Pride and Prejudice :

Q1. Which version of the novel is appealing? Novel or film adaptation?

A1. Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by Jane Austen in the year 1813 and a movie based on the adaptation of the novel was released in the year 2005. There have always been debates about which version of story is more preferred, novel or a movie? In my opinion, both of the things have their own charm and significance. While reading a novel, a reader can always look upon the writers writing style and how the writer has put into words the feelings and emotions that keeps the reader hooked to read the entire novel. Nevertheless movies also do some justice to the literature in the audio and visual manner up to an extent. It is usually said that audio and visuals generally helps in better understanding of a subject but when it comes to literature, in my opinion books always are more appealing than movies. The possible reason for this could also be the minor changes in the story and even at times the actors cannot do justice to the characters described in the novel. For me novels are much more appealing as compared to movies as the smell of the pages, the play of the words, reading between the lines, creativity of the writer, these things cannot be put together in a movie. There are a couple of movies that have been adapted from the novel and only a few have been able to do justice to it. For example, the movie Dill Bechara, based on a novel by John Green, Fault in our stars. This novel is a very good example of a tragic story but in the Hindi adaptation of this movie, they have tried adding humor which has ridiculed the movie up to a larger extent.

Q2. Character of Elizabeth.

A2. Elizabeth Bennet is the second eldest daughter of 5 sisters in the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet is under tremendous pressure of getting her daughters married. Elizabeth is a headstrong girl, with strong opinions and single mindedness. She does not want to get married just for the sake of security or society. Elizabeth is introduced to Mr. Darcy at a ball where she hears Mr. Darcy saying" she is tolerable but beautiful enough to temp me". Since this incident Elizabeth has started developing prejudice against him, with passing time it just gets stronger. Elizabeth even denies marrying Mr. Collins because she does not love him or even like him. This event reflects her clear vision. When Lady Catherine comes to see Elizabeth she orders her to reject Darcy's proposal for marriage, where she clearly says that I will do nothing of this sort and asks her to leave her house as well. Lady Catherine addresses her as a strong obstinate girl yet she does not pay heed to her and is firm on her beliefs. By the end of the novel when she realizes that all of her grudges against Mr. Darcy were pointless. She is very honest and even confronts that she knows how Darcy's family had wronged Whickham, which she later realizes was nothing but a white lie and then eventually she starts to fall Darcy. She also realizes that he had helped her youngest sister Lydia to get married officially with Whickham without making it count to the Bennet family. At this moment her prejudice breaks for Darcy and knows that he was honest and was not as bad as she thought of him to be. Elizabeth goes to her father and also conveys to him that she wants to get married to Mr. Darcy which shows that she is mature enough to accept her mistakes and accepts the marriage proposal as she is also equally in love with him.

Q3. Character of Mr. Darcy.

A3. Mr. Darcy is one of the male protagonists of the Novel Pride and Prejudice. He happens to belong to an upper class society and is an introverted personality. He is very reserved and perceived to be arrogant as well. His introduction also creates an impression of a rude and arrogant person. He also states at the ball that Elizabeth is tolerable but beautiful enough to tempt him, which objectifies that he judges people on the basis of their appearance. He constantly argues with Elizabeth which creates his impression of a proud person. Elizabeth, due to a misunderstanding even considers him a cheater. Mr. Darcy had fallen in love with Elizabeth but admits it very late, also while admitting his love towards her, he mentions that he belongs to an upper class, hoe Elizabeth's family is ill mannered and despite all these things he loves her. Here this statement itself is problematic and hoe he tries to point Elizabeth of a middle class and how his vanity and possessions were no where near to of his. But by the end of the novel he proposes Elizabeth and even talks to her father, also helps Lydia and Whickham financially to get married after they elope from their home town. Despite of the fact that his male ego was huge, greater was his love for Elizabeth and how he loves her unconditionally. He also states that he is incandescently in love with her and he wishes to spend the rest of his life with her.

Q4.Give illustrations of society at that time.

A4. Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice depicts the situation of women during that time. in earlier times, if the heir was not a son but a daughter than all the inheritance would go to the husband of the daughter. Incase, if the daughter was unmarried all the property and rights would go to the nearest male cousin. These things and rituals made women powerless and dependent on others. This is the reason why Mrs. Bennet was very eager to get her daughters married. The typicality was not just bounded to marriage, people always looked for standards and their class in the society and would find a bride or groom according to their status and their class. After a certain age a daughter was considered as a burden upon the family, which is also portrayed in the novel through Charlotte Lucas. She mentions in her conversation with her friend Elizabeth how she was a burden upon her family and she had past her age for marriage and she wanted to get married just because she did not want to be a burden upon the family. Also women had lesser amount of rights and they were always portrayed as marriage materials or objects of vanity which was very nasty and awful.  

Q5.If you were a director, or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of the movie?

A5. This movie is almost perfect in each and every aspect and possess its own beauty. But if I was asked to make changes in the movie, I would portray women in a better manner and would give equal rights to women and give them the freedom to select their partners and not portray them as marriage materials. Also I would make the love story of Darcy and Elizabeth a bit less complicated. I would have also shot the movie in some better scenarios for the part when Jane and Elizabeth are at their uncle's place. I would have also stretched the end of the movie a bit.

Q6. Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of the characters?

A6. Elizabeth- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Darcy- Vidyut Jamwala

Bingley- Kartik Aryan

Jane- Parineeti Chopra

Mr. Collins- Akshay Kumar

Whickham- Neil Nitin Mukesh

I have selected the actors from bolly wood as this cast would have done apt justice to the movie and characters.

Q7. Write a note on the scene you liked the most.

I personally loved the whole movie, it is filled with twists and turns, also that almost all the characters have done justice with the role they played. Along with a bit of humor and reality they have depicted things so well. I personally liked the end scene of the movie. This scene is a proof, Happy endings do exist.

Pride and Prejudice end scene

Q8. Compare the narrative strategy of novel and movie.

A8. The novel Pride and Prejudice is indeed an interesting novel and the language used is quite simple and easy to understand to that of old English novels. The dialogues are very interesting also the narrative pattern keeps the reader hooked till the end of the novel. Jane Austen is undoubtedly is a prolific writer and she has been successful in conveying emotions and feelings to her readers.

If we talk about movie, the movie starts with the scene of Elizabeth reading a book which conveys that the movie is going to be something different than other ones. All the actors have played the role so well, especially Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Without these two marvelous performances the movie would have been incomplete. The end of the movie enthralled the viewers and the twists in the movie have played a significant role in the success of this movie.