Pride and Prejudice
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Which book did you enjoy more P&P or Wuthering Heights?
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Lacy
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Nov 16, 2014 06:56PM
Pride and Prejudice all the way!!! I guess im a sap but I like happy endings!
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Cemre wrote: "Charlotte wrote about Austen to George Lewes (George Eliot's lover). She said that Austen can't understand passion and sentimentality. That she was a perfect lady writing about perfect gardens. I c..."But the Bronte beginnings and middles were pretty tortured compared to those of any JA novels. The latter didn't detail suffering so much as the Brontes did. They lived less sheltered lives.
Close but in all honesty WH is better in my opinion as it is the perfect story without any laces and ribbons but more of reality. It tells people of the places where such a violent love could take everyone involved.
Withering Heights, because it is intense and dark...extremely honest in its rendering. I've read this book so many times and i sill love it!
Pride and Prejudice. I don't think one can really 'enjoy' Wuthering, because it's a very dark story and has incredibly dysfunctional characters.
Pride and Prejudice
I can't really pick one. They are so different...I loved them both.
Pride and Prejudice without any doubt. Someone is going to curse at me for that, but I didn't enjoy Wuthering Heights at all. It took me a lot of strenght to finish it and I managed to do that just because I'm very determined. Among Brontes sisters novels WH is maybe the most famous one... but for me it was the worst. I recognise Jane Eyre as a great masterpiece of English literature, even if it is not the kind of novel I prefer. Talking about Agnes Grey, I'm really upset that Anne has been underestimated so much. I really loved that book, especially the thoughts about beauty at the beginning of "Confessions" chapter.
Couldn't ever get into Wuthering Heights. I have read Pride and Prejudice many times and never grow tired of doing so. It's a wonderful book and the DVD is excellent too.
If you're asking which book I read more easily I must answer P&P, because of its simple and enjoyable style. Miss Austen is ironic and clear in her way of writing, so it's obvious her books are simple to go through. BUT if you're asking which book I like more...that's a more difficult question. I like them both, even though reading WH was painful and sad enough...they are two of the most beautiful lovestories ever written, so different each other, and I'll always thank miss Austen and miss Bronte for having them left for us.
Both are completely different books. I loved reading Wuthering Heights more as it's more intriguing though it's a dark novel.
Pride and Prejudice.
It wouldn't be Emily's style to criticize Jane Austen, I think she was more interested in feeding the dogs than writing a critique on Pride & Prejudice. Charlotte didn't need much motivation to give her opinion on works of literature, but Emily didn't seem interested in writing letters. Charlotte seemed more of a social butterfly. I'm not sure if Emily could have followed up Wuthering Heights, she seems to have left everything in that novel, how can you follow Wuthering Heights? The effort and emotion she would have spent writing it boggles my mind. If she did, I would have loved to read a comedic work from her, because I think she was naturally funny and witty in a morbid way.
Pride and Prejudice gets my vote. I love the language and the way Austin moves the plot along in letters and dialogue. This is what keeps the serious issues from being dreary and always brings me back to read it again.
P&P.. only the part where Cathy tries to remedy the relationship with Hareton & Hareton keeps ignoring her amused me in Wuthering Heights.
I agree. All of Austen's books have a lovely comic feel, in fact, which is one thing I love about them!
Thanks Sandy! Many years ago my mother gave me a Leather Bound edition of Jane Austen. It was one of the best gifts I ever received, book-wise. I had never read her other works, but because I had it in my hands I proceeded to read "Sense and Sensibility" and then I sought out "Emma" and "Mansfield Park". I love to read many books by an author all in a row to really get the feel of the message they are trying to share with the world.
They are so incredibly different! I prefer P & P, but not because it's better, but because it has a happy ending, it's light and funny. Also Jane and Elizabeth are incredibly endearing. WH is dark, brooding and full of pain. A great read, but not somewhere I want to go again.
