Pride and Prejudice

Unlike many people, I watched a movie based on the book before reading the original story. So it is hard to talk about the book without comparing it with the movie. Pride & Prejudice by Joe Wright (2005) was my first encounter with the story. It wasn’t kind of a movie I would really want to watch but it wasn’t as boring as I expected. So it made me wonder what makes the book so popular and I was curious to read the original. After I found a good audiobook and listened to it, I felt betrayed. The book was really interesting even for someone who would probably enjoy Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka more than the most of romantic novels. It is understandable that not all of the story points in the book would fit in a feature length movie but the main difference to me was the two main characters, Darcy and Elizabeth. In the book Elizabeth is a wise young girl rather than a rebellious teenager and this wisdom gives her enough confidence to judge others. This prejudice leads her to make wrong assumptions and decisions. Mr. Darcy on the other hand is simply a proud honorable gentleman that some his past experiences affects on his current relationships with others. He seems rather shy and immature in the movie. Pride and Prejudice the TV series (1995) was more loyal to the book but it wasn’t as interesting as the book and was boring even compared with the movie.