Opening of Pride and Prejudice: Commentary
This is one of the most famous starting sentences in all of literature:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
It sets the tone for the whole of the book, marriage, and material considerations, and gets us right into the middle of the action, for we are about to discover that a single man has moved into the main characters’ district, causing all sorts of romantic feminine hopes–and more mercenary designs as well.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
The word property is deliberate as well, once again reminding us of the main reason why marriage was entered into, for property and family considerations.
‘My dear Mr. Bennet,’ said his lady to him one day, ‘have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?’
We thus find out that two of the main characters are Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and she is very excited to discover a local house has been rented and new tenants have arrived. The new tenant is hoped to be a good addition to their small society, but it is also obvious from the opening two sentences that she has already checked out the new neighbor with an eye to who the person is, has family, material circumstances, and so on.
She has “Googled” him to the best of her ability according to the neigbourhood gossip, and is overjoyed he is a bachelor. Her scheming mind is already working out which of her daughters is entitled to him. As we will soon discover, she has 5.
Therefore, while she might seem embarrassing and gauche and even mercenary to us, she is a realistic woman who knows that marriage is the only way her daughters can function fully in a male-dominated society. A husband gives respectibility, reputation, material comfort and protection. Of course, a bad husband can destroy all of these.
But the opening line suggests a gentle comedy rather than tragedy, though Austen skirts quite close to it at times. It is also interesting that if there are to be multiple daughters, there are going to be multiple heroes in the novel, at least 3 in this case.
This novel is also masterful because of the multiple viewpoints. We can see Mrs. Bennet’s point of view, her excitement, right from the start of the novel, but we can also get the sense of ‘be careful what you wish for’ as well.
This single gentleman, Mr. Bingley, is the first of our ‘heroes’ and it is because of him that the other two main male protagonists will appear, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Wickham.
This opening is therefore masterful in terms of plot, characterisation and narrative, bringing us right into the middle of the action and giving us characters we can care about and engage with.