MJ wrote: "They are so incredibly different! I prefer P & P, but not because it's better, but because it has a happy ending, it's light and funny. Also Jane and Elizabeth are incredibly endearing. WH is dark,..."Light but not 'lite' (an important distinction now).
I first read WH at 13 yrs and I didn't care for it back then. I re-read it at 16 yrs and I still didn't like it. I find it rather depressing (and while I understand the value of reading "dark" books), I didn't take away a lesson from WH as I did from another "dark" book such as Orwell's 1984.
I absolutely adore P&P! Should I say more? ^_^
I absolutely adore P&P! Should I say more? ^_^
I just love Wuthering Heights.....At P&P there is that old english style of living (that you find too in some movies those action is in England,that time)that is kind of annoying: How people do not show their feeling and everything seem forced and false. How they try to have a different appearance in society because they are afraid to show their personality...I think is wrong..but this was the "habit" in that time...
All in all, both are great book and you have to read them because each has a different perspective about life, love and relationships in general...
But..I just enjoyed more WH because is that kind os story in a story book or story in frame and the characters are more real and the action seems so real like it's happening right there, under your eyes!
I liked Pride and Prejudice more, but I plan on reading Wuthering Heights again. It was required for me to read Wuthering Heights in high school, so I think i should give it a second chance.
Hannah wrote: "I like Pride and Prejudice much more. I think it's because the characters, outcomes and motivations of the characters are all much more likeable. So I felt joy for the characters when things worked..."I agree. I like the characters and outcomes more in Pride and Prejudice. I don't like dark stories.
May I ask you why do you think Wuthering Heights is a dark story?
Pride and Prejudice, easily. I have read it so many times and it is still one of my favourite ever books. Wuthering Heights on the other hand will never get the same treatment. I loathe everything to do with that book.
Lalutza wrote: "I just love Wuthering Heights.....At P&P there is that old english style of living (that you find too in some movies those action is in England,that time)that is kind of annoying: How people do no..."
I know what you mean. The Bronte's stories were darker but they were also much more passionate, imo. I didn't care for Cathy's self-centeredness in WH but I did admire her wild and free spiritedness.
P&P hands down. Wuthering Heights was far too dark for me, and give me an articulate hero any day over a sulking brute! Mind you, I read WH back at high school and it formed just one of a list of dark books that we were forced to read. I might like it better now, but I doubt it!
The two books are completely different! At least Jane Eyre and WH are both classics of the gothic genre. P&P has very little in common with WH.
I like Pride and Prejudice better. I like happy endings and though Wuthering Heights is very interesting and I enjoyed reading it I prefer P&P because its lightheartedness. But if you were to put Jane Eyre and P&P side by side I would have to pick Jane Eyre.
Cemre wrote: "Why do we have to read these books as we're searching for a boyfirend ? We're not comparing Darcy and Heathcliff , we're comparing two books."I'm not reading as if I'm searching for a boyfriend, but I like to like the main characters of a book. I found Heathcliff very unlikeable.
Wuthering heights. P&P is just teenage crap.
Villasukat wrote: "Wuthering heights. P&P is just teenage crap."And that comment is 'just' ignorant.
Wuthering Heights no doubt! Just a Masterpiece!
Kallie wrote: "Villasukat wrote: "Wuthering heights. P&P is just teenage crap."And that comment is 'just' ignorant."
I totally agree with you. Most of people tend to forget that P&P it's not simply a love story, but a novel that with its topics attempts to rebel against the values and rules of that time.
I've read Pride and Prejudice several times, in three different languages, and list it as one of my favorite books from the 19th Century. I've read Wuthering Heights once... and I was annoyed most of the time, annoyed with Catherine, with Heathcliff, with every single character in the book. Though, to my defense (or the book's defense) I was 14 years at the time, but I don't think I would be more comfortable if I read it now, I think I would find Cathy and Heathcliff as unsympathetic as I did ten years ago.
