PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

By the end of this unit, students will be able to: trace the development of the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy; analyze different attitudes and expectations associated with marriage; explore the themes of pride and prejudice and the danger of first impressions as they apply to Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, Jane, Mr. Wickham, and other characters; discuss the novel as a critical commentary on the rigidity of the social class system in Regency England; describe and evaluate the choices Austen’s characters are faced with and the decisions they make based on their social surroundings; discuss the novel as a critical commentary on female education and the unfairness of property inheritance laws in the nineteenth century; examine the language of Pride and Prejudice and analyze the impact Austen’s irony and sarcasm have on the reader; trace rules and expectations of social decorum and analyze how the novel complicates nineteenth-century notions of propriety; analyze the effect Austen’s use of free indirect discourse has on the reader; and explain and analyze different perspectives on the idea of transgression presented by the novel. 149 pages. ©2008.