Essay on Pride and Prejudice Adaptations in Modern Film

Love in Relationships vs. Love for Oneself In a day where loving yourself first is not only accepted but often expected, it is a stretch for the 20th (or 21st) century mind to see marriage as a necessity, as it was for Jane Austen and some of the greatest of her heroines. Marriage for money and convenience, as well as familial preservation, formally dominated matchmaking choices. Love and romance were but luxuries in the business-like fashion of marriage. Austen contested this reality and criticized it, but she also placed one thing above romance: the Self. Austen undoubtedly prizes respect for the Self above social expectation and relationships. Handler and Segal (45) noted that themes of â€Å"independence, dependence, and choice† are†¦show more content†¦We presently live in a society and culture that emphasizes the Self over family and even wealth. A little tidbit of American wisdom explains this well: â€Å"it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you enjoy doing it.† Of course the desir es for riches and success are still present, but it is certainly more acceptable for someone to abandon his job on Wall Street to â€Å"follow his dream,† whatever that may be. And as for disappointing one’s family, well young people today are almost always anticipated to do so. â€Å"Finding† oneself is even now considered a step in normal development. Elizabeth Bennet would have probably fit right in. It should also be noted that Austen ignored the world outside of her respective settings. Pride and Prejudice does not make one direct mention of the on-going Napoleonic wars other than to state the presence of soldiers in Meryton. This is evidence of her investigation of the Self and how the quest for self-knowledge may overshadow the major events of the day. Today we still deal with this nasty exchange of concern for the world in favor of the concern for ourselves. Although Austen put emphasis on the Self she did not by any means ignore romance. Pride and Prejudice does include love-stories reminiscent of Shakespeare’s comedies, like The Merchant of Venice, with the happy-ending-for-all-who-deserve-it conclusion. Jane and Bingley live happily ever after with lots ofShow MoreRelatedJane Austen s Pride And Prejudice1446 Words   |  6 PagesAusten’s: Pride and Prejudice; two well-known versions would be Sue Birtwistle’s 1995 BBC miniseries and Joe Wright’s 2005 version. Both films depict a love story between a man and a woman who have to overcome a series of obstacles to end up together. It is clear that these two very different directors interpret the original novel in their own way, but is it more important to stay true to the original, or to tweak and change some of it? When it comes to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Birthwistle’sRead MorePride and Prejudice V Bride and Prejudice1600 Words   |  7 PagesThe way of life in this modern society has developed itself over hundreds of years. Still, however changed, the values of todays society remain from the period of Regency England. Regency England, being the super power of the world in the 18th century, imposed the morals and ethics upon the world as they did their own country, where people were expected to abide by. Jane Austen illustrates the values of this prejudiced society through Pride and Prejudice, which involved the role of women as a majorRead MorePride And Prejudice V Bride And Prejudice Essay1603 Words   |  7 PagesThe way of life in this modern society has developed itself over hundreds of years. Still, however changed, the values of todays society remain from the period of Regency England. Regency England, being the super power of the world in the 18th century, imposed the morals and ethics upon the world as they did their own country, where people were expected to abide by. Jane Austen illustrates the value s of this prejudiced society through Pride and Prejudice, which involved the role of women as a majorRead MoreEqual Engagement: In Marriage and Between Cultures Essay1503 Words   |  7 Pages Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice illuminates a social courtship between the proud Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy and the shrewd, unconventional Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth is proud of her own identity. She astutely justifies herself as â€Å"a gentleman’s daughter† (Austen 337) in her confrontation with the prejudiced and class-conscious Lady Catherine de Bourgh. 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