Pride & Prejudice (ATOM Study Guide)

Pride & Prejudice is the 2005 feature film version of Jane Austens' novel. It will appeal to middle and senior secondary students in English, Literature and Media Studies. This version of the book is directed by Joe Wright and stars Keira Knightely, Mathew MacFadyen, Judi Dench and other respected actors.

The story is about five sisters – Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia Bennet – in Georgian England. Their lives are turned upside down when a wealthy young man (Mr Bingley) and his best friend (Mr Darcy) arrive in their neighbourhood. In Pride & Prejudice Jane Austen portrayed class-conscious England at the close of the eighteenth century, offering an acute study of a particular social group. She had read the gothic literature of her time, and went on to satirise it in Northanger Abbey, but in Pride & Prejudice she chose to write about what she knew: middle-class provincial society.

Students who are reading Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice will be able to compare the novel to the film, and then evaluate the film's adaptation of the novel. If students are not studying the novel, teachers may use excerpts from the novel as a basis for the activities in the study guide.

The study guide has many detailed discussion points and activities for both middle secondary and senior. It aims to teach students to analyse, interpret and evaluate the view and values of the film and book in terms of the ideas, social conventions and beliefs that they appear to endorse, challenge or leave unquestioned. It also provides opportunities for students to analyse how the film represents and interprets the book. Students are challenged to reflect upon the way meaning changes when the form of a text is changed.

Curriculum Links:
Pride & Prejudice is an excellent curriculum resource for secondary students studying:
• English
• Literature
• Media Studies