The novel Pride and Prejudice presents the scheme of two extremes of social and economic

position: the middle-class Bennet family and the representatives of the high-aristocracy. The
novel well reflects Austens preference for a balanced structure, consisting of three main parts.
The first part is a comedy, starting with a succinct presentation of one characters, namely Mrs.
Bennets outlook upon the world, humorously enlarged as an indisputable universal truth.
The dialogues of the first part of the novel highlight the main features of each character, placing
the proud Darcy and the prejudiced Elisabeth to two opposite poles, thus providing a network of
social relations that is about to change in the following chapters.
The second part of the novel focuses on the motif of travel. The two Bennet girls have to leave
their usual surroundings in order to get to know themselves and to leave behind their
prejudices, which hinder their capacity of judging correctly. Besides, the world into which
Austen places her characters - a village with a few families, restricted to only a small number of
possible relations among characters: family members, neighbours, masters and servants - is too
narrow for the main characters to have the right perspective, the right angle and to provoke a real
turning point in the situation, from which they desperately try to find a way out.
The new scene, Darcys castle of a classical beauty, reveals the landlords inner beauty (the
setting acquires symbolic significance, the external world echoes and illustrates the inner
impulses of the individuals, pointing forward to the later literary device, most often met in
Romantic fiction), which is reinforced by the housekeepers characterization of the master.
Elisabeth is forced to readjust the image formed about Darcy. However, Elisabeths change of
opinion does not lack a little bit of selfish interest either, which might become obvious for the
reader when Elisabeth regrets that she could have been the lady of that castle. Austens ironys
disclosed in Elisabeths remark.
The third part leads the characters back to the original scene. However, they are no longer the
same, the gained experiences and the escape from prejudices results in a deeper understanding of
their own selves, not devoid of self-criticism either. In order to step out of the initial scheme,
both the hero and the heroine have to change: Darcy proves his capacity of getting rid of his
class- bound view, and of having a right and proper system of values. Conversely, Elisabeth
proves her capacity of exercising self-criticism and of overcoming her superficial opinion about
Darcy. Finally, order is restored by the conviction that the heroes are worthy of each other due to
their capacity of mutual understanding and self- knowledge. Besides, all the characters find their
place in the achieved social order.
The structure of the novel is perfectly symmetrical: Darcys letter is placed right in the middle of
the novel
There is a hidden tension between the apparent happy ending materialized in form of marriage
and the dark side of the existing marriages in the novels. Similarly, to the convention of happy
ending so frequently met in todays literary or film productions of questionable artistic value, the
act of marriage puts an end to the story, as a universal cure for all wounds and illnesses.
Ultimately, it is the polished language and the substance of wit and irony that account for the
increased popularity of her work nowadays.
Jane Austen presents her characters especially''by showing (dialogue, monologue, interior
monologue), but also by -telling (description of the characters outlook, personality traits,
behaviour). From a narrative point of view, she alternates third-person narrative (narrative
omniscience: the narrator comments on the characters and events from an outer point of view,
knowing everything about the motivations of characters and about the unfolding of the events)
with free indirect speech, providing space for irony as well.