Unit 1 Concepts

The romantics valued originality and creativity. For this reason, romantic literature is much more varied than the literature of previous movements. Despite that variety, some general characteristics are common to much of romantic poetry as well as prose:

• emphasis on originality, individuality, and creativity 

• experimentation with form and content

• emphasis on feelings, thoughts, intuition, and imagination

• emphasis on mysticism and the supernatural, with nature as a tool for introspection

• belief in the natural goodness of people and that their highest aspirations are positive in nature rather than self-serving

• elements of nationalism (adoration of one's country or culture)

The romantic poets moved away from the highbrow language of earlier writers, preferring to use the "real language of men." For example, in his poem "Daffodils," Wordsworth uses simple words to describe his joy when remembering a field of daffodils he saw one morning:

When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The memory of seeing the daffodils continues to give him solace, even though the moment has since passed. This depiction of deep emotions or impressions is the main element in all romantic poems. 

Because the Romantic movement in literature and writing was a blacklash response to the logical writing style of Enlightenment Era writing (also known as Neoclassical), there were authors and poets that combined both styles. 

To transition means to move from one state to another. Therefore, Transitional Poets are poets that use elements of both styles in their writing: Neoclassical and Romanticism. 

For characteristics of Romantic Literature, see above.

For a refresher on Neoclassical Literature, please see these notes from ENG 12A!

Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is considered his masterpiece. The poem, written in 1751, combines romantic and neoclassical elements. Written in iambic pentameter, it follows a traditional structure with a typical abab rhyme scheme. These structural elements create a predictable rhythm and pattern.

Though the structure of the poem is typical of neoclassical literature, its content is more romantic. The poem focuses on the emotions of the speaker, who is physically isolated from society. The speaker describes the natural scenery in the churchyard at the close of the day and finds comfort in his solitude. As an elegy, the poem is concerned with the themes of loss, death, and the passage of time.

Click here to read the poem!

For more information about rhyme schemes (rhyming patterns in poems), click here for notes from ENG 10A!

For more information about iambic pentameter, click here to see notes from ENG 12A!

For a refresher on Neoclassical Literature, please see these notes from ENG 12A!

Parallel structure uses the same form of words or phrases to indicate they have the same level of importance.

Examples of Parallel Structure

• Amy enjoys reading, knitting, and gardening.

• The rain fell loudly, swiftly, and heavily.

Therefore, parallel works (of writing) are two or more pieces of writing that emphasize ideas that the writer is saying have equal importance or should be considered together.

William Blake's Parallel Works - Example

The neoclassical interest in order and structure inspired Blake to create parallel works. He wrote pairs of poems on the same theme, one from the perspective of innocence and the other from that of experience. He then divided the poems into two separate collections, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Blake intended for each collection to stand alone; however, reading the poems together reveals the depth of Blake’s unique philosophy.

William Wordsworth was a well-known and respected romantic poet. He spent his early years in England's Lake District, a region known for its breathtaking landscapes. His picturesque childhood ended abruptly when he lost his mother at the age of eight and his father five years later. These circumstances separated Wordsworth from his beloved sister, who was a very important person in his life.

Wordsworth grew up to become part of the first generation of writers who completely broke from neoclassicism. He saw romanticism not just as a literary style but as a distinct philosophical approach to art and creation. He and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a friend and fellow poet, together wrote the preface to Lyrical Ballads as a basic guideline for aspiring romantics. His poems are highly representative of romantic style, structure, and subject matter. 

Written in 1807, "My Heart Leaps Up" is a short poem by William Wordsworth that contains several romantic sentiments. The most obvious romantic characteristic is the speaker’s relationship with nature:

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

A frame story is a literary technique in which an introductory narrative is presented for the purpose of setting the stage for a more emphasized second narrative or a set of shorter stories. Another way to think of a frame story is that it is a story within a story.   

Click here for a refresher on alliteration from ENG 11B!

Click here for a refresher on internal rhyme from ENG 11A!

