Everything on the GCSE English Literature Pride and Prejudice: Context poster is written out below, section by section. Use it to search the sheet, copy parts into your own notes, or check a fact quickly.
Remember: to earn context marks, you need to tie every point to a specific moment in the novel. And where you can, link that point to society today.
The entail: why daughters must marry
- By law, Longbourn can only be passed down to a male heir, an arrangement called an entail.
- Because Mr Bennet has no son, his home will go to his cousin Mr Collins, not to any of his five daughters.
- The family has little money otherwise, so the daughters need to marry well to avoid falling into poverty.
Use it for
- Ch 13 - Mr Collins coming to inspect the estate he will one day own.
- Ch 19 - his proposal to Elizabeth as a way to keep the house in the family.
- Mrs Bennet's need to get her daughters married.
Link it to today
Who controls money and property still affects how freely a person can choose their own life.
Marriage as survival
- For a respectable woman with no money of her own, marriage was the only secure future.
- The alternatives, becoming a governess or staying single and dependent on relatives, usually meant poverty.
- Choosing a husband was often as much about money and security as it was love.
- The famous opening line sums it up:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Use it for
- Ch 22 - Charlotte Lucas marrying Mr Collins for a comfortable home rather than love, which Austen treats as sensible, not shameful.
- Elizabeth refusing to marry without real respect, despite it turning down security.
Link it to today
People still feel the pull between marrying for security and marrying for love.
Class and rank
- Regency society was split into clear layers, and a family's place in it shaped who they could marry.
- At the top were the aristocracy (for example Lady Catherine) and the landed gentry, who lived off inherited estates (for example Darcy, who owns Pemberley, and, though not wealthy, the Bennets who owned Longbourn).
- Lower down came people with new money from trade or business (for example the Bingleys or the Gardiners), looked down on for working for a living.
Use it for
- Ch 34 - Darcy insulting Elizabeth's family even as he proposes.
- Ch 56 - Lady Catherine's fury at the match, and the kind, sensible Gardiners showing up her empty pride in rank.
Link it to today
People are still often judged by their wealth or background rather than by their character.
Women, propriety and reputation
- A woman's reputation was one of the most valuable things she had, and it was easily damaged.
- A single scandal could ruin not only her own future but her sisters' chances of marrying too.
- Women had little real education beyond social "accomplishments", could not own property once married, and had very little freedom to act on their own.
Use it for
- Ch 46-51 - Lydia running away with Wickham threatens to disgrace the family.
- Ch 56 - Elizabeth standing up to Lady Catherine and insisting on her right to choose for herself.
Link it to today
Elizabeth still feels like a role model now, because she refuses to be judged by either her class or her gender.