Pride And Prejudice ,
The Novel of Manners
By Katrina , Karen, Birttany
and Max
Novel Of Manners
• ‘Novel of Manners’ is a literary genre in which a work of
fiction deals with the values, customs, and morals of a
complex civilization. Society is the main theme, so the
characters are measured by how they fit into this social
world.
• Alike to many of Jane Austen’s novels, Pride and
Prejudice deals with the themes and ideas
associated with a Novel of Manners. The plot of
Pride and prejudice revolves around the domestic
affairs of a country gentry family of 19th century
England.
Qualities of a Victorian Lady:
• "A lady should be quiet in her manners, natural and
unassuming in her language, careful to wound no one’s
feelings, but giving generously and freely from the
treasures of her pure mind to her friends. Scorning no
one openly, she should feel gentle pity for the
unfortunate, the inferior and the ignorant, at the same
time carrying herself with an innocence and single
heartedness which disarms ill nature, and wins respect
and love from all."
------(Victorian Station)------
The Role of Manners in Pride and Prejudice
• Austen's Pride and Prejudice is customerily known as
a novel of manners. The story portrays life of the
gentility in a small, rural society. Austen reveals the
delicate and complex nature of a society based on a
system of manners.
• In such a society, the well-being of everyone depends
on people maintaining their proper places and
behaving according to a strict code of manners. For
the Bennet sisters, their chances of marriage
depreciates with every show of impropriety.
Specific Examples
• "Oh, certainly. No woman can be really esteemed accomplished
who does not also possess a certain something in her air, in her
manner of walking, in the tone of her voice, her address and
expressions." (Pride and Prejudice, pg 32 chapter 8)
-This illustrates how a Victorian woman was expected to be
publicly presentable and polite at all times. How a woman
behaved in front of a group of people was how she was judged.
• When the Bennet family are in public, the lively behaviour of the
3 youngest girls is considered very strange and is talked over by
several people and is considered a great impropriety since girls
are not supposed to participate in these kind of activities until
they reach a certain age.
• When Elizabeth travels to Netherfield Park by herself to
see an ill Jane, Caroline Bingley and her sisters are
extremely shocked to find her dress seeped in mud and
her face flushed from exercise. This was perceived as very
unusual for it was considered very odd for a women to
travel by herself.
This discusses how ladies were perceived and
judged by their appearance and conduct by others. It
also addresses the importance of social etiquette and
points out the independence of Austen's high spirited
heroin Elizabeth Bennet.