Pride and Prejudice

Back in 1996, my mom recorded Pride and Prejudice when it was shown on the A&E channel, and she very kindly sent it to me to watch. I enjoyed the movie so much that I immediately checked the book out from the library and read it, and I enjoyed that so much that I bought a nice hardback copy of it and I've read it once every year since then - except maybe for 2002. That was the year I discovered internet forums and I don't remember if I read any real books at all that year! :-p

Reading it again this year for probably the eighth time, I noticed something new. Except for Mr. Darcy and possibly Catherine Bennet, none of the characters change as a result of anything that happens. Elizabeth does change her opinions of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, but she remains essentially the same: lighthearted and teasing. Mrs. Bennet never stops fretting about her nerves and Mr. Bennet never grows beyond his cheerful indolence; Lydia and Mr. Wickham continue their profligate lifestyles; Mary serenely moralizes and makes extracts.

In his book Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen, Peter Leithart points out that Miss Austen never describes any object or includes any action unless it relates directly to the story, so I would assume that this rigidity of the characters was intentional. Also, on several occasions she flatly states that Mr. Collins, for instance, has not changed at all since his marriage, or that even the marriages of three of her daughters in one year is not enough to make Mrs. Bennet a "sensible, amiable, and well-informed woman."

There must be some reason for this, but I haven't discovered it yet. Hopefully I still have many years ahead of me to read it again and again!