Pride and Prejudice Notes

Pride and Prejudice
Volume 1:
Elizabeth Bennet- Very strong willed, second eldest, very logical and stays true to herself.
Jane Bennet- Very kind-hearted, the eldest child, doesn't show her feelings so she can please everyone.
Lydia Bennet- Very loud and troublesome.
Mr. Darcy - Proud, quiet, reserved, willing to change, kind-hearted, and compassionate.
Mr. Bingley - gentlemen, loved by everyone, people pleaser, and easily handled.
Miss Bingley- mean and prejudice, passing judgment  on everyone because she thinks she is better then everyone.
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet- Mr. Bennet is very logical, cares for his children, allows them to chose their own fate. Mrs. Bennet is materialistic, doesn't care for her children's feelings just wants them to be rich.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiners - aunt and uncle of Bennet children, unite Darcy and Elizabeth, and very observative,
Charlotte Lucas - best friend of Liz, inferior to Liz, and Liz's therapist
Mr. Collins- cousin of Mr. Bennet, strange, disliked, and wants to find someone who will lead him.
Mr. Wickham- gentlemen like by everyone, but on the inside only in it for the money and very greedy.
They hear of a rich man, Mr. Bingley, is moving into their town and having a ball. The people of the community want to attend hoping that on of their daughters will end up marrying the rich man. The families want their daughters to marry rich and live a good life; they spend their life trying to find a rich husband for their daughters.
At the dance Mr. Bingley takes notice to Jane Bennet and begins to like her. Everyone sees Mr. Bingley as a nice and favorable guy, whereas they see Mr. Darcy having too much pride and unfavorable.
Everyone is telling Jane to just marry Mr. Bingley but she tries to explain how she doesn't really know him. They have only been together for 4 dinners and that is not enough to decide if she really loves him.
Jane goes to dinner at the Bingley's house and takes a horse so that if it rains she will be forced to stay the night. It begins to rain and the next morning the Bennet's receive a message stating that Jane is sick and will remain and the Bingley's until she gets better. Elizabeth then begins her journey to comfort Jane.
The Bingley sisters look down up Elizabeth for her appearance and Mr. Darcy starts to stand up for Elizabeth.
The family goes to visit Jane because she is so sick at the Bingley's house. The family is judged by the rich family, who doesn't agree with their different way of life. The Bennet's make Mr. Bingley promise to come over to dinner once Jane is better which allows the family to know that Mr. Bingley will remain in contact with the family.
Mr. Darcy begins to criticize Bingley by saying that Bingley is a people pleaser because he does what the people says and doesn't trust his own judgment.
Through a conversation it is revealed that Elizabeth stays true to her character and continues to create conversation with Mr. Darcy even though she has been shut down by him. This is unusual because in this society women do not have a voice and Elizabeth goes against that moral. This intrigues Mr. Darcy and he likes that about Elizabeth.
While conversing and awaiting Jane's sickness, it is revealed that Mr. Darcy is beginning to become attracted to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth explains how Mr. Darcy's flaw is to point out the bad things in other people and then Mr. Darcy explains how Elizabeth's flaw is to misunderstand people. (foreshadows the misunderstanding in the end of the book)
Jane and Elizabeth return home and the family feels complete again.
Receive a letter from Mr. Collins who is Mr. Bennet's cousin, which says he is coming to town to apologize for any wrongs that he has done so that the family will be happy with him as he is going to inherit the estate when Mr. Bennet dies. Elizabeth has reservations about accepting him so easily.
Mr. Collins arrives and talks to Mrs. Bennet about marrying one of her daughters, preferably Jane. Mrs. Bennet then explains that Jane may be engaged, but offers Elizabeth.(shows that Elizabeth is second to Jane which is important because Darcy picks Elizabeth first which is unusual, meaning they are meant to be.)
The girls go to town and meet officer Wickham and Liz sees the tension between Darcy and Wickham when they meet. People liked Wickham; he was very admired by the town.
Elizabeth and Wickham have a connection and Wickham tells her about the history between Darcy an d and himself. Elizabeth then sees Darcy in a darker way.
They attend a second dance in which Darcy asks Liz to dance and she doesn't really like him so there is nothing to it. Liz confronts Darcy about Wickham and he explains how Wickham got what he deserved. Liz danced with Mr. Collins but there was nothing to it. Liz and Darcy are becoming more acquainted with each other even though it is in a bad light. Liz denies Collins twice of marriage and Collins ends up marrying Charlotte. Liz looks down on Charlotte because she thinks she can do better then Collins, but she doesn't really know Collins so this shows her being prejudice towards him. This portrays females as easily angered, while men are calmer and not disturbed easily.