Let's review the cultural history that the romantics replaced. The neoclassicists (people who wrote based on ideas from the Enlightenment Movement) of the seventeenth (1600s) and eighteenth centuries (1700s) believed in the power of reason and logic. Eighteenth-century philosophy and politics were dominated by a spirit of optimism and humanism based on ideals such as liberty and equality. These beliefs inspired political and social movements in Europe and its colonies. The American and French Revolutions altered the entire political structure of the two countries.

Around the same time, technological advances increased industrial production and changed the pattern of economic activity in Europe. However, the Industrial Revolution also led to new problems in Europe. The urban landscape changed most dramatically near centers of production, resulting in unhealthy living conditions in the cities. Many artisans lost their traditional jobs. As factory owners sought to maximize their profits, they ignored the working conditions in the factories, which were often appalling. These changes prompted thinkers and writers to view industrialization—and, by association, science—with suspicion.

By the early nineteenth century (1800s), the application of Enlightenment (the philosophy behind neoclassicist writing) ideals in real life seemed elusive once again, and the optimism of the eighteenth century gave way to a grim mood.

One of the factors in the change of thought was the result of the French Revolution. When the revolution started, it embodied Enlightenment ideals; however, it soon led to indiscriminate executions of former nobles and their associates, followed by the suppression of religion, and the eventual return to autocratic rule. This period, called the Reign of Terror, replaced the ideals of the Enlightenment with violence. While the French Revolution initially inspired writers such as the romantic poet Wordsworth, the Reign of Terror decreased this generation's faith in revolutions.

Breakdown: Enlightenment Movement = The thoughts, morals, and values people held during that time period (1600 thru 1700s). Neoclassicism/Neoclassicists = People who wrote things based on that philosophy during that time period.

Click here for a refresher on characteristics of the neoclassical movement and writing, from notes in ENG 12B!
(for more details, scroll up from the section in the link!)

George Gordon Byron was born into an aristocratic family in 1788 but grew up in poverty because of his father's waywardness. His father incurred large debts and abandoned Byron's mother. At the age of 10, Byron inherited a barony (a position distinguished by the title "Lord" and accompanied by the ownership of an estate) because of the death of a relative. The inheritance did not make Byron rich, but it allowed Byron's mother to send him to Harrow School, a distinguished public boarding school in London attended by sons of members of the nobility. Later, Byron joined Trinity College at Cambridge. Byron was born with a physical deformity of the feet, but he led a very active life.

Like other romantic writers, Byron was inspired by the French Revolution. In the decades following the revolution, common people in France enjoyed more freedom than they had in the past. The newfound freedom and the new political order led to a greater focus in literature on the lives of ordinary individuals. At Cambridge, Byron developed an interest in these characteristics of post-revolution France. 

Byron's revolutionary spirit was obvious in his lifestyle as well as his writing. He lived a life of intrigue and adventure, and his writing was considered controversial. Lady Caroline Lamb, one of his former love interests, described him as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” Many others agreed with her sentiments. 

Despite his controversial life and work, Lord Byron was an important contributor to literature of the romantic age. He openly rejected the works of previous romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge. Byron was furious with Wordsworth and his Lake Poets for denigrating Alexander Pope, a poet he admired and emulated. Unlike the other romantics, Byron used the argumentative tone of the Enlightenment poets in his own work. He also believed that Wordsworth and his group had betrayed the romantic ideals of the French Revolution.

Where Wordsworth strove to uphold social conventions, Byron did everything in his power to break them. Wordsworth’s poems were full of what Byron considered juvenile ideas. Byron, on the other hand, wrote satiric poetry on subjects such as the sexual escapades and the hypocrisy of the upper classes in long poems such as Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. In doing so, he carved out a unique place for himself among the romantics. Ironically, his independent tastes and rebellious spirit made him the personification of the romantic ideals the other romantics only wrote about.

Lord Byron wrote the poem “She Walks in Beauty” after meeting his cousin Lady Wilmot Horton for the first time. She was dressed in a black mourning gown and made a lasting impression on Byron.

