on this cheat sheet
Everything on the GCSE English Literature Pride and Prejudice: Plot Summary 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.
Exposition: first impressions
- The novel opens on its famous line, "a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife", as wealthy Mr Bingley rents Netherfield near the Bennets.
- Mrs Bennet is desperate to marry off her five daughters before Longbourn passes to a distant cousin under the entail.
- At the Meryton ball Bingley falls for the eldest sister, Jane, while his proud friend Mr Darcy snubs Elizabeth as "tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me".
- The charming officer Wickham wins Elizabeth's trust by claiming Darcy cheated him of an inheritance, and her prejudice hardens.
Rising action: refusal and separation
- The pompous Mr Collins, who will inherit Longbourn, proposes to Elizabeth but she refuses, so he marries her practical friend Charlotte Lucas instead.
- Bingley suddenly leaves for London and Jane is left heartbroken. Bingley's sisters and Darcy have quietly broken off the match.
Turning point: the proposal and letter
- Visiting Charlotte at Hunsford, near the estate of Darcy's aunt Lady Catherine, Elizabeth is thrown together with Darcy again.
- Darcy proposes, "In vain have I struggled... how ardently I admire and love you", but insults her family as he does it, and so she refuses him furiously, blaming him over Jane and Wickham.
- His letter answers both charges: he admits parting Bingley from Jane, but exposes Wickham as a liar who tried to elope with Darcy's young sister for her fortune.
- Forced to see how badly she has misjudged both men, Elizabeth's prejudice begins to fall away.
Crisis: Pemberley and the Lydia scandal
- Touring Derbyshire, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, believing Darcy absent, and meets a warmer, courteous man, much changed since the proposal.
- News breaks that the reckless youngest sister, Lydia, has run off with Wickham, and the scandal threatens to disgrace all five sisters.
- Darcy secretly tracks the couple down and pays Wickham to marry her. Elizabeth later learns it was him, not her uncle, behind the rescue.
Resolution: two proposals
- Released by Darcy, Bingley returns to Netherfield and proposes to Jane.
- Lady Catherine then storms in to stop the rumoured marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy.
- Elizabeth refuses to promise she will reject Darcy, giving him fresh hope.
- He proposes again and she accepts.