Setting Time and Place - The play begins in about 1797 at longbourn, the Bennet's home in Hertfordshire, england - Baltimore Center Stage
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S et t in g
Time and Place
The play begins in about 1797 at
Longbourn, the Bennet’s home in
Hertfordshire, England.
The French Revolution is still scourging while stirrings of the
Industrial Revolution are beginning to transform the lives of
England’s landed classes.
This is not Victorian England—the stereotypes of repression and
stuffiness do not apply here. There are many formalities, but the
social conventions vary depending on how old-fashioned the
people are and how formal the setting.
In terms of settings, the action of the play moves through time
and place as fluidly as the dancing presented on stage. Although
the play begins in the humble Bennet household, it transports us
to a number of different estates, public assemblies, and private
balls throughout England’s countryside.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice | 3
The Endlessly Adaptable
Pride and Prejudiceby Juliette Wells, Associate Professor and Chair of English, Goucher College
I n addition to the play you’re seeing today, Also crucial to Austen’s adaptability are two qualities that authors
rarely balance as well as she does: humor and morality. Combining
versions of Pride and Prejudice have appeared
to form satire, these central elements of Austen’s fictional world
in every possible medium, from film and speak to audiences across the centuries, even if the specific
television to comic books to a YouTube series. manners and social conventions she depicts seem distant.
What makes this novel, first published in 1813, Finally, the essential plot of Pride and Prejudice can be transferred
so endlessly adaptable? successfully into almost any realm. Austen wasn’t the first to create
a witty couple whose strong dislike gradually gives way to love: see,
A major reason, certainly, is Jane Austen’s compelling characters.
for example, Beatrice and Benedick of Much Ado about Nothing. But
Austen creates characters who think and act in psychologically
Austen’s particular take on the sparring pair has been influential
plausible ways. She has a special gift for sharply observed
on everything from 1940s screwball comedies to today’s romance
portraits of women, which continue to appeal to audiences. While
novels and romcom flicks.
Elizabeth Bennet’s outspokenness would have seemed somewhat
shocking to Austen’s contemporaries, we welcome her confidence Interpretations of Pride and Prejudice by other creators began with
and self-determination. the first illustrated edition, published in London by Richard Bentley
4
in 1833. By the turn of the 20th Century, Firth and Ehle’s influence was still proliferate. For the social media generation:
fully illustrated editions were much in going strong ten years later when Focus the Emmy Award-winning YouTube series
demand and, thanks to changes in printing Features released a very different Pride The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012–2013). For
technology, could be affordably priced. The & Prejudice feature film, one with roots devotees of P. D. James’s magnificent
beautiful “Peacock Edition” illustrated by more in 1980s teen comedies than in detective fiction: Death Comes to Pemberley,
Hugh Thomson has become an especially so-called “heritage” adaptations. Keira that author’s late-life homage to Austen
sought-after collectible. Knightley’s spirited Elizabeth in the 2005 (2011; TV miniseries version, 2013). For lovers
film appealed especially to younger viewers, of literary fiction: Jo Baker’s Longbourn
The first feature-length film based on an
while Matthew Macfadyen’s portrayal (2013), a wholly new approach through the
Austen novel, MGM’s Pride and Prejudice,
of an awkward, deeply introverted Darcy
established Laurence Olivier as Darcy and point of view of the servants whom Austen
resonated with those for whom the
Greer Garson as Elizabeth in the popular barely mentioned.
autistism spectrum and Asperger’s had
imagination. This film adaptation grew
become familiar concepts. Keep your eyes peeled for more. Longbourn
out of Helen Jerome’s acclaimed stage
is en route to becoming a film, as is
play Pride and Prejudice, performed in New Altogether, the decade of the 2000s
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yet to
York and London in 1935–1936, which later demonstrated, often thrillingly, just how
be released is Eligible, a novel by Curtis
inspired a 1959 Broadway musical titled far you could go with Pride and Prejudice.
Sittenfeld (author of Prep and American
First Impressions. A sharp script by the Director Gurinder Chadha updated the
English novelist Fay Weldon enriched a 1980 story in a global context with her 2004 Wife). And Nora Ephron, before she died,
television miniseries released by the BBC. Bollywood-influenced film Bride & Prejudice, adapted Lost in Austen into a feature film.
But the 1940 MGM film unquestionably reinventing Darcy as an arrogant American Cynics may remark that there’s no end to
retained its cultural dominance until, in 1995, hotel magnate and Elizabeth as Lalita Bakshi the ways people will try to make money off
Colin Firth took up the role of Darcy and, of Amritsar, India. What happens when a
of Jane Austen—and, indeed, there probably
indelibly, dived into a pond at Pemberley. passionate Austen fan magically enters
isn’t. Her work is in the public domain, and
the world of Pride and Prejudice was the
An international sensation, not least her name is a very recognizable brand.
premise of Lost in Austen (2008), a smart
because of this infamous “wet shirt” scene, And it’s certainly true that adaptations
and gleefully metafictional miniseries in
the 1995 BBC miniseries launched a wave beget more adaptations, in Hollywood as
which familiar characters don’t behave at all
of Austenmania that has yet to abate. In in the culture at large. But many people
how you’d expect. An invented connection
the bestselling novel Bridget Jones’s Diary today who love Austen’s novels came
between Pride and Prejudice and Austen’s
(1996), itself later adapted into a popular to them first through an adaptation, or
own love life anchored the 2007 biopic
film, Helen Fielding affectionately mocked credit an adaptation with renewing their
Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway.