Cemre wrote: "I've never understood the feverish love for P&P. I like P&P, but ı couldn't see anything in it that can cause such a huge admiration. I mean it's not a small phenomenon, it's one of the first love ..."Maybe, and I haven't read this for awhile, it's because of Elizabeth's rebelliousness and her father's support of it- written so eloquently- revolutionary for it's time. I have not read anything else by Austen, but she is a marvelous writer.
I prefer Wuthering Highs, even though I enjoyed them both. Wuthering Highs is darker and you never expect what is going to happen. I was 13 years old when I first read it and I still remember the feeling of not being able to put it down. I didn't sleep in a whole week while reading it, and that was awesome!
Cemre wrote: "I've never understood the feverish love for P&P. I like P&P, but ı couldn't see anything in it that can cause such a huge admiration. I mean it's not a small phenomenon, it's one of the first love ..."I think it's because P&P usually is the first book from the romance era people stumble upon, or get an assigment to read (or watch the BBC miniseries) in high school - and then use as some kind of milestone in their literary walk.
P&P was the first classic I read and enjoyed and therefore it is one of the first books that spring to mind when I think of romantic classics. Even though it isn't my favorite Austen book ("Persuasion" is far better) or my favorite from that time periode (it's "Jane Eyre") I always think of it first.
(Or maybe it's just because there are like 295296 film adaptions or re-tellings or sequels or prequels or...)
It'a not a matter of 'feverish love.' Calling P&P a romance is reductive, a failure to appreciate its wit, social comedy and great writing. Wuthering Heights is also great. Comparing these two novels, so different in every way except that they are English and written in previous centuries, makes no sense to me. I can admire both without choosing one over the other.
I prefer Wuthering Heights. Hands down.
Kristin wrote: "I prefer Wuthering Heights. Hands down."What does hands down mean?
Perhaps not memorable to you, but I remember my first reading (at 12 or so) and the actual sensation and active imagining the book inspired as it transported me to another world and time. I did not 'get' everything that was going on in that world because P&P is a subtle novel. Real appreciation of P&P requires re-reading (for most of us) because what with movies and television, our attention isn't trained to absorb such subtlety. And you're right, there is no Quasimodo, Cathy or Heathcliff in P&P to dramatically capture our attention and mesmerize. These are all marvelous characters but speaking for myself, I don't want such characters and drama in every novel I read any more than I want them in my every day life. Actually, those kinds of people can become tedious and so can high, dark drama in every novel.P&P is also of value to me because I like history and learning about historic cultures, and most historical novels written at present fail to take me there as JA does. With some exceptions, they are clumsily anachronistic.
Most novels that are about our contemporary times will not be read in 20 years, let alone the 200 P&P has endured. There are many reasons for that, all related to Austen's genius, for lack of a better word.
Cemre wrote: "The thing is , P&P strikes me as a good novel you love and appreciate its humour, and move on, but it's so many people's favourite book. Everybody likes Darcy so much and Elizabeth is considered one of the most well written heroines. There are several adaptations of it. I'd understand it if it was Emma, which is a very original and complicated novel with a rather unconventional heroine. P&P is one of the normalest books of Western Canon. There isn't a single death, not an extremely interesting structure, not a twist ending, characters are normal, sensible people. Neither an interesting political message, nor a riddle to be solved. There isn't a Helen of Troy or a Quosimodo, an iconically memorable character. They're normal rich people living their normal lives. It isn't very quotable either. It's such a forgettable novel, and I'm not saying because of my adoration of WH, ı like P&P as a good novel with good jokes and well written characters, I just can't understand how it ended up being everybody's favourite book. It seems to be the most popular classic in the English speaking world. ... It can be a good work of art, maybe even great, it's just not very memorable."I'd like to offer an opinion in response to your post. I believe that Jane Austen was deeply interested in writing fiction about ordinary rather than extraordinary events and characters. My sense is that she believed realistic fiction could be both compelling and entertaining-- in essence, that life as lived by ordinary people held its share of wonder, pathos, humor, angst, hope, trepidation, challenges and growth, fear and fulfillment, and even heroism of a kind. Her affectionate mocking of the Gothic and sentimental literature popular in her era was, I suspect, a rebellion against the fantastical and otherworldly in favor of common experience (and though her settings may have been relatively exclusive, her themes and events and characters surely were not). She might have whispered somewhere between the lines of her prose, something like "behold this life that we are living, its charm and heft and even miraculousness in its way, if one knows how to look for and at it."
