Pride And Prejudice Film Analysis

Discovering Gender in 2005 Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice, the beloved novel about the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy written by Jane Austen, has always been a favourite of film producers. Joe Wright, the director of the 2005 adaptation managed to fit the main story into a two-hour film, but unavoidably made some adjustments to the original novel. However, regardless of some lines and settings altered to fit the twenty-first-century audience, this essay holds the view that the 2005 filmed version in fact reaffirms gender hierarchies in the original novel by adding exact scenes and using special cinematic techniques.

One of the most obvious evidences of gender hierarchies is female’s pursuit of marriage. If a woman does not marry, she would be regarded as “a burden to (her) parents” as Charlotte Lucas mentions in the film. Instead of showing the ironic view of “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen, 2001, p.3), the film implies the fact that a single woman must be in want of a husband, of “a comfortable home and protection”. The daughters’ desire to marry is visualised by their listening at the door of their parents’ conversation. Even the intelligent and independent Elizabeth and the sweet Jane are attracted and excited about the fact that the

On the other hand, it strengthens male attraction to female, forming imbalance between two sexes in another way. In the novel, Austen makes room for Mr. Darcy’s emotions and struggle.

Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. (Austen, 2001,