Firth fans while suggesting, more seriously, appreciation for her writing. How could you
And, of course, Pride and Prejudice and
that the restrictions on women in Austen’s better honor an author than by inspiring
Zombies (2009) became an unlikely
world haven’t fully gone away. Fan fiction a reader? Bring on every new adaptation, I
bestseller by, yes, just adding zombies to
writers around the world responded say! Let’s be spoiled for choice. And then
Austen’s world.
enthusiastically to Firth’s Darcy—and, to a
I hope you’ll join me in going home and
lesser extent, to Jennifer Ehle’s portrayal of To the joy of those who share an omnivorous
opening up Pride and Prejudice.
Elizabeth—producing countless sequels and love of Austen, creative takes on Pride and
alternative versions. Prejudice for different audiences continue to
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice | 5
Of Patriarchal Pride
and Gendered Prejudice:
A Woman’s Place in Regency England
by Faedra Chatard Carpenter,
Production Dramaturg; Associate
Professor, The University of
Maryland, College Park
The original title page of
Jane Austen’s 1811 debut
novel, Sense and Sensibility,
makes no mention of the
author’s name, noting only
that it was written “By
a Lady.” Likewise, Pride
and Prejudice merely
credited authorship to
“the Author of Sense and
Sensibility.” Though critical
commendations paved the
way for further publications,
the truth of Austen’s
authorship remained
veiled until her brother
posthumously published
her final two books. Only
then, in 1817, was Jane
Austen fully revealed as the
acclaimed writer of her six
notable novels.
6
So, why did Austen choose to remain Prior to marriage, a young lady was
anonymous, especially in light of her works’ dependent upon her father (or the male
positive reception? Certainly, her family head of household), and after marriage
and friends actively supported her literary a woman’s husband was granted control
talents and efforts to publish. As early of her life and legal agency. Thus, upon
as 1797, her father contacted a London marrying, any property or wealth
publisher, asking him to consider one of possessed—or gained thereafter—became
Austen’s initial efforts, First Impressions. And the property of her husband. Even the
while his letter of inquiry was sent back custodial rights of a couple’s children were
with the terse response, “Declined by Return granted to the father. While this alone
of Post,” Austen continued to revise the encumbered a woman’s ability to inherit
manuscript until its successful publication money or property, the legal procedure of
16 years later—as Pride and Prejudice. entailment further crippled her potential for
fiscal freedom.
Despite consistent familial encouragement,
Austen elected to keep her authorial Common at the time (and familiar to
identity relatively secret. We can safely viewers of Downton Abbey), entailments
(i.e., needlework, dancing, and music);
assume that being of “the fairer sex” was mandated that estates and property were
primary academic skills (such as spelling,
likely a major factor. After all, Austen wrote inherited by the closest male heir (even
basic arithmetic, and geography); as well as
at a time in which gendered inequalities when “close” meant relatively distant).
lessons in proper etiquette, social conduct,
were fundamental to the social, economic, While there were some exceptions made
and moral behavior.
and political fabric; Regency England and loopholes exploited within this practice,
placed high expectations and severe Once primed and readied, young ladies on the whole entailing proved to be a
limitations on gentlewomen and their were presented to society. For those on successful way to preserve familial wealth
lives. Identifying oneself as an author was the so-called “marriage market,” social and property among the landed gentry and
almost inconceivable for a respectable gatherings at formal dances (assemblies the elite classes—just as it proved to be a
unmarried woman. and balls) served as the major conduits highly effective means of hindering female
for eligible young men and women to autonomy.
In general, women were believed to be
intellectually inferior to men, an idea that window shop for potential spouses. These And if one did not marry? Like Austen (who
Mary Wollstonecraft vigorously countered dances not only granted young people the benefited from the patronage of a wealthy
in her 1792 Vindication of the Rights of opportunity to meet and socialize, but they elder brother), a woman could be lucky
Woman. Despite such refutations, fields also gave conscientious parents the chance enough to be supported by a generous
such as mathematics and science were to make sure that their children’s amorous relative or family friend. Or a single woman
routinely considered beyond a woman’s inclinations could lead to beneficial financial trained in accomplishments could try to
grasp, along with poetic—yet rigorous— transactions. While romance-inspired secure a position as a governess, teacher,
subjects such as philosophy, Greek, or Latin. matrimony was on the rise, at the turn of or “lady’s companion”—if she could find the
Moreover, serious study failed to prepare the 19th Century the institution of marriage work. However, for women without family
women for what was then deemed to be was still very much a business venture. ties, kindly patronage, or any learned skill,
their highest calling: to serve men and the situation was much more dire—with
For women, marriage was vital. With few
society as wives, mothers, and hostesses. abject poverty or prostitution lurking as
alternatives, a profitable union was usually
fateful ends.
In order to fulfill these vocations effectively, the only way a woman could guarantee
women were limited to a special type of her livelihood. Restricted pathways to Accordingly, the stakes for young women
education. There were no public schools or economic security were due, in part, to in the world of Jane Austen were very
universities open to them, but young ladies the limits placed upon what women were real and very high. The risks and rewards
could learn what they needed to master allowed to learn and do in the work force. that arise from something as seemingly
through the tutelage of their mothers, However, limits were also placed on what innocuous as “a country dance” are
governesses, or boarding schools. Their women could own and control even when palpable and pressing, serving as stark
curriculum generally focused on artistic it came to their immediate homes, families, reminders of a society well versed in
skills known as “accomplishments” or possessions. patriarchal pride and gendered prejudice.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice | 7
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