Jane Austen & Pride and Prejudice

Erita

1. Hello, every one. Today our main topic is Pride and Prejudice.

2. These are portraits of Jane Austen.

3. First, Ann and I will introduce the author, Jane Austen, briefly; then Emily and Sunny will talk about the movie Pride and Prejudice.
In my part, I will introduce Jane’s family background, Education, and love stories.

4. Jane has six brothers and one sister.

5. This is Jane’s family tree.

4. Actually Jane had a close relationship with her only sister, Cassandra. They were as closed as Jane and Elizabeth in her work Pride and Prejudice. Jane and Cassandra didn’t marry anyone; they lived together and took care with each other. The letters which Jane and Elizabeth wrote to each other provided people to research Jane Austen.

6. Jane’s father graduated from Oxford University, he and his wife made efforts in their children’s education. Though Jane and her sister were female, they still could get education like their brothers. Because Jane was encourage to read literature and write by her parents, it established her career of writing. Austen sisters once went to boarding school, but they quitted because they couldn’t afford the expensive tuition. Afterward, they stated to learn at home by themselves. This picture is from the movie Become Jane, which tells a story about Jane Austen.

7. Even though Jane Austen didn’t marry through out her life, she still had love stories. The first relationship was with Tom Lefroy, the second one was with Harris Bigg-Wither. Tom Lefroy was graduated from famous Trinity College, Cambridge. He was nephew of her neighbors. However, her neighbors—The Lefroys didn’t agree them to marry because they didn’t think Jane and Tom couldn’t get happiness. Jane was so sad about that. Harris Bigg-Wither was her neighbors’ brother. Jane once accepted his proposal, but she regretted after a day.


Ann

9. Different from the writing style in the 19th century which mainly focused on the romanticism, Jane Austen’s style is more like Neoclassicism (新古典主義). Jane Austen was famous for her good perceptiveness. She is good at depicting vivid characters in her novels, especially females’ characters as a mother and as a wife. Usually, she will highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Most of her works, e.g. Sense and Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice, are usually focusing on female characters. Besides, what she presented in her novels was usually strong related with her daily lives. It is said the female characters, Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility are actually the embodiments of Jane’s sister, Cassandra Austen, and Jane herself.  There are two reasons to prove why Jane’s novels can be such a hit in both 19th century and 20th century. First of all, it is because of her humorous but a little bit sarcastic language used in the conversations between male and female characters. These conversations not only make the novels more interesting and serve as a foil to the vivid characters but create her own style and make her outstanding. The second reason is because of her description toward female characters in her novels. Usually, those female characters that persist in pursing love will end up with happy ending, which is a kind inspiration toward women in the 19th century.


10.  There were six famous literature works during Jane Austen’s lifetime. We’ll briefly introduce the first one and mainly focus on Pride and Prejudice. As Erita mentioned before, Later, Sunny and Emily will make a deeper introduction about dancing and customs in Pride and Prejudice.
    First of all, about Sense and Sensibility, it was the first full-length novel produced by Jane Austen in 1975, when she was only 19. The original name of this novel was not Pride and Prejudice but Elinor and Marianne. In this story, it describes about two sisters who have totally different characters; the elder sister, Elinor is rational while the younger sister, Marianne is perceptual. Though they have totally different characters, both of them end up with good results.
    As to the second novel, Pride and Prejudice, it was the best seller among Jane’s production. The original name of Pride and Prejudice was The First Impression. It was not until 1813 did Jane Austen change its name to Pride and Prejudice. The story follows the main character Elizabeth as she deals with issues of moral, education and marriage in 19th century in England. Later, Sunny and Emily will talk more about pride and prejudice and the movie production in 2005

Sunny






Pride and Prejudice portrays life in the genteel rural society of the day, and tells of the initial misunderstandings and later mutual enlightenment between Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy. The title Pride and Prejudice refers to the way in which Elizabeth and Darcy first view each other.

Jane Austen’s (1775-1817) novels offer us a tantalizing glimpse of the fashionable society of her days. Pride and Prejudice is the most famous and most beloved book all the time. It set at the turn of the 19th century, that is the Regency era. The dancing, clothes and ball which was described in Pride and Prejudice is the best way for us to understand more about the Regency era. 

Regency clothing styles
The high waisted regency styles focus attention away from the natural waist, which makes women feel more comfortable.

Compared with the original book, the filmmaker changed several scenes to more romantic ways to cater to the public. For instance, in the film, Darcy first proposes outdoors in a rainstorm near a beautiful lake; in the book, this scene takes place inside a parsonage. Next, his second proposal occurs on the misty moors as dawn breaks in the film; in the book, Darcy and Elizabeth are walking down a country lane in broad daylight. Moreover, this version included a final scene of the married Darcy and Elizabeth enjoyed their romantic evening, but this was not in the novel. This ending did not test well with British audiences, so it was cut for UK and international release.


Emily

English Country Dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances in the late 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I of England is noted to have been entertained by "Country Dancing," although the relationship of the dances she saw to the surviving dances of the mid-17th century is disputed. English Country Dance (ECD) was popular well into the Baroque and Regency eras. Whereas several figures common to English Country Dance, e.g. arming and the straight hey, are found in the traditional dances and display dances such as morris, ECD's origins rest among the gentry, first at court, then spreading to bourgeois-London, finally moving into country manors around England.

Most popular exposure to Regency era of dance comes in the works of Jane Austen. Balls occur in her novels and are discussed in her letters, but specifics are few. Films based on her works tend to incorporate modern revival English Country Dance; however, they rarely incorporate dances actually of the period and do them without the appropriate footwork and social style which make them accurate to the period. Dances of this era were lively and bouncy, not the smooth and stately style seen in films. Steps ranging from simple skipping to elaborate ballet-style movements were used.

In the early part of this period, up to the early 1810s, the ballroom was dominated by the country dance, the cotillion, and the scotch reel.

In the longways Country Dance, a line of couples perform figures with each other, progressing up and down the line. Regency country dances were often proceeded by a brief March by the couples, then begun by the top lady in the set and her partner, who would dance down the set to the bottom. Each couple in turn as they reached the top would likewise dance down until the entire set had returned to its original positions. This could be a lengthy process, easily taking an hour in a long set. An important social element was the calling of the dance by the leading lady (a position of honor), who would determine the figures, steps, and music to be danced. The rest of the set would listen to the calling dancing master or pick up the dance by observing the leading couple. Austen mentions in her letters instances in which she and her partner called the dance.