Pride and Prejudice captures the affections of class-conscious eighteenth-century English families with matrimonial aims and rivalries. This story of the Bennet family and the novel's two protagonists, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, is told with a wit that its author feared might prove "rather too light and bright, and sparkling."<br/>The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. Jane Austen’s artistry is also apparent in the delineation of the minor characters: the ill-matched Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Charles Bingley and his sisters, and particularly the fatuous Mr. Collins, whose proposal to Elizabeth is one of the finest comic passages in English literature.<br/>Austen’s radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.