A little bit of literature

“‘My dear Jane,’ exclaimed Elizabeth, ‘you are too good. Your sweetness

and disinterestedness are really angelic; I do not know what to say to you. I

feel as if I had never done you justice, or loved you as you deserve.’

Miss Bennet eagerly disclaimed all extraordinary merit, and threw back

the praise on her sister’s warm affection.

‘Nay,’ said Elizabeth, ‘this is not fair. You wish to think all the world

respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of anybody. I only want to think you

perfect, and you set yourself against it. Do not be afraid of my running into

any excess, of my encroaching on your privilege of universal good-will.

You need not. There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of

whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied

with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human

characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance

of either merit or sense. I have met with two instances lately: one I will not

mention, the other is Charlotte’s marriage. It is unaccountable! in every

view it is unaccountable!’”

Vocabulary build-up

The intransitive verb encroach means “to advance beyond proper or former limits; to take another's possessions or rights gradually or stealthily.”

The adjective unaccountable means “impossible to account for; inexplicable.” Close synonyms are “unexplainable”, “unfathomable”, and “puzzling”.

Comments

The English novelist Jane Austen was born in 1775. During her brief lifetime Austen witnessed political unrest, revolution, war, and industrialization, yet these momentous events are not the central subjects of her finely focused novels. Rather, Austen wrote of her immediate experience: the microcosm of the country gentry and its class-conscious insularity. Jane not only studied in Southampton and Reading, but was also home-schooled, where she studied French, Italian, history, music, and eighteenth-century fiction. After her father’s passing, in 1805, Austen, her mother, and her sister spent several years of traveling and short-term stays in various towns. They finally settled in Chawton Cottage in Hampshire, in 1809, where Austen quietly composed her most famous works. “Pride and Prejudice” (published in 1813) is Jane Austen’s most popular novel and tells a tale of a world of social, moral, and economic stability. In this world, characters are free to make their own choices and pursue their hearts’ desires. “Pride and Prejudice” is a classic of English literature, written with incisive wit and superb character delineation. It focuses on the burgeoning relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner. Although “Pride and Prejudice” has been criticized for its lack of historical context (it is likely set either during the French Revolution or the Napoleonic Wars), the existence of its characters in a social bubble that is rarely penetrated by events beyond it is an accurate portrayal of the enclosed social world in which Austen lived. She depicted that world, in all its own narrow pride and prejudice, with unswerving accuracy and satire. The exploration of pride and prejudice through the main characters is instructional but also multifaceted. Even when pride and prejudice impair judgment, Elizabeth and Darcy remain principled, perceptive, and admirably strong-minded.