Pride & prejudice

Research Portfolio

Bennett’s House

By: Lynn, Nadia, Yovin, Daryl, Dimitri, Christopher, Nirvan

About the author

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose realism, biting social commentary and masterful use of free indirect speech, burlesque, and irony have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a small and close-knit family located on the lower fringes of English gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to Austen's development as a professional writer. Austen's artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about thirty-five years old. During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel which she tried and then abandoned, and wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth.

From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.

Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the eighteenth century and are part of the transition to nineteenth-century realism. Austen's plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Like those of Samuel Johnson, one of the strongest influences on her writing, her works are concerned with moral issues.

During Austen's lifetime, because she chose to publish anonymously, her works brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews. Through the mid-nineteenth century, her novels were admired only by members of the literary elite. However, the publication of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced her to a wider public as an appealing personality and kindled popular interest in her works. By the 1940s, Austen was widely accepted in academia as a "great English writer". The second half of the twentieth century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship, which explored many aspects of her novels: artistic, ideological, and historical.

Plot Summary

Elizabeth Bennet is a country gentleman's daughter in 19th Century England. She is one of five daughters, a plight that her father bears as best he can with common sense and a general disinterest in the silliness of his daughters. Elizabeth is his favourite because of her level-headed approach to life when his own wife's greatest concern is getting her daughters married off to well-established gentlemen. Only Jane, Elizabeth's older sister, is nearly as sensible and practical as Elizabeth, but Jane is also the beauty of the family, and therefore, Mrs. Bennet's highest hope for a good match.

When Mr. Bingley, a young gentleman of London, takes a country estate near to the Bennet's home, Mrs. Bennet begins her match-making schemes without any trace of subtlety or dignity. Despite Mrs. Bennet's embarrassing interference, Mr. Bingley and Jane become fond of one another. Mr. Darcy, who has accompanied Bingley to the country, begins his acquaintance with Elizabeth, her family, and their neighbours with smug condescension and proud distaste for the all of the country people. Elizabeth, learning of his dislike, makes it a point to match his disgust with her own venom. She also hears from a soldier that she has a fondness for that Darcy has misused the man. Without thinking through the story, Elizabeth immediately seizes upon it as another, more concrete reason to hate Mr. Darcy. She contradicts and argues with Darcy each time they meet, but somewhere along the way he begins to like Elizabeth.

When Bingley leaves the countryside suddenly and makes no attempts to contact Jane anymore, the young woman is heartbroken. Elizabeth, who had thought well of Bingley, believes that there is something amiss in the way that he left Jane in the lurch. Only when Elizabeth goes to visit her friend at the estate of Darcy's aunt does the mystery begin to unfold. After several encounters with Mr. Darcy while visiting her friend, Elizabeth is shocked when Darcy proposes to her. Elizabeth refuses him and questions him about the way that he misused her soldier friend and his undoubted role in the way that Bingley abandoned Jane. Darcy writes a letter to explain himself, and Elizabeth is embarrassed to learn that she had been mislead about Darcy's character. Had she known the truth, she would have loved Darcy as he loved her. Darcy leaves that part of the country before she can sort out her feelings and make amends with him. Then she meets him again when she is touring the gardens of his estate with her aunt and uncle. Darcy treats her with kindness and she believes he may still love her, but before anything can be done about it, she learns that one of her younger sisters has shacked up with the very soldier who mislead Elizabeth and the rest of her family about Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth returns home immediately.

When the indignity of her sister's shot-gun wedding is straightened out, Elizabeth is surprised that Darcy returns to the country with Bingley. She expected that the shame of her sister's actions had ruined any chances of a relationship with Mr. Darcy, or Jane and Bingley. Elizabeth learns from her aunt that Darcy did a great part to help get her younger sister properly married to the infamous soldier. Jane and Bingley sort out the misunderstanding that drove him away before and get engaged. Then Elizabeth and Darcy work out their misunderstandings and agree to marry.

The Bennet Family

Elizabeth Bennet: Elizabeth Bennet is the second of the five daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth is the most logical and level-headed of the Bennet daughters, and that makes her, her father's favourite. Although Elizabeth is thoughtful, intelligent, and practical, she comes to realize that she is just as capable of letting her own feelings get in the way of her good sense as her feather-brained sisters. Elizabeth realizes her grave mistake when she understands that she has greatly misjudged both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham.

Mrs. Bennet: Mrs. Bennet is Elizabeth Bennet's pushy, ignorant, and embarrassing mother whose greatest aspiration is to have her five daughters married off. Mrs. Bennet does not approve of Elizabeth's logic and practicality, and Elizabeth is her least favourite daughter.

Mr. Bennet: Mr. Bennet is a country gentleman and Elizabeth Bennet's father. He has very little interest in the duties of polite society or in raising his daughters. He finds his wife and his three youngest daughters to be unbearably frivolous and silly, but Elizabeth and Jane (the oldest daughter) make him proud.

Lydia Bennet/Wickham: Lydia is the youngest Bennet girl, and she is the biggest flirt as well. Lydia chases the soldiers quartered in Meryton and follows along when they move to Brighton. She and Mr. Wickham are forced to marry after Lydia runs away with him expecting to become his wife although Wickham has no such plan before Darcy pays him off

Jane Bennet: Jane is the Bennets' oldest daughter. She is practical like Elizabeth, but she is kinder and more understanding. Jane is greatly hurt when Bingley rejects her, but she overcomes her pain and the two of them end up together.

Mary Bennet: Mary Bennet is the middle child in the Bennet family, and she is odd. She is a prudish homebody who spends her time reading scripture. She is the only one of the Bennet girls who remains unmarried.