In the poem, Byron describes the beauty of an unnamed woman. He describes the loveliness of her physical features, focusing on how they combine the beauty of light and dark. He describes the beauty of this woman as being made up of contrasting elements that are in perfect balance, much like the natural balance and contrast between night and day.

Click here to read the poem!

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born near Horsham in Sussex, England, to a wealthy family. As a youth, Shelley was fascinated with electricity, magnetism, chemistry, and telescopes. Shelley’s peers often made fun of him for his odd behavior, wealthy background, and curious interests.

Shelley was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. At Oxford, he was exposed to radical thinkers such as Thomas Paine and William Godwin, who inspired him with their radical views. Many of Shelley's beliefs and principles went against established social habits and conventions, but he clung to them despite opposition from the people around him. In fact, he was expelled from Oxford University for writing a pamphlet that advocated atheism. Shelley's stubbornness and controversial beliefs caused a permanent rift between him and his father.

Though already married, Shelley met and fell in love with Mary Godwin, who would one day write the iconic gothic novel Frankenstein, now considered the world’s first science fiction novel. Shelley and Godwin traveled through Europe together and often visited Lord Byron at Lake Geneva. This was a period of great literary productivity for both Shelley and Godwin. Eventually, the pair married and moved to Italy, where Shelley continued to produce many great works.

Shelley was a believer in the revolutionary ideas of the era, and his poetry reflects this spirit of progressivism. His radical outlook made him unpopular with the ruling class of Great Britain, however. He routinely wrote poems, essays, and stories urging support for political dissidents, atheism, and vegetarianism. Because he was so controversial, he never gained widespread appeal.

Shelley's life ended tragically in a boating accident while he was visiting Lord Byron. Though his success during his own lifetime was limited, Shelley's principles and poetic style made him an iconic figure to many thinkers and writers of the Victorian era to come.

A rhyme scheme refers to a poet’s intentional pattern of lines that rhyme.​

To determine the rhyme scheme of a poem, mark each line in a poem with letters. The lines that have the same rhyme get the same letter.​

Click here for a refresher on rhyme scheme from English 11B!

An ode is a classical poetic form that expresses respect for a person, place, thing, or concept. 

Odes were first composed by the Greek poet Pindar and the Latin poet Horace. Because they were originally written to be sung at festivals or in plays, odes have a distinct lyrical quality.  

Although Byron, Shelley, and Keats may be considered the most influential British Romantic poets, Romanticism also took root in Spanish-language poetry. In this activity, you’ll analyze the poem "To His Horse" by the Cuban poet José María Heredia. Heredia was one of the first Romantic poets of the Americas, ushering in an era of Latin American Romanticism. He spent part of his life in exile in the United States and Mexico, and his nostalgia for his homeland of Cuba are woven throughout his poems in dreamy depictions of nature. 

Click here to read the poem!

John Ruskin, a renowned Victorian art critic, listed these characteristics of Gothic art: 

• savageness

• love of change

• love of nature

• grotesqueness or disturbed imagination

• rigidity or obstinacy

• generosity

These qualities were common to the medieval abbeys and castles dotting the English countryside. The fact that they were in ruins and set in lonely, gloomy places only increased their attractiveness in the eyes of gothic novelists. It’s no surprise that many gothic novels were set in such locations.

Horace Walpole was born in London in 1717. When he was at school at Cambridge, he met Conyers Middleton, a man with unusual ideas about religion and a skeptical point of view. This meeting greatly influenced Walpole, and he remained a critic of superstition and blind faith for the rest of his life.

In 1765, Walpole published The Castle of Otranto, which he labeled as a manuscript translated “from the original Italian of Onuphirio Muralto.” The novel quickly became a success. In this story, Walpole detailed the strange tale of a family who lived under a curse.

The Castle of Otranto was the first novel to use many gothic conventions such as sinister medieval settings, haunted places, and gallant heroes. It influenced Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho and William Beckford’s Vathek.

William Beckford was born in 1760 in London. Because he inherited his father’s fortune at the age of 10, he was able to indulge in luxuries such as frequent pleasure trips. He used his wealth to build an art collection that included many antiques. He also built two Gothic-style mansions, Fonthill Abbey and Lansdown Tower (Beckford's Tower). In 1786 he wrote his gothic novel Vathek in French. 

