dario Marianelli’s Oscar nominated score for the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie contributed so much to its sensuality and sweeping grandeur. While Carl Davis’ music for the BBC adaptation was all about keeping things small scale and relatively simple appropriate for the series’ style, Marianelli followed the movie’s more ambitious lead. The soundtrack is therefore not so much for dinner party background music, but more for telling your guests to shut-up while you turn your stereo to maximum volume and insist that everyone wait in silence for the best bits.

The piano, played on the soundtrack by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, is ‘the heart of the score,’ as Marianelli puts it, but unlike the 1995 soundtrack this one was produced with a full orchestra, which fits perfectly with the film’s contrasting style. By using the English Chamber Orchestra for the more epic pieces and writing songs that enhance the earthy, free-spirited scenes, Marianelli’s soundtrack is just perfect for this romantic and rustic adaptation.

Not all the songs have this kind of epic quality,  but it’s the range in styles that really grips when listening to the soundtrack. ‘Meryton Townhall’ for example, used for the first ball scene is a lively little tune that invokes the homely small-town feel of the gathering. ‘Darcy’s Letter,’ used for the famous ‘rain scene’ is wildly absorbing, while ‘The Living Sculptures of Pemberly (sic)’ is a cooler, more ponderous affair. ‘Liz on top of the world’ lifts the spirits and perfectly conjours a sunny but wind swept day in the wild Peaks.  ’Your hands are cold’ is the song that unites Lizzy and Darcy at the end of the movie and is a perfect blend of all the refrains from the soundtrack.

Marianelli is a seasoned composer for Hollywood, having composed over 20 soundtrack scores before Pride and Prejudice. Since 2005, however, he has been involved in larger movies like The Brothers Grimm, V for Vendetta and most notably Atonement, for which he won an Oscar for Best Original Score. He was nominated for the same category for Pride and Prejudice, and did win a European Film Award for Best Composer and a World Soundtrack Award for the 2005 movie.

In the sleeve notes, Joe Wright and producer Paul Webster explain that Marianelli was approached to write the score long before filming started, whereas the norm is for composers to have just a few weeks’ notice. Perhaps this explains why the CD has the feel of a complete album, written for its own sake, rather than as part of a Hollywood movie. Listening to this soundtrack is an adventure and a real emotional and immersive experience – perfect for any romantic fantasy…

1. Dawn (2.43)
2. Stars and Butterflies (2.07)
3. The Living Sculptures of Pemberly (sic) (3.10)
4. Meryton Townhall (1.19)
5. The Militia Marches In (1.00)
6. Georgiana (1.42)
7. Arrival at Netherfield (1.44)
8. Postcard to Henry Purcell (2.45)
9. Liz on Top of the World (1.30)
10. Leaving Netherfield (1.49)
11. Another Dance (1.21)
12. The Secret Life of Daydreams (2.09)
13. Darcy’s Letter (4.05)
14. Can’t Slow Down (1.15)
15. Your Hands are Cold (5.28)
16. Mrs Darcy (3.50)
17. Credits (4.54)

Your uplifted and rather emotional friend,

Lizzy

Here are My Pride and Prejudice’s all time top 10 pictures of the vexing but also adorable Mr Bennet. In no particular order and from all the major screen and TV adaptations we have Donald Sutherland (2005), Benjamin Whitrow (1995), Moray Watson (1980), Edmund Gwenn (1940) and Hugh Bonneville (lost in Austen).

Elizabeth’s independent spirit was out of step with the advice given to ladies in Fordyce’s very popular Sermons to Young Women and Rousseau’s Emile, both of which we’ve quoted at length on this site. Both of these texts were enormously influential, and in Jane Austen’s day there was of course extreme social pressure on young ladies to behave according to their ludicrous ideas.

However, there were also contrary voices at the time that educated ladies of the era could have accessed. Most famously, Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 book ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ even dared to describe women as ‘rational creatures.’  Here are a few extracts from her seminal work.

First, from the introduction, this is Wollstonecraft’s take on the dominant ideas of femininity in her day, that led to many women behaving like children:

Women are, in fact, so much degraded by mistaken notions of female excellence, that I do not mean to add a paradox when I assert, that this artificial weakness produces a propensity to tyrannize, and gives birth to cunning, the natural opponent of strength, which leads them to play off those contemptible infantile airs that undermine esteem even whilst they excite desire. Do not foster these prejudices, and they will naturally fall into their subordinate, yet respectable station in life.

It seems scarcely necessary to say, that I now speak of the sex in general. Many individuals have more sense than their male relatives; and, as nothing preponderates where there is a constant struggle for an equilibrium, without it has naturally more gravity, some women govern their husbands without degrading themselves, because intellect will always govern.

She goes on to tackle the argument of Rousseau and Fordyce that men and women, led by their respective natures, should aspire to very different characters:

To account for, and excuse the tyranny of man, many ingenious arguments have been brought forward to prove, that the two sexes, in the acquirement of virtue, ought to aim at attaining a very different character: or, to speak explicitly, women are not allowed to have sufficient strength of mind to acquire what really deserves the name of virtue. Yet it should seem, allowing them to have souls, that there is but one way appointed by providence to lead MANKIND to either virtue or happiness.

If then women are not a swarm of ephemeron triflers, why should they be kept in ignorance under the specious name of innocence? Men complain, and with reason, of the follies and caprices of our sex, when they do not keenly satirize our headstrong passions and groveling vices. Behold, I should answer, the natural effect of ignorance! The mind will ever be unstable that has only prejudices to rest on, and the current will run with destructive fury when there are no barriers to break its force. Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, OUTWARD obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be beautiful, every thing else is needless, for at least twenty years of their lives.

While more traditional, patriarchal ideas would surely have dominated, there were at least sections of the population that were challenging the idea that ladies should be witless, servile and above all, ‘soft’ in their dealings with men. Who knows whether Elizabeth would have agreed with Mary Wollstonecraft – although she certainly wouldn’t have gotten much from Fordyce’s Sermons!

Darcy