Pride and Prejudice
1) Discuss the presentation of Regency English values in Pride and Prejudice. Pay particular attention to the importance of social class, the code of behavior appropriate for each gender, and reputation, especially as they impact the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy.
2) Certain critics have deemed Pride and Prejudice as a novel about women who feel they have to marry to be happy. Discuss the presentation of marriage in the novel and/or in "The Story of an Hour" and the statement the work makes on contemporary beliefs about the institution. Examine the role that gender and social class play in the characters' desire to marry, as well as the dynamics that the novel reveals between the married couples.
3) Analyze the theme of love as it is depicted in Austen's Pride and Prejudice, particularly the inciting causes of the emotion, the symptoms with which it can be recognized, the capacity to hide or reveal the feeling from the other and/or the self, the volatility of the experience, the resistance against passion, and the relationship between love and understanding.
4) Examine the role that the emotions of ‘pride' and ‘prejudice' play in the lives of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Pay attention to the causes of these feelings and their effect on the development of their relationship, as well as the process of overcoming these feelings and the possibility of discovering not only the other, but also the self.