Get special student pricing before you graduate. And fast, free shipping.
Pride and Prejudice Wealth Quotes Page 1
(Chapter.Paragraph)
| Quote #1 Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend. (3.5) |
Wealth can swing both ways, especially for an audience that's busy calculating how much of this wealth is going to come their way. As soon as it becomes clear that Darcy is totally not interested in this little town, in the eyes of the other characters his income goes from being part of what makes him awesome to being part of what makes him so stuck up.
| Quote #2 Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets were particularly intimate. Sir William Lucas had been formerly in trade in Meryton, where he had made a tolerable fortune, and risen to the honour of knighthood by an address to the king during his mayoralty. The distinction had perhaps been felt too strongly. It had given him a disgust to his business, and to his residence in a small market town; and, in quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, denominated from that period Lucas Lodge, where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and, unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all the world. (5.1) |
It's interesting how important it was in Austen's time where a family's money came from. There was such a huge emphasis placed on the difference between new money and old money (with new money seen as tacky, and old money seen as tasteful). Here, even though Sir Lucas now has a title and the estate to go with it, he's still being made fun of for his social ladder aspirations.
| Quote #3 "About a month ago I received this letter; and about a fortnight ago I answered it, for I thought it a case of some delicacy, and requiring early attention. It is from my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases." |
This novel can really be read as a very strong critique of the way land ownership and the rights of inheritance worked in Austen's time. Basically, the idea with "entail" was that land could be legally bound to only pass from one male to another. So, Mr. Bennet, who has no male children, can't leave his house to his wife or his daughters, and instead the house must go to his closest living male relative, Mr. Collins. That's some seriously unfair business.