Vathek details the evil deeds of a villainous central character, Vathek, and his wicked mother, Carathis. Vathek is the prince of Abassides. He is feared by all his subjects thanks to his unpredictable temper and cruel nature. The story sketches Vathek's vain, esoteric pursuits and his lust for a woman, which end with a shocking encounter with a diabolical power.

Vathek was heavily influenced by the orientalism (interest in the culture of the East) of the time. The translated Arabian Nights had become popular all over Europe, fueling a craze for stories set in Arabia and other Islamic lands.

The common gothic themes that Vathek explores are the dangers of unchecked ambition, pride, and desire for knowledge.

The common elements that characterized most gothic stories were often psychological in nature. Gothic themes were designed to arouse strong emotions in readers. The most important emotion, according to gothic writers, was fear, which they tried to portray in all its diverse forms.

Gothic writing was supposed to be a seamless combination of romance and horror. However, disagreements between the two main groups of gothic writers on what constituted a gothic story led to a distinction between terror and horror. 

Conservative authors such as Ann Radcliffe argued that gothic writing should inspire terror not horror. Terror is the uncertainty and anticipation you feel before drawing aside a curtain; horror is what you feel on seeing the monster on the other side. In her essay "On the Supernatural in Poetry," Radcliffe argued that gothic writing should avoid horror, which she considered crude and vulgar.

However, most gothic writers preferred to give free rein to their imaginations, liberally adding demons, witches, ghosts, and even the devil to their works, so they could excite and shock their readers. Later writers such as Matthew Gregory Lewis, William Beckford, and Mary Shelley continued to use both terror and horror to great effect.

Unlike writers from the Enlightenment who looked down on medieval architecture, gothic writers saw the light and dark of human nature in soaring church spires and the shadowy buttresses of castles.

Gothic architecture flourished between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries (900s-1200s). During that period, the Catholic Church and the feudal system were at the height of their power in England. Large and opulent cathedrals, abbeys, and castles were constructed all over the country. 

In the 1500s, King Henry VIII of England dissolved the Catholic monasteries and took over their property after breaking away from the Catholic Church. Many religious communities were forced to close down, causing abbeys and churches to fall into ruin all over England.

Most abbeys and monasteries were built in desolate and inaccessible places to give the monks and nuns privacy and solitude. Castles and forts were often built on mountaintops for protection, away from peasant settlements.

For gothic writers, these ancient buildings, which could still be seen all over the countryside, became the symbol of decline and ruin. They connected the isolation and degradation of these landscapes with corresponding states of human nature.

To them, Gothic architecture represented a forgotten and unknown, yet relevant world. Architectural ruins inspired gothic writers to explore themes of decay and fallen people and places in their writing.

Gothic writers placed great emphasis on the setting, which served the purpose of conjuring terror and dread and creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. Sinister castles, ruins, monasteries, cemeteries, labyrinths, and dungeons were common settings in gothic novels. Details of the setting—such as underground passageways, battlements and ramparts of castles, hidden panels and doors, trapdoors, winding stairs, and crypts—often played an important role in supporting plot details.

Very often a ruined castle or abbey acted not just as a passive setting where the main action took place, but as an active force in the story. The ruins created an eerie atmosphere and also directly influenced events in the plot. A dark and claustrophobic dungeon where the heroine was imprisoned became a representation of the tyrant who kept her there.

The characters in the gothic novel were just as colorful as the plot, but they followed common conventions. The main characters were the heroine, the hero, and the main villain.

• The heroines of the gothic novel were often innocent and curious but powerless. They had a tendency to faint, cry, or become hysterical. The heroine was usually terrorized by the tyrannical villain and rescued by the hero.

• The hero of the early gothic novels was usually noble, intelligent, humorous, and brave. His adventure involved rescuing the heroine and defeating the main villain. Later novels deviated from the stereotype, making the central character a villain or villain-hero.

