Pride and Prejudice First Chapters

Chapter 1

Mrs Bennett informs Mr Bennett that Netherfield Park has been let by a gentleman called Mr Bingley who has a large fortune Mrs Bennett is very keen on Bingley and is becoming obsessed with the idea of him marrying on of their daughters Mr Bennett is seemingly less intrigued by Bingley and is very passive to the idea that Mr Bingley will associate with any of his daughters Money, marriage and status are already huge parts of the story; how rich is Bingley? Could he marry one of the Bennett sisters? and he earns 'four or five thousand a year' Mrs Bennett says "he may fall in love with one of them" - he hasn't even moved in yet but she is already jumping to the conclusion that he is looking for love The idea of somebody marrying for love in this era was unheard of so this was very odd of her to say Responding to the idea that Mr Bennett should visit Bingley as soon as he arrives, Mr Bennett says "I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go". This is quite ludicrous as it was common for a family to be introduced by the husband - it was quite cheeky of Mr Bennett to suggest that the girls went themselves Mrs Bennett favours Elizabeth and she said that she "must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy" However Mr Bennett favours Lydia as she has similar traits as himself Mrs Bennetts main life ambition was to get all of her daughters married

Chapter 2

Mr Bennett ended up visiting Mr Bingley without his wife knowing The family are discussing Mr Bingley and Mrs Long There seems to be a degree of jealousy to Mrs Long as they are evaluating how she won't be back until the day before the next ball, meaning that she will not have known Mr Bingley Mr Bennett explains how one cannot know what a man is really like when they have known him for only a fortnight. He then goes on to say that it should be as an act of kindness to introduce Mrs Long and her nieces to Bingley not to prove a point. Mrs Bennett did not approve of this At this point Mrs Bennett exclaims that she is "sick of Mr Bingley". This is a very big contrast to how she felt in chapter 1 Mr Bennett then tells them that he visited Bingley that morning and that they "cannot escape the acquaintance now" The girls and Mrs Bennett were very astonished - just as Mr Bennett had hoped Mrs Bennett tells the girls that they have an excellent father and she doesn't know how to repay him They spent the rest of the evening deciding when they should ask Bingley to dinner

Chapter 3

The girls had high hopes of Bingley after Lady Lucas reported that he was "highly favourable" and that he liked dancing Mrs Bennetts intention for the ball was for Bingley to want to marry one of her daughters Mr Bingley spent some time with Mr Bennett in the library, without seeing the sisters, however they saw him riding a black horse, wearing a blue coat Mr Bingley brought back six girls from London, his 5 sisters and one cousin Mr Darcy, Mr Binley's friend, was attracting a lot of attention but they soon found out that he was 'proud' and had bad manners. This changed his popularity a lot. Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley are very contrasting characters at the ball: Mr Darcy only danced two dances and didn't want to be introduced to any other lady whereas Mr Bingley danced every dance and was 'lively and unreserved' Elizabeth overheard Mr Darcy talking about her disrespectfully by saying "she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me" which gave Mrs Bennett a good reason to dislike Mr Darcy a great deal and left Elizabeth with no feelings towards him Mr Bingley had danced with Jane twice at the ball, Mary had heard somebody tell Miss Bingley that she was the 'most accomplished girl in the neighbourhood' and Catherine and Lydia had had partners for every dance. Mr Bennett was disappointed that Mrs Bennett had like Mr Bingley and didn't want to hear about how much he danced