Chapter 1 - Proper Etiquette

Mr. Bennet, under proper etiquette for the day, needs to visit Mr. Bingley before any of the women can make an acquaintance with him. We certainly don't follow such a practice today, but maybe the idea behind it wasn't so bad. Perhaps we could at least consider reviving the custom of having our daughter's dates come in to "chat" with Dad before driving away with one of Dad's most precious and irreplacable possessions--his daughter.

Chapter 1 - Mrs. Bennet

Does the world really revolve around Mrs. Bennet? She certainly hopes so and seems to count on it being so. She is even described as fancying herself ill when she is unhappy. In this case, Mrs. Bennet's vexations actually do have some foundation. If Mrs. Bennet were to become widowed she would need someone to take her in. There is urgency about meeting this new man and rightly so. Eligible men are at a premium and we had better be the first to welcome him (i.e. stake our claim). It is a truth universally acknowledged that a widowed mother in possession of no great fortune must be in want of a wealthy son-in-law.

Chapter 1 - Bingley

It's pretty hard not to love this unknown Mr. Bingley because he's so well admired. But what do we really know about him? He will have servants on site by the end of next week, and he purchased Netherfield presumably on his first visit. He's probably not at all impulsive, then?! It's a joke when Mr. Bennet suggests, "Is that his design in settling here?" but again, who knows really what his designs are?

Chapter 1 - Opening Thoughts for Discussion

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

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

~~~

Austen opens with a "universally acknowledged truth" that is probably more universally acknowledged by some (the neighbors) than others (the single man of wealth). Having seen several different film adaptations of the book, I know how this universally acknowledged truth ultimately plays out; yet as we progress through the novel, it may be worthwhile to come back to these opening words to see how they apply to the several different attachments that are formed in the novel.

(A question: How does Austen bring this truth to bear in the attachments formed in her other novels?)

As the first chapter unfolds, we are introduced to the Bennet family, and Mrs. Bennet seems to be the chief architect of a scheme on the part of the neighborhood in engaging one of her daughters to the blissfully ignorant (of the universally acknowledged truth,) Mr. Bingley. Though we know nothing of Bingley, he is introduced as a "young man of a large fortune" and a likely candidate for one of the Bennet daughters.