• The villain-hero was often the main attraction in a gothic novel. Never bothered with morality or a troublesome conscience, he was free to indulge all of his vices. The villain or villain-hero was often a dark, brooding, and cunning personality with a mysterious past. He was often a tyrant who might be motivated by a desire for the heroine or her wealth.

When Mary Shelley visited Geneva in 1816 with her husband and son, the couple and their friends, the poet Lord Byron and the gothic writer John Polidori, engaged in a competition to write ghost stories. Mary Shelley came up with the plot for Frankenstein. It was based on a dream she had in which she saw a "pale student of unhallowed art" and his creation, a “hideous phantasm of a man.” Shelley wanted to explore the consequences of a human attempting to take the place of God by creating a humanlike creature. Frankenstein was intended to be a short story. However, she later expanded the story and published it anonymously in 1818.

Shelley wrote Frankenstein during a period of great upheaval in British history. The Industrial Revolution was quickly changing British society, and like many of her friends, she regarded it with suspicion.

The themes Shelley discusses in Frankenstein include the need for love and companionship, acceptance of responsibility, the nature versus nurture debate, the importance of language, and dangerous knowledge. She explores these themes using literary techniques such as the frame narrative and literary and biblical allusions.

Click here to read Vol. 1 from Frankenstein!
(Please note, Vol. 1 isn't the whole page! It's about 1/3 of the way down.)

For a refresher on allusion, click here to see notes from ENG 11A!

The main human character of the story, Victor Frankenstein, is intelligent and self-educated. Victor becomes obsessed with the idea of creating life. Shelley alludes to John Milton’s Paradise Lost at several points, comparing and contrasting Victor with God.

The action in Frankenstein centers on the creature or monster that Victor creates by piecing together body parts and animating them. For a while, the creature tries to hold onto his natural goodness and innocence; however, humans regard him with hate and violence. The creature begins to resent Frankenstein for abandoning him, and he vows to take revenge. The creature is similar to the character of Adam in Paradise Lost, who is created and rejected by God, though God himself gave him the traits that eventually led to his downfall.

Here are some of the other characters in the novel:

• Elizabeth Lavenza—an orphan, who is Victor’s cousin

• Henry Clerval—a scientist and Victor's childhood friend, who is a foil to Victor

• Caroline Beaufort—Victor’s mother

• Alphonse Frankenstein—Victor's father

• The De Lacey family—a family the monster spies on

The subtitle of the novel Frankenstein is The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus is a figure from Greek mythology. The Greek tragedian Aeschylus credits Prometheus with creating the first man and teaching him the skills of writing, agriculture, and science. Prometheus steals fire from the gods to save the human race. Zeus, the king of the gods, brutally punishes Prometheus for the theft.

In Frankenstein, Shelley draws parallels between Victor and Prometheus, but the two figures are also different. Unlike Prometheus, who cared for his creations and sacrificed himself for them, Victor abandons the creature soon after creating him.

By calling Victor a “modern Prometheus,” Shelley may have been suggesting that the industrial age was too weak and dishonorable to create a noble character like Prometheus.

For a refresher on allusion, click here to see notes from ENG 11A!

Having trouble understanding Frankstein Vol. 2? Here's a handy Youtube video that gives a good summary!

Frankenstein is a frame narrative with three different characters telling three different versions of a story: Frankenstein and the monster tell their stories to Walton, who shares them in the letters to his sister. With so many narrators, there is increased possibility of an unreliable narration. One or more of the narrators could be changing the story according to their own perspectives.

Shelley uses multiple perspectives to force her readers to rethink everything they’ve read. Shelley uses the narrative shift to drive home the point of the story—nothing is ever really as it seems. By the end of the novel, readers realize the importance of looking beyond appearances.

In Frankenstein Shelley makes several references to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Milton’s epic poem includes the story of Adam and Eve and the story of the angel Lucifer's rebellion against God. The most famous reference to Paradise Lost is the epigraph that appears at the beginning of the novel:

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me Man, did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?

