Pride and Prejudice - Text to Screen Written Exercise.
Reading a novel without any visual representation of the characters within it is a great opportunity for readers to use their own imagination. .
Throughout reading Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I developed my own mental images of the characters. It was especially interesting to reflect on how I had imagined the characters to be at the beginning of the novel, and how my perceptions changed by the end.
In the 1940's film, the actors represented the characters well: Elizabeth remained witty, however did not have those same alluring eyes illustrated in the novel. Jane didn't possess such beauty as was repeatedly mentioned in the novel. "She is not half as handsome as Jane." (Mrs. Bennet Ch.1) But it was Mr. Collins especially who was entirely different in the film in comparison to the novel. I had personally imagined him to be overly polite and thankful: "Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society . . ." The way he was depicted in the film made him appear to be proud and somewhat authoritative. .
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were represented very well, although I didn't expect Mrs. Bennet to have half the energy that she had in the film. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley were both handsome as described in the novel, although it was a 1940's type of "handsome." And of course, Mr. Darcy is portrayed as arrogant and proud in both film and novel: "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me." (Darcy, Ch.3).
The three main themes remain the same in both forms of the story, and undeniably they are love, reputation, and class.
The setting of the film corresponded very closely with the way I had imagined it. Having previously seen movies based in the 1800's, my perception of the setting in Pride and Prejudice was very similar to how it was depicted. .
The way major themes and issues were incorporated into the film were at times disappointing, mostly due to the inconsistency of Mr.