Jane gets a letter that Bingley and Darcy and sisters left to London. Jane always hides her feelings, but really she was suffering from depression after this news.
Volume 2:
Liz explains that there is few people that she loves and the more she grows the more she sees the inconsistency of humans. (possibly a theme)
Jane goes to London to rekindle her love with Bingley, but is discouraged which leads to her letting go of him.
Liz goes to stay with Charlotte and Mr. Collins in Hunsford. They go to dinner at Lady Katherine's house. They find out that Darcy is Lady Katherine's nephew. At dinner Lady Katherine insults Liz and her family, but Liz holds her ground.
Darcy comes into town and she starts to see a different side of him because he shows affection for his little sister. Liz gets insight on his true character through Darcy's friend Fitzwilliam about how he is kind, generous, and good-hearted. Darcy explained how he was not good at starting conversations with random people and Liz told him he just needed to practice.
Then Darcy went to Mr. Collins house, where Liz was home alone and they began to chat and get to know each other even more. This shows that Darcy is trying to improve and Liz starts to fall for him.
As Liz is walking she comes across Colonel Fitzwilliam who tells her that Darcy broke up the wedding between Mr. Bingley and Jane. Liz hates Darcy now and has fluctuating feelings.
Darcy comes to Mr. Collins house again and expresses his love for Liz and asks Liz to marry him. She denies him and then yells at him for all of his faults: he doesn't have respect, he is cruel, and for what he did to Jane and Wickham.
Liz then sees Darcy walking in the park and Darcy hands her a letter in which he apologizes for what he did and explains the truth behind the situation. Wickham was only in it for the money and he was not a good mad. He thought Jane was indifferent to Bingley, which shows that he assumed something he shouldn't have and he wanted to run away from his feelings towards Elizabeth.
Liz then discovers that she has done what she told others not too, putting forth prejudice when none was needed. She changes her feelings again. Liz and Darcy change and become more agreeable with each other.
Lydia is sent away to clean up her act so that she doesn't shame the family.
Liz goes to live with her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, where Darcy lives. (Pemberley)
Volume 3:
She went to visit his estate and met the house keeper, Mrs. Reynolds, who spoke very highly of Darcy and influenced Liz's feelings of Darcy. Darcy shows up before expected and meets Liz, who is very embarrassed. Darcy is very kind to her aunt and uncle, which shows his change in character. Darcy wants Liz to meet his sister which shows that they are getting more and more comfortable with each other.
Liz receives a letter from her family saying that Lydia has run away with Wickham which was a disgrace to the family. She first told Darcy (showing her affection toward him) and then went home. They eventually come home and find out that Lydia and Wickham had gotten married. In order for them to get married they had to give Wickham a certain amount of money and he required 10,000 pounds. After she got married everything was okay because she had gotten married. Darcy had found Lydia and Wickham and had paid for the wedding and everything and Liz did not know how to repay him.
Liz receives letter from aunt Gardiner saying that she can see Liz and Darcy together because of how they act together. Everyone thinks that Liz hates Darcy, but deep down she really likes him.
They hear that Bingley is coming back to town and Jane says she is okay but she seems extremely distraught. Bingley and Darcy both came to the Bennet's house and everyone could see that there was still love between Bingley and Jane. Darcy changed back to silence when he was around the Bennet's and Liz did not know how to react to this.
Bingley comes back to the house the next day and proposes to Jane. The Bennet's were then seen as the luckiest family in the world, which shows how people's opinions change so dramatically. They had just looked down upon the family because Lydia had run away and now they see the family as the luckiest people in the world.
Lady Katherine comes to the Bennet's house to talk Liz out of ever marrying Darcy in the future, but Liz denies her wishes. This shows how much Liz cares for Darcy, that she disrespected a highly respected woman for him.
Liz and Darcy where alone when Liz expressed her feelings to Darcy and thanked him for everything he did for her family. Darcy then expressed his love for Liz and she told him she felt love for him too.
Liz tells her family and they are extremely shocked, but Liz explains that Darcy is not what everyone thinks he is and that she judged him wrong.
The family had to give up their prejudice towards Darcy to accept the marriage between the two, just as Darcy and Liz had to give up their prejudices to love each other.
Liz thanks her aunt and uncle for uniting Darcy and Liz.