Later in the story, Shelley shows the creature reading Paradise Lost. The monster constantly identifies with Adam. Just like the creature, Adam is made, has no real family or childhood, and is later cast out by his maker. But the creature also identifies strongly with Milton’s Lucifer (who becomes Satan after his rebellion).

Click here to read Vol. 3 of Frankenstein!

Jane Austen was born in 1775, and her literary career lasted from 1790 to 1817. She lived in a period that included dramatic historic events, such as the beginning of the American Revolution in 1776 and the start of the French Revolution in 1789. Between 1793 and 1815, England fought against France in a series of wars known as the Napoleonic Wars, which called young men from all parts of England to join the army and fight.

Despite writing in such momentous times, Austen does not refer directly to major historical events in her work. Her novels deal with the landed gentry in rural England. These upper- and middle-class families lived off the income derived from the land that they owned. Austen’s central characters are the women of these families, whose day-to-day lives were not affected by the socio-political turmoil happening at the time. Her novels seem to exist in their own, self-contained world.

Austen does make passing references to ongoing military conflicts in some of her novels. She had some firsthand knowledge of the life of the military officers because two of her brothers had joined the Royal Navy.

The landed gentry play an important role in Austen’s novels. A person had to own more than 300 acres of land to be considered part of the landed gentry. The gentry had to oversee the maintenance of their estates and perform the day-to-day administrative functions with the help of servants.

Within the gentry itself, there were upper and lower classes. The social rank of a person was dependent on his income. Anglican clergy also had a special position in society. Any educated man could enter the profession and could earn a respectable living if attached to a wealthy parish. Sometimes clergy also had to work as tax collectors.

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, to George and Cassandra Austen at Steventon in New Hampshire, England. Her father was the rector of the parish. She was the seventh child and had six brothers and one sister. She received most of her education at home with her siblings but went to a boarding school with her sister, Cassandra, for a few years.

Austen wrote poetry and fiction in her teenage years. Most of these works were meant to entertain her family, who encouraged her interest in writing. Her early works were published under the title Juvenilia, a three-volume collection that contains poems, stories, and a history of England. She wrote the first draft of Pride and Prejudice in 1796 and gave it the initial title of First Impressions. Although publishers rejected the first draft, Austen eventually revised it and saw it published in 1813.

Austen’s first four novels, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Northanger Abbey, were published anonymously, so she did not gain much fame as a writer during her lifetime. However, she did enjoy the devoted readership of people who could influence public opinion, such as the daughter of the prince regent.

Jane Austen remained single by choice. She lived a sheltered life, and her travels were limited to London and the town of Bath in England. She was close to her father and her sister, Cassandra.  Austen stayed with her parents in Bath until her father’s death and then moved to Southampton with her mother.

Four years later, she moved to her brother’s estate at Chawton and continued to live there until her death. She died of illness at the young age of forty-one and was buried at the Winchester Cathedral.

• Elizabeth Bennet

Elizabeth Bennet is the second of the five Bennet daughters. She is intelligent, opinionated, and judgmental. She is the principal character in the novel.

• Mr. Darcy

Mr. Darcy is the handsome and wealthy friend of Mr. Bingley. He is an intelligent but proud man with a predisposition for judging people. He eventually falls in love with Elizabeth Bennet, despite his unfavorable opinion of her at the beginning of the novel.

• Jane Bennet

Jane Bennet is the eldest daughter of the Bennet household. She is good-natured, trusting, and has all the manners of a lady. She is her sister Elizabeth's closest confidante.

• Mr. Bingley

Mr. Bingley is a wealthy bachelor and the new owner of Netherfield. Even-tempered and polite, he is the best friend of Mr. Darcy and falls in love with Jane Bennet.

• Lydia Bennet 

Lydia Bennet is the youngest of the Bennet sisters. She is self-absorbed and immature and eventually elopes with the charming but devious Mr. Wickham.

• George Wickham

Mr. Wickham is a handsome military officer who initially manages to charm Elizabeth Bennet, until she learns of his true character from Mr. Darcy.

• Mr. and Mrs. Bennet

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have been married for 23 years and have five daughters.