Kitty (Catherine) Bennet: Kitty is the second youngest daughter of the Bennet family, and she is not quite as bad a flirt as Lydia. Kitty and Lydia are partners in crime, but Kitty doesn't get into nearly as much trouble as Lydia.

Victorian houses

Victorian houses are architecturally commonly referred to as the Victorian Style but this "style" is really a period in history. The Victorian era dates from the time when Queen Victoria ruled Britain (1840 to 1904). During this time, industrialization brought many innovations in architecture. There are a variety of Victorian styles, each with its own distinctive features such as the Second Empire, Queen Anne, Stick, Shingle, and Richardsonian Romanesque. Although developed and popular from about 1820 into the early 1900's, the Victorian style is still desirable today. Strong historical origins include steep roof pitches, turrets, dormers, towers, bays, eyebrow windows and porches with turned posts and decorative railings. Ornamentation and decoration are used along with shingles or narrow-lap wood siding. The friendly, welcoming front porch featured in Victorian house plans draws the eye upward to the multi-storied home. Once there, the gaze takes in the home's many ornamental elements - turned posts, spindles, brackets under the eaves, turrets, towers, gables with louvered vents - that dress the Victorian house plan. All the gingerbread decorating the home proves that "more is more" in Victorian design.

Wonderfully fanciful, Victorian house plans from 1875 to the 1920's are starting points that be interpreted and personalized in an infinite number of eclectic ways. Mixing French, Italianate, Queen and Victorian Stick styles as well as materials and colors are the order of the day. Front doors are generally four-paneled with no or narrow sidelights, while windows tend to be long and narrow and sometimes incorporate bays. Thanks to their irregular exterior shape, Victorian floor plans tend to be free form and rambling. Ideal for creative homeowners who want a one-of-a-kind home, eclectic Victorian house plans are a great way to express your individuality.

Victorian Examples

Identifying Features

1. Steeply pitched roof of irregular shape, usually with dominant front-facing gable

2. Textured shingles (and/or other devices) to avoid smooth-walled appearance

3. Partial or full-width asymmetrical porch, usually one story high and extended along one or both side walls

4. Asymmetrical facade

Queen Anne Victorian Style

Stick Victorian Style

Queen Anne Victorian Style

Second Empire Victorian Style

Like the Victorian age, Queen Anne house plans are typically grandoise and opulent.

Queen Anne-style house plans are what comes to mind for many people when they think of Victorian-style homes (Queen Anne is a popular subset of Victorian style). Replete with towers, wings, wraparound porches and gables, the multistory Queen Anne house plan style presents an eccentric asymmetrical façade to the street, providing a feeling of individuality and personal expression that makes the home a reflection of the personality of its occupants.

Expect a steeply pitched roof, often with gables, topping a structure with decorative trim. Fish-scale shingles often dress the sides of the home, along with a variety of other decorative trim, while an expansive covered porch provides protected outdoor living space. Multiple windows bring light to the interior of the home, which usually features an open floor plan with a variety of nooks and cozy alcoves mirroring the variety of exterior towers and projections that give Queen Anne home plan styles so much of their old-fashioned, friendly charm.

Architectural Features:

Asymmetrical façade, with multiple projections, gables and towers Highly ornamented exterior and a variety of surface patterns, often

with fancy shingle patterns. Two to three stories, with a steeply pitched roof. Wide covered porches, often extending around a side of the home.

The multi-storied Victorian house plan features ornamental elements that contribute to a very unique design.

The friendly, welcoming front porch featured in Victorian house plans draws the eye upward to the multi-storied home. Once there, the gaze takes in the home's many ornamental elements - turned posts, spindles, brackets under the eaves, turrets, towers, gables with louvered vents - that dress the Victorian house plan. All the gingerbread decorating the home proves that "more is more" in Victorian design.

Wonderfully fanciful, Victorian house plans from 1875 to the 1920's are starting points that be interpreted and personalized in an infinite number of eclectic ways. Mixing French, Italianate, Queen and Victorian Stick styles as well as materials and colors are the order of the day. Front doors are generally four-paneled with no or narrow sidelights, while windows tend to be long and narrow and sometimes incorporate bays. Thanks to their irregular exterior shape, Victorian floor plans tend to be free form and rambling. Ideal for creative homeowners who want a one-of-a-kind home, eclectic Victorian house plans are a great way to express your individuality.

About the Project:

The project has been done in different parts by different people. The research was done separately and we cannot say that the work was done with the whole group present at the same time.

The reason for this is because firstly, we all live in different parts of the island, which is not easy for use to meet each other to do the work. During the holidays many of us participated in the Duke of Edinburg Award. We had no other choice than to make the people not participating in the Award activity to do the House alone. We could not afford to waste so much time.

As you can see in the project, the garden is not ready, we did not have enough time to complete it. The portfolio was also not completely ready with the deadline approaching. This made frustration grow up and small quarrels started happening within the group, which made things even worse.

Thanks to our teacher the group resettled and the work was able to be completed mostly. Had she not been here our oversized group could have got split and all the effort done would be wasted.

We have learned many things during this assignment, not only about Pride & Prejudice, but how to cope with other people and not only think of ourselves. We held tight and tried our best to listen what others had to say and not dictate the whole thing out. We learned how to trust each other even though some negligence has been made throughout the working process.

We can proudly say that our work is the fruit of all our efforts and that without the support of our friends and our teacher, this piece of English art would have never been made.

Sources

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=pride+and+prejudice+bennets+house&aq=f

http://images.google.mu/images?q=pride+and+prejudice:+bennets+house&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G&imgsz=xxlarge

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/pap/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen

http://images.google.mu/images?imgsz=xxlarge&gbv=2&hl=en&q=jane%20austen&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi