by Glory Lennon

Created on: September 15, 2008   Last Updated: August 16, 2009

It's the same old story heard a million times. Boy and girl meet, they hate each other upon first sight then miraculously and against their own better judgement, they fall in love. But it is how they get from point A to point B and finally come together in the end that is the fun part. Jane Austen makes it endearingly fun, witty and charming as only she can in her masterpiece "Pride And Prejudice".

The opening line sets the tone for the entire story. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." With that we are swiftly thrown into the world and home life of Elizabeth Bennet and her family consisting of five daughters, an ineffectual yet affectionate father and a foolish, silly air-head of a mother whose only object is procuring rich husbands for her daughters.

This is exactly what is upper most on her mind from the novel's start and varies very little throughout. She, Mrs. Bennet, beleaguers her husband to make friends with the newest member of the neighborhood, a Mr. Bingley with enough money to set her feathers flying in joy. Surely, he will marry one of her daughters and thus save their entire family from ruin.

Why would one of her daughters marrying a rich man save the family? As it turns out some English estates of the time were only to be handed down to male heirs, very unjust but those were the times before Women's lib. With five daughters and no sons the Bennets would all be homeless once Mr. Bennet kicks the bucket unless of course, one of them is married to a wealthy man who would take care of them all. And so we see why the frenzy for a rich man to hook up with a Bennet girl.

They are all introduced at a public ball and Mrs. Bennet starts her campaign to win a husband of her favorite and oldest daughter Jane, a great beauty, though unlike her handsome mother she has a brain. Mr. Bingley comes in with his two sisters, the husband of one of them and a dear friend who he trusts beyond all others, Mr. Darcy. While Mr. Bingley has a grand old time meeting everyone and enjoying being the center of attention, Mr. Darcy, a haughty, arrogant, taciturn sort makes an enemy of the entire town. He is overheard by Elizabeth when he tells Bingley that Jane alone is the only girl worthy to look at in the entire assemblage.

Bingley points out Elizabeth as a very pretty girl but Darcy turns his nose up and says she would never tempt him. Elizabeth's pride is wounded and when she tells

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