And in my estimation, it's really rather remarkable that she has attained so much critical and popular acclaim in writing about ordinary events and characters. She did not allow herself extraordinary plot devices or twists, and yet captured a huge audience of fans and admirers ever afterward. For me personally, there are many reasons for this, but probably foremost are that she was a keen student of human nature, a brilliant prose stylist, a master of subtle irony, and attempted to convey the quality wisdom in her works with admirable success. Many of her characters are so well written that they practically leap off of the page. And her plots generally are so well crafted, so carefully and precisely knitted together, that they constitute another appreciable aspect of her writing. I've read very few authors who could write dialogue so deftly, and fewer still who could utilize free indirect discourse so deftly in the narration. She also provided several points of view upon the same events through the various characters involved in those events, which again is like real life and is easy to appreciate in those terms. And all of these traits are fairly prominent in Pride And Prejudice. Besides which, the very fact that 'courting' and etc are so common, so normal, ensures that almost everyone who reads the book will be able to relate to what's going on in the story.
All of that is just personal experience of course. But I thought that you might like to hear an earnest response from a true fan of the story and its author.
Colin firth and Hugh grant? It sounds like I'm being flippant but I'm actually serious. I think their very well known portrayals of Jane Austen characters in both adaptations of her novels and in the Bridget jones movies, which are also Austen inspired, probably has something to do with modern day fascinations. Also, pride and prejudice is very much a Cinderella story. Darcy is the unattainable prince and Elizabeth Bennett is the Cinderella who is not supposed to have much of a shot at landing him. The good conquers evil moral is even present when they fall for each other after getting to know each other's true natures.When you think about it, society basically teaches young girls this ordinary girl gets the guy story in many different variations from a very young age and that Darcy is the epitome of mr. Right.
Cemre wrote: "The thing is , P&P strikes me as a good novel you love and appreciate its humour, and move on, but it's so many people's favourite book. Everybody likes Darcy so much and Elizabeth is considered on..."Cemre
There are many great quotes in P&P. Did we read the same book? I share your enthusiasm with Wuthering Heights, but there are so many quotable passages in P&P that are untouchable for Austen's wit and human observation.
I agree that "Nelly, I am Heathcliff" and that sort of thing has killed Wuthering Heights, people expecting it to be some silly romance. P&P still speaks to people I think, over 200 years later. One of those novels that is more appreciated over time. I can imagine most of the characters still fitting into this time and age. Austen wrote people as people, and I think also a nostalgia for the past plays a part, the era, the costumes, manners, balls, a world of the past. The films and tv have added that fashion intrigue along with the text. Back in the 1800s most were reading Walter Scott, what would they care about the world of P&P? But as time passes, people gain interest in these things. And, well, Austen was hilarious.
It's hard to compare, because EB only wrote this one novel. I can't see how she could have followed up WH. Nobody could have. Harper Lee has lived an incredibly long life, and hasn't bothered to follow up Mockingbird, and how could she? You said before in a previous post it's a shame Emily left no letters, but for me, I like that mystique and intrigue about her and WH, not knowing too much and that she didn't have to explain anything. It's all there in the text. Mystique I think also has played a part in the legacy of WH.
Wuthering Heights seemed like gibberish to me; but I like Pride and Prejudice very well.
Though I love them both but my favorite up till now is P&P.
I'm a fan of happy endings and I love Austen's sense of humor, so for me it was Pride and Prejudice. Wuthering Heights is a completely different type of story and I have to be in the mood to read a book like that. But both books are very well written and I just feel like they can't really be compared.
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