Comparison Of The Book And Film Adaptation Of Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen
The well-known romance novel of 1813, written by Jane Austen, has been adapted to BBC series, but also to a variety of movies. The adaptation I chose was the 2005 British French full-length movie directed by Joe Wright. It is a romantic melodrama with Keira Knightley playing the lead protagonist Elizabeth Bennet, and her love interest Darcy Fitzwilliam played by Matthew Macfadyen. Originally, the screenwriter wanted to keep all of the dialogues from the book the same. However, Wright, the director, changed many things in the story including the original dialogue. Truthfully, the movie does not follow the original narrative written by Jane Austen, it is more of a shortened version of the book. Still, his decision is comprehensible, for the reason that, it is difficult and improbable to put almost 300 pages of the story into a 2-hour movie. The movie is set in the late 18th century, the Age of the Regency, whereas the book occurred in the 19th century, in the Victorian Period. Moreover, he made many changes to the characters, but also the scenes, which he left out and introduced us to the new ones. The director wanted the wider audience to understand the story and in addition to connect with the story. If the movie were the same as the book, it would capture the story from the perspective of Elizabeth. However, Wright chose to include the scenes from the view of Darcy as well, to show his emotional side and prove that he is not just a grumpy character without feelings. Additionally, it proved how he cherished his friendship with Bingley.
Firstly, the changes in the characters rather concerned the personality than physical attributes. However, I noticed one change in the physical feature to a character that was quite striking. Originally, in the book, Mr Collins, the cousin and possible husband of Elizabeth, is described as a “tall, heavy looking young man of five and twenty”. However, in the movie adaptation he had a very tiny figure to the point he was even shorter than Lizzie and it gave of comic feeling. Further, in the movie version he behaves too nice and kind to the point people feel sorry for him. The book rather shows his negative and unattractive personality as Austen described Collins in this way: ‘His air was grave and stately, and his manners were very formal‘.
The bigger difference was in the character of Elizabeth. In the book, Austen portrays her as a bright, well-mannered protagonist who thinks rationally. Whereas in the movie, especially if we focus to the scene where she is seen yelling at her mother, she gives off a bad impression of a rude, bold, impatient and even grumpy character. This particular change in her personality is quite unrealistic considering that it was situated in the 18th century, where yelling at the parents was considered as a very rare occurrence.
Looking at the physical appearance, Elizabeth, but also the Bennet family appeared like a poor peasant class. It was easily identifiable by the poorly clothing they wore and the place where they lived. It is a quite a substantial change compared to the book. Therefore, the difference between Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s social classes is too obvious in the movie version. Wright made the Bennet family look as if they are a peasant lower class, whereas Austen created them as gentry who possess an estate. His change did not affect only the physical appearance or housing. What is more, their manners were also changed. The family behaves in a chaotic way; the scene where a pig is running through the kitchen proves it very well. No one will think that in the book the Bennet family is an aristocratic class originally. He should have not changed it because it lost the truthfulness to the book and its story.
Moreover, Wright’s Elizabeth keeps her distance not only with Jane, but also with her sisters later through the movie. She is secretive and ridicules her own family. Austen’s Elizabeth never kept any secrets from Jane. They shared their current thoughts in the mind but also their plans. Furthermore, in the book Elizabeth is well educated and rational enough to behave like that. This was the difference, which completely changed the perception of the female protagonist, but also the whole narrative as Elizabeth has a different personality than in the book. The movie version portrays her as a lonely heroine who is dealing with emotions by herself.
The qualities of Elizabeth in the movie remind us a typical romantic hero who is lonely and dealing with problems by himself. She does not tell Jane that Darcy wrote her a letter explaining the reason of his conflict with Wickham nor that Darcy was the one who saved her family, when he paid for the wedding of Lydia and Wickham, but also paid off his debts. She kept it all as a secret. On the other hand, Jane Austen’s Elizabeth is more of a neoclassical character who has a rational thinking and is not alone, because she has her sister or her best friend Charlotte Lucas to entrust.
However, that does not mean that the movie adaptation made Elizabeth cold-hearted. Elizabeth has a few scenes where she is not afraid to show her real emotions. She is crying in front of Darcy and his relatives when she receives the news of her sister Lydia running away with Wickham. In the last part of the movie, Elizabeth is crying again. It is the scene where she is explaining her father why she truly loves Darcy and asks him for permission to marry him. This scene is very emotional, as both Elizabeth and her father, Mr Bennet, are crying. He shows his real emotions of being sad to let her go but also happy at the same time, because he believes she found a true love. In the book, it was not to such an extent, with Elizabeth only having tears in her eyes.
Further, the relationship of Mr and Mrs Bennet was also a striking difference. The movie made their relationship very affectionate. On the other hand, in the book, the Bennet’s relationship is passive and antagonistic. Next, the focus of Wright’s Pride and Prejudice was on the romance between Elizabeth and Darcy. On the other hand, Jane Austen wrote the book with the themes of love and the different ways of its perception. Moreover, she emphasized the importance of money and property in pre-industrial England. However, the theme that was apparent in both works was the class distinction. There were visible social differences (Darcy and Elizabeth or Charlotte and Mr Collins) and marriage was a tool that narrowed the differences. The ideal solution for a woman was to marry a man with a good social status who possessed a fortune with the novel’s opening quote: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. ”
The thing that caught my eye were the locations of the movie version. Director Wright chose the locations very well as it gave off an authentic feeling. Both Longbourn and Pemberley are fictional towns. Thus, he had chosen Derbyshire and Kent, or Chatsworth House and Groombridge Place to be exact, for a more realistic approach. Chatsworth House is a stately home from the 16th century, whereas Groombridge Place is a manor house of 17th century.
Besides the place, he used weather as an important tool for expressing emotions of the protagonists. In fact, the movie made the character and nature as one. The inner feelings were shown through the weather. When Darcy was proposing to Elizabeth for the first time, in Stourhead Garden, Temple of Apollo, it was pouring down. This was a complete change compared to Austin’s version inside a room at Collins’ house when she was visiting Hunsford. With the rain, the two characters are having an argument while Darcy is confessing to Elizabeth that he loves her. For the second confession, the situation was comparable in the movie adaptation just like the first one, as the weather was cheerful pairing with the mood of the protagonists. The moment when Darcy proposed to Elizabeth for the second time, she accepted it.
Finally, the movie ends with a romantic kiss between Elizabeth and Darcy in the night scene of Pemberley. The actual book never ended this way. It ends with Lydia who is writing a letter to Elizabeth to wish her happiness and most importantly ask for money. Nowadays people combine watching movies with reading books to align the stories. Jane Austen’s story is timeless, thus there have been many adaptations into series or movies. However, if we compare the 2005 movie adaptation and the original book, there are too many differences including the character’s traits or setting. Wright made Elizabeth look as a rude, but also secretive character and thus, changed the narrative of the story. His Elizabeth was lonesome, like any romantic hero. On the other hand, in the novel, she is not lonely, because she shares everything with Jane or Charlotte. She is rational and that is the trait of a neoclassical character. The movie was very romantic, because the nature was one with the main protagonist. When she was sad, the weather changed to stormy, and when she was happy, the sun was shining bright. Overall, Wright wanted the audience to understand the story more and that is the reason why the dialogues were changed and the story was modernized for a wider audience.
