Rosen 1

Jeremy Rosen
Mr. Talevich
British Literature
18 June 2013
Pride and Prejudice: Novel to Film Analysis
Joe Wright's 2005 film Pride and Prejudice is a love story. A moving love story, but a
love story nonetheless whose primary purpose is to entrance its audience in the spirit of romance.
As a result, despite the sheer brilliance of the imagery Wright deftly substitutes for hundreds of
pages of Jane Austen's narrative prose, the film falls short of replicating Austen's primary
purpose in crafting such an archetypical taleto critique a society that values superficial
reputations and class distinctions more than compassion and love. However, those who delve
into Wright's world can still enjoy watching the beautiful visual imagery Wright includes to
induce various emotions; listening to a wonderful soundtrack that serves this same purpose;
uncovering the various motifs like reading, nature, dining, and color that Wright takes from the
novel; and identifying the various changes Wright makes to the plotline, all of which, while
detracting from the satire Austen cultivates in her novel, serve to deepen the connection between
the two young lovers, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Because of his desire to shift his audience's attention away from the social issues of the
1800s and toward the romance between the fiery Elizabeth and socially awkward Darcy, Wright
employs stunning visual and beautiful auditory imagery, which elicit emotional reactions of both
joy and sadness in the viewer. This emotionalism contrasts with the deductions, on top of those
about the transcendental power of love, Austen wants her readers to make about society, but then
again, Wright seems not to want his movie to focus on society's ills anyway. The viewer first

Rosen 2
becomes aware of Wright's visual imagery when he sees Elizabeth's sister Jane. Like her lover,
Bingley, white light seems to surround her wherever she goes, and also like Bingley, she dresses
in white or light colored clothing. In this film, there is a direct contrast between light and
darkness. Elizabeth becomes aware of Darcy's true nature when she sees his mansion, Pemberley,
which is bathed in sunlight. However, the second ball Elizabeth attends, where she engages in an
awkward, malevolent dance with him, is held at night. Likewise, only a faintly flickering
fireplace illuminates the villainous Lady Catherine's dining room, and unlike in the novel, her
ladyship confronts Elizabeth at night. Another example of Wright's visual imagery relates to the
weather. For example, Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth, a confrontation marred with mutual
righteous anger, occurs in a drenching rainstorm. By the end of the scene, both characters are
utterly soaked. However, when Darcy proposes to her again, this time a shade more successfully,
a beautiful sunrise illuminates their faces. The sun is finally shining on their romance.
Furthermore, a beautiful soundtrack accompanies Wright's film, which begins with a lively tune;
in particular, the piece "Mrs. Darcy" conveys the tenderness between the film's two most
important lovers. On the other hand, Austen not completely preoccupied with her lovers. Her
narration, a Horatian satire, is far from overly emotional, and it begins with the dry sentence, "It
is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in
want of a wife" (3). This sentence declares that marriage will be the novel's main topic and
introduces her satiric tone to the reader. It is important to note, however, that Austen does not
favor stoicism to the exclusion of all emotions. Her portrayal of Elizabeth's sister Mary mocks
some of the more extreme tendencies left over from Britain's classical period, and all in all, she
favors balance. Meanwhile, without the need to illustrate her characters with imagery, Austen
characterizes them by describing their actions. She writes that "Mr. Darcy had a first scarcely

Rosen 3
allowed [Elizabeth] to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration at the ball; and when
they next met, he looked at her only to criticize" (21-2). However, Austen's main purpose in
writing this novel is to criticize society through her characters. She writes how "Mr. Collins had
only to change [his affections] from Jane to Elizabethand it was soon donedone while Mrs.
Bennet was stirring the fire" (67). The cavalierness with which Mr. Collins changes something as
deep and powerful, at least in most people, as love illustrates how his society does not value love
in marriage or even women in general. Critic Judith Wylie notes that toward the beginning of the
novel, Mrs. Bennet calls out to her husband, "'Ah! you do not know what I suffer'" (5). At first,
readers believe that Mrs. Bennet has too much time on her hands, and they sympathize with Mr.
Bennet, who has to deal with her whining and complaining. However, readers only realize "the
literal truth of her words" when they "witness her husband's callous attitude toward both his
wife's and daughters' precarious economic futures" (Wylie). Simply put, Mr. Bennet seems not to
care what will become of his daughters if they do not get married. In today's era, his attitude
would be quite understandable, but during the Victorian Era, women essentially had to get
married, or they would have to live an inferior lifestyle and would be looked down upon by a
society that expected women to live under the care of their husbands.
However, like Austen, Wright employs certain motifs, most notably reading, nature,
music, dining, and color in order to characterize the Bennet family and the other main characters;
in fact, the film begins with Elizabeth browsing a book while walking outdoors. Anyone familiar
with the novel and watching the film for the first time would not be hard pressed to identify her
within seconds. In both the novel and the film, reading and writing represent intelligence. Mr.
Bennet maintains a library, Mary is constantly reading, and Darcy writes long and deep letters. In
fact, Miss Bingley feels the need to ask Darcy if he "always write[s] such charming long letters"

