Pride and Prejudice

Seeing as this was a title I haven't read before, I thought I'd try out something differently that I don't normally do. I decided I would have this be read digitally via audio rather than manual reading. It was quite interesting, and it was a little more calming than i initially thought it'd be. Overall, I quite enjoyed the story, and I especially liked how the book viewed marriage. We are given that standard female protagonist we've come to know today who wishes to marry someone out of love, rather than need or wealth. Early in the story, Lizzie is proposed to by Mr. Collins and she rejects him because he wouldn't be able to make her happy and vice versa. However, Collins later proposes to Lizzie's best friend, Charlotte, who accepts. We are presented with two different situations that reveals one's intentions for marrying, whether it be for one's own happiness or for one's security. I really like how the novel displays them, showing the way Lizzie's thinks and realizes that one might not marry for love, but rather to stay safe.

The love of our two main leads seemed so unlikely in the beginning, to the point I didn't believe that two of them would get together. However, I think the novel handled the progression fairly well, but there were points where one could predict what the next interaction would entail. They do get together in the end, but I felt that the conflict with Catherine in the end was needless drama added in, even if it had convinced me that the story could've ended there. I do have my doubts and questions about their love, but I'm inclined to just chalk it up to me not really understanding the concept. Regardless, they did end up together and it did feel rewarding and deserved, so who am I to judge?

I'm not sure if it's just me, but the one character I couldn't stand half the time was the mother. She had some redeeming moments, but most of the time she was forcing her daughters to marry. It did lead to my favorite part in the story. When Lizzie is being confronted into marrying Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet pressures Mr. Bennet to giving a response, and I absolutely loved it when he countered Mrs. Bennet's saying that she would never see Lizzie again if she refused, and Mr. Bennet said Lizzie would never see him again if she accepted.

I also watched the 2005 version of the movie, and I thought it held up quite nicely. There were areas in the book in which things were more clarified than in the movie. However the movie was able to convey more feeling into the scenes without drowning us in more text. Of course, this is true for most movies. I thought the performances were quite nice and the actors played their parts very well.

Overall, I did quite enjoy Pride and Prejudice. I loved how the title represented the main character's flaws in the beginning. Lizzie was prideful in the fact that she wouldn't lower herself to marry someone based on wealth, and she formed an unfair prejudice against Mr. Darcy upon meeting him, thinking he was arrogant and obnoxious. She was able to later resolved these and admit her love for him. It was quite a lovely story with a fitting title.

Oh, here's the link to the audio I listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVHu5-n69qQ
The one issue is that it was sometimes hard to distinguish which character was talking, but overall it was very helpful.