The story begins with the Bennet family in their estate, Longbourn in Hertfordshire, a rural district about thirty miles from London. Mrs. Bennet tells her husband about Mr. Bingley who is moving into their neighborhood. She hopes he will end up marrying one of her daughters because her main “goal” in life is to see her daughters married. Mr. Bingley is a rich and handsome man with little self-esteem. He also falls in love with Jane, the oldest of the Bennet sisters. Bingley’s friend, Darcy doesn’t like them together because he doesn’t think too highly of Jane.
Darcy is the main male character in the story. He is also rich and handsome but very cocky. He plans with the Bingley’s sisters to break up Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet. Meanwhile, Darcy has a “crush” on Jane’s sister Elizabeth. She is the main female character, the second on the Bennet sisters and despises Darcy at first, but later falls for him. Elizabeth doesn’t like Darcy because she hears bad thing about him and how he is rude to everyone. George Wickham told her Darcy cheated him out of his inheritance. She believes him because she holds so much hate for Darcy.
Later she learns that George lied to her. But before she found out, they almost fall in love. Mr. Bennet has no son, so his estate will be given to his closest male relative. The closest relative is his cousin, Mr. Collins. He is an arrogant clergyman. He asks Elizabeth to marry him but she refuses. He ends up marrying Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte Lucas. She married him not for love, but so she will have a safe and secure life. Elizabeth goes and sees Charlotte at Hunsford and Darcy comes to see is aunt, who also lives there.
His aunt’s name is Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She is a rich, busy noblewoman. Elizabeth and Darcy run into each other. Darcy asks Elizabeth to marry him but she says no because she still doesn’t like him. She said she was upset because he messed up Jane and Bingley’s love affair and also cheated Wickham. He admits to messing with Jane and Bingley, but tells her that Wickham is a jerk. She ends the conversation by saying that she would not marry him even if he were the last man on the earth.
The next morning he meets Elizabeth when she goes out for a walk and hands her a long letter that answers all her accusations. Elizabeth now believes him, but is still in shock. She then goes on a trip with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. They go to Darcy’s mansion in Derbyshire and she meets his housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds. She tells her what a nice guy Darcy truly is. Everyone then finds out the news that Wickham ran away with Lydia Bennet, a 16 year old.
Elizabeth feels stupid for trusting Wickham instead of Darcy. Darcy tracked down the couple in London. He convinces Wickham to marry Lydia and gives him ten thousand pounds. Elizabeth finds out and is impressed. Darcy came to visit her and asks to marry her again, but this time she accepts. The two couples, Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy, are married on the same morning. Mrs. Bennet is happy to see two of her daughters married and to such wealthy men. When I first started reading this novel, I really didn’t like it, it made no sense to me. It was very confusing to read.
But the more I read the more I liked it. My favorite character was Elizabeth because I was able to relate to her. I completely understood why she hated Darcy so much at the begininng and how she must have felt like a moron when she found out he wasn’t so bad. This novel was one I really got into reading, I was basically sitting there hoping Elizabeth would stop being so stubborn and just accept his proposal. In conclusion, this book, to me was worth taking the time to read. Even though it was written so long ago, people can still relate.
