Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel by Jane Austen first published in 1813. The story charts the emotional development of the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners education marriage and money during the British Regency period.Mr. Bennet of the Longbourn estate has five daughters but his property is entailed meaning that none of the girls can inherit it. His wife has no fortune so it is imperative that at least one of the girls marry well in order to support the others upon his death. Jane Austenampamp39s opening line ampampquotIt is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wifeampampquot is a sentence filled with irony and playfulness. The novel revolves around the importance of marrying for love not simply for money despite the social pressures to make a good i.e. wealthy match.Pride and Prejudice have long fascinated readers consistently appearing near the top of lists of ampampquotmostloved booksampampquot among both literary scholars and the general public. It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature. For more than a century amateur and professional dramatic adaptations print continuations and sequels and film and TV versions of Pride and Prejudice have reimagined the original novelampamp39s memorable characters and themes to reach mass audiences. The 2005 film Pride ampampamp Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen is the most recent Hollywood adaptation of the book.