On 28 January 1813, Pride and Prejudice was published. 200 years later, we still can’t get enough of Jane Austen’s most famous novel. So what’s the big deal about Elizabeth and Darcy, anyway?

Adapting ‘Pride and Prejudice’

In 1813, Jane Austen sold the copyright to Pride and Prejudice for £110. Since then we have seen numerous adaptations, including the 1940 film starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, the beloved 1995 BBC miniseries starring Colin Firth in a lake (and Jennifer Ehle), and the recent 2005 film with Keira Knighley and Matthew Macfadyen (in the fog).

In a slightly looser version, we see Elizabeth Bennet become the wonderfully accident-prone diarist in Bridget Jones’ Diary, and let’s not forget about the Bollywood-spectacular of Bride and Prejudice (actually, it’d be best if everyone forgot entirely about Bride and Prejudice). And there’s the delightful Lost in Austen, where our heroine escapes from the dreary modern day into the world of Pride and Prejudice, literally.

Then there’s the fascination with the author herself (Becoming Jane, The Real Jane Austen). People have written books about other people reading Jane Austen novels (The Jane Austen Book Club), or going to Jane Austen theme parks (Austenland), and other people have turned those books into films. And just when it seemed to be dying down, last year we saw the premiere of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a web series where Elizabeth and Mr Darcy become Youtube vlogger Lizzie, and Darcy the hipster.

Why we (still) love Pride and Prejudice

So why are we so obsessed? What is so great about a novel where the two main characters basically have the adult version of pulling each others hair in the playground, until they manage to say “um hey, so, I like you”.

Of course, it all comes back to the writing. If you haven’t read it, this is your cue to go and do so. Right now. There is a reason why the screenwriters who have adapted P&P generally decide to quote directly from Austen’s book – because it is bloody good. Austen wrote about what she knew – courtship, the struggle of being poor, the economy of marriage. She never wrote a conversation between two men without any ladies present, because she had (obviously) never witnessed one, and wasn’t sure what would have been said. This is why the novel is so excellent, because it feels so undeniably real.

The social conventions at the time and the dialogue-heavy style of the book mean we have to read between the lines with Austen. There are only two moments in the novel when Mr Darcy and Elizabeth are able to say what they really mean to each other – both being proposals. In the other scenes, we have to try and gage their meaning from what they don’t say, and from the huge amounts of sexual tension (no need to act coy, this entire novel is about people trying to get together).

Everywhere you look, people are trying to showcase their very best moves, but in this very proper way – through dancing, and family dinners, and courtship. Darcy and Elizabeth are so exciting to us as a couple because they do not conform strictly to these social conventions.

The novel itself has had its own share of written adaptions. There was the hit parody novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (spoiler: there aren’t any zombies in the original), and (to the delight of this particular author), Pride and Prejudice was also adapted by Marvel as a graphic novel. And it must be said, not every idea in the past 200 years has been brilliant – see this generally atrocious intention to add sex scenes into classic (and more importantly, out of copyright) novels including Pride and Prejudice and Sherlock Holmes.

The countless modern adaptations of this story show just how relevant it remains in the modern day. We still enjoy it because we can still relate to it (and a tiny bit because we pine for the huge dresses and the weekly balls). Maybe the social conventions are different, but the people always remain the same. And that’s why we (still, and will forever) adore it.

Why do you love ‘Pride and Prejudice’?