Rosen 4
(45). Furthermore, nature and music symbolize internal beauty. Whenever Elizabeth needs to
escape the stifling confines of her society, she leaves the indoors in favor of nature. Likewise,
Darcy's house, especially in the film, is in itself a work of art, complete with ravishing gardens
and fields. Meanwhile, his sister Georgiana is a brilliant pianist whereas Elizabeth is not quite as
refined but still talented. Then again, Elizabeth is not as refined as such characters as Lady
Catherine, but she is a better person. More specifically relating to the film, the motif of color
symbolizes character. White, which Jane and Bingley emulate, illustrates beauty and pure
goodness. On the other hand, black represents coldness. Darcy, especially early in the movie,
wears black. As a matter of fact, critic Maureen Sabine writes that Darcy's clothes at Meryton
and Netherfield, "when he is on his guard," are more formal than his clothes at Rosings,
Hunsford and Pemberley because he develops the "need to disclose more of himself as well as
[his] sexual desire" in order to develop a closer relationship with Elizabeth. Red, as in the cases
of Miss Bingley and George Wickham, represents passion while brown, as in Mr. Bennet and
Mary, represents a lack thereof. Gray, which both Darcy and Elizabeth wear, represents
ambiguity, and purple, which Lady Catherine seems to like, illustrates a character full of
pretensions. Not to be left out, Mrs. Bennet and Lydia wear baby blue, which highlights their
immaturity; as a matter of fact, the Bennet house's walls are painted that same color. All these
motifs give Wright and Austen's audiences a clear picture of what each character represents.
Because Wright's main purpose in crafting this film is to highlight the romance between
Elizabeth and Darcy, he makes subtle changes to Austen's plot to shift the focus away from the
other characters to Elizabeth herself. In the film, when Darcy and Bingley arrive at the first ball,
all the dancers stop moving for the sole purpose of staring at them in awe. Likewise, Wright
includes the scene at the second ball where Darcy and Elizabeth share that painful dance to

Rosen 5
emphasize the main characters. Sabine writes that the dance scene portrays a vivid connection
between the two in which the other dancers cease to be of any importance, "and the lovers are
left alone at the still centre where opposites come together and where man and woman gracefully
spin the helicoidal dance of life itself." Another change, this one very conspicuous and
significant, is that Wright casts Mr. Bennet in a positive light as a good father. The only mistake
the idealized film version of Mr. Bennet makes is to send Lydia with the old colonel so he can
have peace. Wright does not emphasize Mr. Bennet's neglectful side because doing so would
detract attention from Elizabeth. However, Austen, while maintaining her detached voice the
whole way through the novel, delivers a scathing rebuke on Mr. Bennet. By coming to his
defense, she allows readers to view him as a deeply flawed man who made the decision to marry
Mrs. Bennet because of her beauty but ignored her ditzy character, which maintains a great
semblance to Lydia's. He copes with his poor decision by retreating from his family, but
ironically, his refusal to take charge, especially in the quest to recover Lydia from her own
stupidity, causes many of the problems the Bennets have, such as the foolish persona they put on
to the public, which among other things, causes Darcy to be prejudiced toward Elizabeth. Wiley
summarizes Mr. Bennet's character by writing that Austen exposes his parental neglect when it
turns out that he has no savings with which he can bail out Lydia. However, his turmoil "is
rapidly reduced" when it turns out that Darcy, not his brother-in-law, Mr. Gardiner, paid
Wickham the bribe money to marry Lydia. Once his financial concerns are ameliorated, he
"withdraws into his study to enjoy the 'comic' show played out by his family" (Wylie). One final
plot change Wright makes is setting the scene where Lady Catherine confronts Elizabeth about
Darcy at night. The darkness illustrates Lady Catherine's black character and adds drama to the
movie but fails to provide the scene with Austen's level of depth. For example, Wright does not

Rosen 6
have Lady Catherine talk to Elizabeth in her carriage. Austen contrasts the carriage with
Elizabeth's preferred method of travel, walking, which in turn contrasts Elizabeth's down to earth
nature with Lady Catherine's airs. In the novel, Lady Catherine is not set up as a simple villain.
Instead, she represents the worst of 1800s British society, for she values family connections over
romance and the well-being of others. She nastily tells Elizabeth to reject any of Darcy's
advances "'[b]ecause honor, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet,
interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you willfully act against the
inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him.
Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us'" (338).
However, Wright does not delve into Lady Catherine's deeper beliefs; he simply gives his
heroine a battle to win.
As Sabine comments, "Harlequinization [buffoonery] brings Austen to the screen as a
mass-market romance." She then proceeds to criticize Wright for his "soft sexual focus on a
photogenic hero and heroine," and her point is quite valid. Because Wright spends so much time
focusing on Darcy and Elizabeth's romance, he neglects the development of other characters
"like Wickham, Jane Bennet and Bingley." However, despite the film's relative shallowness
compared to the depth with which Austen uses her characters for the deeper purpose of mocking
the society in which she lived, the viewer can still find a way to enjoy this romance. If anything,
he should immerse himself in the film's beautiful images and sounds and try to forget about the
archetypal and overly sentimental qualities of Wright's work, for the imagery Wright has created,
if nothing else, makes the film worth watching.

Rosen 7
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.
Pride and Prejudice. Dir. Joe Wright. Perf. Kiera Knightly, Matthew MacFadyen, and Brenda
Blethyn. Working Title Films and Studio Canal, 2005. Film.
Sabine, Maureen. "With My Body I Thee Worship: Joe Wright's Erotic Vision in Pride &
Prejudice (2005)." Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (2008). Religion and
Philosophy Collection. Gale Cengage Learning Databases. Web. 7 June 2013.
Wylie, Judith. "Dancing in Chains: Feminist Satire in Pride and Prejudice." Persuasions: The
Jane Austen Journal (2000). Literature Resource Center. Gale Cengage Learning
Databases. Web. 7 June 2013.