Mr. Bennet is the owner of the estate at Longbourn. He is intelligent, practical, and well educated. He makes £2,000 a year from his estate. His sarcastic humor is evident in his conversations with his wife.

Mrs. Bennet is just the opposite of her husband. She is foolish and vulgar and spends much of her time thinking about how to get her daughters married into wealthy, respectable families.

Mr. Bennet is a bit unrealistic about the problem that his five daughters face due to their inability to inherit the family estate. Mrs. Bennet tries to solve this problem to the best of her abilities. 

• Mary Bennet

Mary is the middle Bennet sister. She is plain by the standards of the time but is well read and has good musical training. Mrs. Bennet hopes that Mary will wed Mr. Collins after Elizabeth refuses him, but Charlotte Lucas marries him instead.

• Kitty Bennet

Catherine (Kitty) is the Bennets' fourth daughter. She is immature and awed by the soldiers in Meryton.

• Mr. Collins

Mr. Collins, a clergyman, is Mr. Bennet's nephew. Because Mr. Bennet does not have a male heir, Mr. Collins will inherit the Bennet property. The clergyman hopes to marry Elizabeth, but she rejects his proposal. He then proposes to Charlotte Lucas, who accepts him.

• Charlotte Lucas

Charlotte Lucas is a good friend of Elizabeth Bennet’s. She is a practical person who views marriage as a means to attain financial security. She readily accepts the marriage proposal of Mr. Collins even though she is not in love with him.

• Caroline Bingley

Caroline is the younger sister of Mr. Bingley. She is conscious of her high social status, has a condescending attitude toward Elizabeth Bennet, and is spiteful. She is interested in marrying Mr. Darcy.

• Louisa Hurst

Mrs. Louisa Hurst is the married sister of Mr. Bingley. She is haughty and proud. Her views are similar to those of her sister, Caroline.

• Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is Mr. Darcy's class-conscious aunt. She has a condescending attitude and does not approve of Mr. Darcy’s desire to marry Elizabeth. She attempts to talk Elizabeth out of the marriage by pointing out Elizabeth’s lower social standing.

Pride and Prejudice deals with social class, marriage, money, family, and social etiquette—matters of prime concern to England’s landed gentry in Jane Austen’s time.

• Marriage is a major theme in the novel, as the opening sentence of chapter 1 ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.") shows. Marriage represented one of the few areas in which a woman could exercise some amount of choice. It was mostly seen as a practical solution to the problem of financial security rather than a union of love. 

• Pride and Prejudice also illustrates the class-consciousness of the landed gentry in nineteenth-century (1800s) England. Social rank was tied to a person’s annual income. The class difference between the Bennet and Bingley families becomes an obstacle to a marriage between Jane and Mr. Bingley, for example. Class differences also present barriers to the union between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Austen satirizes the class system throughout Pride and Prejudice.

• First Impressions, the original title of Pride and Prejudice, echoes the novel’s exploration of prejudice, or making hasty judgments. Prejudice is intertwined with pride throughout the novel. The story is propelled by the misconceptions Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy form about each other and keeps readers guessing as to how matters will get resolved.

• Many characters in Pride and Prejudice exhibit excessive pride. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth cannot see each other's true characters because their pride colors their views. Mr. Darcy’s pride stems from his lineage; he does not think much of the people who belong to the lower ranks of society. 

Mr. Darcy’s snubbing of Elizabeth at the ball hurts her pride, causing her to form a negative opinion of Mr. Darcy. She maintains this opinion over a considerable span of the novel. 

Need a refresher on satire? Click here to see notes from ENG 11A!

Austen also weaves irony into her narration. One definition of irony is stating one thing but meaning the opposite. Austen’s use of irony adds an understated humor to her novels and allows her to gently mock the social norms of her time. In her dialogue, for example, characters often make ironic statements without knowing it. Austen’s narrator also occasionally makes ironic statements.

Austen also exploits situational irony, in which the outcome of an action is unexpected. Despite Mr. Darcy's assumption that anyone can dance, when he asks Elizabeth to do so, he is embarrassed by her rejection.