Pride and Prejudice, Chapters 42 to 46

In this episode, we talk about the way Darcy is reintroduced into the narrative, Jane Austen’s thoughts on architecture and landscaping, the possible connection between Pemberley and Chatsworth and how Georgiana Darcy is presented in a very different manner from Anne de Burgh.

We discuss Elizabeth Bennet, perhaps Jane Austen’s most popular heroine. Ellen talks about the landed gentry, and Harriet looks at how the film and television adaptations treat the visit to Pemberley – including the scene that is probably the best known in all the adaptations.

Things we mention:

 Books:

• Donald J. Greene, ‘The Original of Pemberley’ (1968), later collected in The Selected Essays of Donald Green (2004)
• John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)
• George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871)

Popular culture:

• MGM, Pride and Prejudice (1940) – starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
• BBC, Pride and Prejudice (1980) – starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul
• BBC, Pride and Prejudice (1995) – starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth
• Focus Features, Pride & Prejudice (2005) – starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen
• BBC, Death Comes to Pemberley (2011) – starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Matthew Rhys
• YouTube, Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012) – starring Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh

Creative commons music used

•  Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.
•  Extract from Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice. File from IMSLP. 
• Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.