“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
I promise I’m not going to read through the book with a fine-tooth comb, but seeing as this is one of the most prevalent opening lines to a tale in our culture, I hope you’ll forgive me if I delve into it before we get started.
To open a book with a definitive is a proven science; just look at the likes of “It was the best of time, it was the worst of times”, “In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit”, and countless more. You can probably name a couple off the top of your head if you try. They set the stage and stick in the mind of the reader long after they’ve taken their eye off of it.
This particular definitive says that Pride and Prejudice is about the pursuit of a wife as a trophy of success in Victorian society, from the prospective wife’s perspective. This, in addition to the fact that the definitive sentence is swiftly proven to not be entirely definitive (more on that soon), says to me that this book written about marriage by someone who never got married might be satirical. Just a bit.
Anyway, our story begins with a Mrs.Bennet chewing the ear off of her beleaguered husband over the hottest news of the year - a Mr.Bingley is moving into Netherfield Park by Michaelmas⧫.
Through their strained interaction, Mr and Mrs.Bennet (no forenames given at this point) seem to serve as ciphers for Austen’s point : that arranged, societally-enforced marriage between two people may not be the best of ideas, especially after 23 years have run their course on Mrs.Bennet’s nerves (her old friends, her husband jibes), without her really understanding him.
Fortunately for the trees this book was printed on, Mr.Bennet is familiar enough with his wife’s ways to humour her hinting, but does not quite seem to grasp why a young man moving in down the road necessarily spells M-A-R-R-I-A-G-E for one of his five daughters, none of whom we actually see in this chapter..
“How can it affect them?”, he asks. The fool. Doesn’t he know that it is a truth universally acknowledged that young, rich men are looking for marriage at all times?
A back and forth follows where you have to wonder whether Bennet is actually as clueless as he acts, or if it is just his way of getting out of checking in on the neighbours, especially as he turns the talk to complement Mrs.Bennet with the prospect that Bingley will like her “best of the party.” with what I can only imagine to be fingers crossed behind his back.
Flattery appears to get him nowhere, as Mrs.Bennet can’t possibly say ‘hello’ herself. “It will be impossible for us to visit him, if you do not,” she tells him, for reasons presumably to do with the rigid and specific patriarchal role of the high-class man at the time. She is trying to get a daughter to enter a courtship with him, after all.
At the threat of Sir.William and Lady Lucas submitting their daughters for Bingley’s consideration ahead of the queue, Mr.Bennet concedes to his duty of giving his consent to whichever daughter of his Bingley wants, as well as pushing his favourite, Lizzy, into the spotlight.
Seeing as she is the first of the siblings to be mentioned, I assume she will be the primary protagonist, with her sisters (also mentioned are the “handsome” Lydia and the “good-humoured” Jane. I’ll call the other two Pinky and Perky until I get some names) forming meaningful character arcs around her own, all centred around winning some bloke’s hand in marriage. Riveting stuff, to be sure.
Thoughts
- Wow
- Pretty short chapter
- I thought this was going to be a struggle, but maybe I just wasn’t ready for it last time
- I like it
⧫ Michaelmas is a Christian festival traditionally celebrated on the 29th of September to mark the beginning of dark nights. This may be an omen of what is to come. I don’t know, I haven’t got that far yet.
