Key Facts

full title  ·  Pride and Prejudice

author  · Jane Austen

type of work  · Novel

genre  · Comedy of manners

language  · English

time and place written  · England, between 1796 and 1813

date of first publication  · 1813

publisher  · Thomas Egerton of London

narrator  · Third-person omniscient

climax · Mr. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth

protagonist · Elizabeth Bennet

antagonist · Snobbish class-consciousness (epitomized by Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Miss Bingley)

setting (time) · Some point during the Napoleonic Wars (1797–1815)

setting (place) · Longbourn, in rural England

point of view · The novel is primarily told from Elizabeth Bennet’s point of view.

falling action  · The two chapters of the novel after Darcy’s proposal

tense  · Past tense

tone  · Comic—or, in Jane Austen’s own words, “light and bright, and sparkling”

themes  · Love; Reputation; Class