Jane Austen’s Most Famous Story Continues to Inspire Us, 250 Years After Her Birth| National Catholic Register

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Jane Austen was born in Steventon, a village in the south of England, 250 years ago, on Dec. 16, 1775. The wit and wisdom of this singular writer continue to inspire us.

Among the several notable novels that she wrote during her all-too-brief life, which ended at the age of 41, Pride and Prejudice stands out as the one that has most captivated readers and also viewers of the numerous screen versions of the work.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the most acclaimed of such cinematic versions of the novel, the six-episode BBC series adapted for television by Andrew Davies and directed by Simon Langton. The television drama is a forceful reminder of the enduring power of Austen’s novel and the many lessons that the tale has for us today.

The televised version does not begin with the famous words with which the novel opens: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” A similar phrase is placed on the lips of Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the novel, early on. Rather, at the beginning of the cinematic drama we are presented with a picturesque panorama of the English countryside, accompanied by the lively theme music composed by Carl Davies.

A young man of good fortune, Mr. Charles Bingley (played by Crispin Bonham-Carter) and his likewise wealthy friend, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (played by Colin Firth), look out in admiration at the Netherfield estate. Darcy confides to Bingley that the manor is “pretty enough,” but warns him, “You’ll find the society something savage.” Bingley, who believes country manners to be “charming,” is undeterred from settling in the area.

The country ethos is soon embodied in heroine Elizabeth, who lives at the nearby Longbourn estate with her parents and four sisters and who gazes at the two men in curiosity from a distance.

We are soon introduced to the financial concerns that temper the spirited life of this family. The Bennet estate is governed by a strict agreement and so the young women have little financial prospects to support them in their respective quests for marriage. As Elizabeth wryly comments, they have “little but our charms to recommend us.”

Such modest means do not prevent Mr. Bingley from getting to know the Bennet family and soon falling in love with Jane, the eldest of the daughters. At a lively country ball, Charles meets the family and by his winning personality — not to mention his fortune — soon ingratiates himself with them, and with Jane in particular. Mrs. Bennet, avidly concerned for the financial stability of the family, is delighted at the appearance of this suitor.

However, such a marriage plot brings up a tension, present throughout Austen’s novel and in this television version: Can there be authentic love in a world in which concerns for money and social status are so prominent?

As Jane confides to Elizabeth in the screen production: “I would wish … I should so much like … to marry for love.” Elizabeth — “Lizzy,” as she is known more familiarly — assures her sister that such an ideal will be possible but expresses the desire that such a transcendent aim might line up with worldly security: “Only, take care you fall in love with a man of good fortune.” However, when Mr. Bingley abruptly leaves the scene, it appears that his passion was simply a passing fancy.

The goal of genuine romance is also elusive for Elizabeth herself. At the same initial ball at which Mr. Bingley becomes acquainted with country society and with Jane, Elizabeth receives cold indifference from Mr. Darcy. In the novel, Austen reports the harsh judgment of those present upon this friend of Bingley: “He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.” Colin Firth effectively conveys the stiffness of Darcy, who clearly does not share his friend’s liking for social life in this part of the British countryside.

Elizabeth appears unaffected by such cold treatment and unwilling to be overcome by the pressures to find an economically advantageous marriage partner. Such pressures are made tangible in her mother, played by Alison Steadman, whose exaggerated insistence on marrying her daughters for money provides one among several points of comic relief in the series.

Despite this maternal influence, Lizzy firmly rejects the marriage proposal of awkward clergyman Mr. William Collins, who is the heir to Longbourn. David Bamber portrays the oddity of this character for whom Austen pronounces a harsh judgment in the novel, calling him neither “sensible nor agreeable,” whose “society was irksome,” and who does not have true love for Elizabeth.

Collins is obsequious to his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Barbara Leigh-Hunt plays this haughty woman who serves as yet another imposing force undermining Elizabeth’s desire to remain true to her principles.

Elizabeth is not swayed by the security offered by Collins’ proposal. She later also repudiates Darcy when he becomes enamored of her, in light of her negative assessment of his character.

In such scenes, actress Jennifer Ehle brings to life the independence and self-confidence of Elizabeth. Nonetheless, this young woman still needs to grow in her discernment of persons and events.

Misled by the testimony of the handsome soldier George Wickham and her liking for him, she has come to believe Wickham’s testimony about the supposed deceitfulness of Darcy. In the film version, even after just a brief acquaintance with him, Elizabeth professes to Jane that Wickham is “open and artless in his manner” and that “there was truth in all his looks.”

Despite this certainty, Elizabeth has been led astray. Austen’s story leads us to relive the gradual process by which the young woman comes to appreciate a more profound truth that goes beyond the superficial appearances to which she has fallen prey. Through his behavior and through the testimony of others, we come to understand, along with Elizabeth, that Darcy is not the unfeeling person she had expected him to be.

The television portrayal offers a compelling re-creation of the way reading plays a key role in Elizabeth’s coming to the truth of matters, as is the case in the novel. Darcy, wounded by the pain of Elizabeth’s refusal and imputation of his character, turns to the pen and explains the extensive background behind his actions. As we see him write, we share in his heart’s angst. Later, as Elizabeth reads his letter, we also partake in her epiphany about his character.

The BBC drama, like the Austen novel and the Christian faith that guided her, reminds us that true love is possible in a world in which more marginal concerns threaten this deep human desire. However, living out such ideals requires the discernment and fortitude of persons who, like Elizabeth, can hold to such ambitions amid societal forces that often pull in the opposite direction.

Two hundred and 50 years after her birth, Jane Austen’s writing continues to inspire us with such lessons. While society has greatly changed since her time, human nature — with its capacity for both baseness and grandeur so skillfully captured in her work — remains the same.

We continue to need stories that lead us towards higher spiritual ideals and that help us to reflect deeply, when we are all too easily tempted to be deluded by worldly glamour and passing emotions.

Jane Austen’s novels, and the new artwork they continue to inspire, do not cease to offer a radiant source of insight that can respond to this pressing need.