“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen was first published in 1813 but remains one of the most popular novels in the English language over two centuries later. Many still claim it as their favorite book, or even the best book of all time. But what’s all this fuss about a novel that is, at best, a bit difficult for most modern readers to understand? What makes it remain so intriguing and unique after so long?
The novel is generally categorized as a romance. Its plot follows the Bennets, an upper class English family of five daughters, as the young sisters navigate through life in an era when marrying well was everything for a woman. Millbrook English teacher Lauren Genesky said she first read the book in high school, after she had watched one of the many adaptations. “I liked it because it’s been adapted a couple of different times into film versions…just to see how directors adapted that, that was neat for me,” she said.
The focus of the book is one that would draw many in- an enemies to lovers story of two characters who live picturesque, opulent lives in Regency Era England’s countryside and cities. “It’s a romance, and people love romance—that’s universal and timeless,” Genesky pointed out. This appears to be true; the book’s first edition sold out within the first year according to Britannica. But the way in which the book was written can prove challenging for some, even once the promising romance may have drawn them in. In the modern day, many report focusing on any book is hard, let alone one written in an extremely archaic language. Genesky said, “It could be difficult…when you are not reading that type of language as frequently. I think maybe the sentence structure or the story structure could sometimes be difficult to keep track of if you’re getting caught up in the language.”
Most books written over 100 to 200 years ago would not be considered worth a read with the wide variety of exciting and informative material that has been written in the past half-century or so. But “Pride and Prejudice” is. In fact, it’s often one of the first books that pops into your head when asked for the best literary works of all time, even if you haven’t read it! The novel itself has been adapted and inspired quite a few successful films and TV shows. Among the most well known is Joe Wright’s “Pride and Prejudice” (2005) with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth and Matthew MacFayden as Mr. Darcy. Additionally, the famed movie “Clueless” (1995) is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”. The movie is still extremely popular to this day after originally grossing over $58 million in the box office upon its release three decades ago.
So is it worth a read? Well, if you are not used to that type of early 19th-century English, you may want to look into what’s ahead of you or watch an adaptation before reading. But other than that, absolutely! If you can get past the language, and perhaps foreign ways of the long-ago Britons, the story can be a wonderful experience written with a strikingly similar plot to many modern romance novels. For most, the novel offers a much more detailed perspective into what is now very far in the past than they have ever experienced. Although they spoke the same language as us, the customs and norms of Regency-era Britain are vastly different from ours today.
It seems that “Pride and Prejudice’s” pioneering action of turning one of the most timeless themes into a charming and engaging printed masterpiece complete with relatable characters has prevailed. “It’s a universal experience,” said Genesky of the book.The fact is: the story has fostered an enduring popularity and notoriety even after the diction became so outdated.
