Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an eternal masterpiece, although sometimes I think the story is too naïve and, well, too light.

The story plot is simple. Matured women need husbands, and vice versa. So goes the opening sentence of the book:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

(but it seems not true these days. Rich guys are more willing to remain single so that they can taste as many mindless souls as they want.)

During that time, women married for status, wealth, or the worst, to relieve their parents. That’s why every girl in Lizzie’s neighbor gets excited by the news that a rich single is in the village. Dance, dinner, and any conceivable gatherings are decisive opportunities to meet a guy (preferably a rich guy), to coax him into marriage, and finally to get laid down once for all.

There were two ways a woman could get married then: wedding a rich guy in a church, or eloping with a poor bastard by a shabby cart. Lizzie’s big sister Jane succeeds in hooking the rich Bingley, while her young sister Lydia runs away with the penniless Wikham. But for Lizzie, things are more complicated.

Lizzie is a smart, astute, and bookish girl. It seems she wants somebody who can intellectually communicate with her in addition to financially supporting her. So she rejects Mr. Collins, a ridiculous clergyman, and rejects Mr. Darcy for the first time because he is snobbish and coldhearted, even though his wealth is too vast to be comprehended. In modern words, she is seeking love, a romantic love.

In the Victoria time, Lizzie’s idea is not dangerous but certainly immature. This, I think, is what Pride and Prejudice stands out.

Accordingly, the new movie pictures Lizzie exactly what most people have in their minds: brown hair, flat chest, and sloppy. Well, strict Austen fans may protest that their Lizzie should look more decent than this image, but I think as a rural girl, Lizzie probably doesn’t have lots of elaborated expensive cloths to wear.

In the movie, most of witty dialogues from the book are retained although the strong British accent hinders me from fully appreciation of the subtleties. The love between Lizzie and Mr. Darcy is more passionate than the book depicts. Chemicals are abundant in young people, but it is still hard to imagine that Victorian girls will kiss, or hug a man so intimately. Remember, they don’t even touch each other during the funny group dance, except for grabbing hands occasionally.

I learned that the ending in the American version of the movie is different from that of the British version. In the American version, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy hug on a hilltop and almost kiss each other, but this scene is not in the British version. Surely this scene is not in the book either. I don’t know whether it is appropriate to have this kind of sensational ending or not, but I am pretty satisfied with a happy ending.

Anyway, I like the novel and did read it more than ten years ago when I was wrestling with English itself. I like those dialogues and light jokes from the mouths of decent and close wrapped girls. The bucolic English village is far more relaxing and enjoyable than those in the Wuthering Heights. When I am reading it, I often forget that they were living in 1800s, a time when most men were out for war, most cities were dirty, and Karl Marx was accusing capitalists for sucking the last drop of blood from poor proletarians.

Will I like the flirtatious and intelligent Ms. Lizzie Bennet? Yes, she is the one I am looking for.