Pride and Prejudice: English 4H
suggested time: 60 minutes
Read the following prompts and come to class on the block day prepared to write your essay on
ONE prompt. DO NOT bring any pre-written material.
You may mark quotes and make marginal notes in your novel.
BRING YOUR NOVEL and a print out of this essay prompt paper.
You will do the pre-write in class as well—do NOT do so beforehand. You are allowed to have a
THESIS written before the day of the test.
Write the Prompt # you are answering at the top of the page.
Directions: Write a 5-paragraph essay on ONE of the prompts below. Do not write on the back of
the paper. Do not skip lines. Be sure to include quote CDs with page numbers. You must do a prewrite on this handout—not on separate paper. A pre-write is not optional. A title for your essay is
optional.
PROMPT #1: Often in literature a character’s success in achieving goals depends on keeping a
secret and divulging it only at the right moment, if at all. Using Pride and Prejudice, choose a
character who keeps a secret. In a well-organized essay, briefly explain the necessity for secrecy
and how the character’s choice to reveal or keep the secret affects the plot and contributes to the
meaning of the work as a whole.
PROMPT #2: Novels/plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social
occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live.
Using Pride and Prejudice, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a
whole.
PROMPT #3: In a novel/play, a confidant or confidante is a character, often a friend or relative of the
hero/heroine, whose role is to be present when the protagonist needs a sympathetic listener to
confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry James remarked, that the confidant/confidante can be as
much “the reader’s friend as the protagonist’s.” However, the author sometimes uses this character
for other purposes. Choose a confidant/confidante from Pride and Prejudice and write an essay.
Discuss the various ways this character functions in the work and contributes to the meaning of the
work as a whole.
Rules/Format Requirements:
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do not skip lines
do not skip lines between paragraphs (just
indent each paragraph)
use margin lines (do not write in margin
space)
no 1st/2nd person
present tense only
endnotes required
no contractions
do not end sentences with prepositions
do not start sentences with “because” or “but”
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do not write on the back of the paper
blue/black pen only
cannot use “the reader” or “the one” or “the
author”
CDs must be integrated
pre-write is located on back of handout
body paragraphs are 2-chunks and you have
a thesis statement (located at end of
introduction)
prompt # at top of page