Pride and prejudice in the twenty-first century

Hook, Sue

Pride and prejudice in the twenty-first century

Master Thesis

2009

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

In this thesis, I have examined the novel, Pride and Prejudice in the twenty-first century. As a lecturer of English literature I have found that many students are reluctant to engage with this novel because of their pre-conceived idea s of the novel' s trivial storyline and their assumptions about the writer. In light of this reluctance this thesis explores many of the issues related to Pride and Prejudice which both correspond to and reject student's conceptions of the novel. My methodology was to use various sources in order to find perceptions of it throughout its nearly two hundred years of existence. For this I used sources such as Todd's, Jane Austen in Context, Copeland and McMaster's, The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen also two volumes of Littlewood' s, Jane Austen Critical Assessments among others. In the process of this investigation I became aware that from historical responses to this novel we ca n see a parallel with many readers in the twenty-first century. In this regard, I consider certain literary theories to define the difference between the story and the plot of novels which also helps to identify the different types of readers . Following this I explore how Jane Austen uses both story and plot in the novel to entertain her readers while also fulfilling her own literary needs. I then explore many of the literary devices which form a large part of most lectures on this novel. Because there is a discrepancy between the different readers of Pride and Prejudice it becomes important for students to understand why this novel is included in their curriculum. This then falls to the literary devices which Austen uses to comment on her own social world. As an aid to this, I would suggest that one can use the films to highlight the literary devices . Lecturers and students can use visual media as an addition to their engagement with this novel. Viewing the films can reveal why they can never replace the reading of the novels and for this reason students are encouraged to evaluate the films in relation to their reactions to the novel and its felicitous storyline.

Description

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95).

Keywords

English Language and Literature

Reference:

Collections

Masters

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