Bridget Jones's Diary

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Pride and Prejudice was written by Jane Austen in the early 1800s and has left a lasting impression on the literary universe. Austen’s book has inspired the creation of countless books and movies based on her story. One particular example of a movie that was clearly influenced by Pride and Prejudice is the movie Bridget Jones’s Diary directed by Sharon Maguire. Pride and Prejudice begins with the quote, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen, 8). This quote is recreated in Bridget Jones’s Diary where it states, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that the moment one area of your life starts going okay, another part of it falls to pieces”. The similarities …show more content…

Aside from their name, the two Mr. Darcy’s have a lot in common. Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones’s Diary first meets Bridget at a party. The two dislike each other from the beginning, and Mark Darcy describes Bridget to another guest as a “verbally incontinent spinster […] who dresses like her mother” (Maguire), which Bridget happens to overhear. From then on, Bridget forms a prejudice towards Mark Darcy, which does not alter until the final minutes of the movie. This relationship is parallel to the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy first meet at a ball where Elizabeth overhears Mr. Darcy say, “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me” (Austen). Much like Bridget, Elizabeth forms a prejudice towards Mr. Darcy, which he attempts to change throughout the novel. In addition, the two Darcy’s are very similar in their actions towards the female protagonists. Both Mark Darcy and Fitzwilliam Darcy confess their true feelings to the woman they love, and both are initially rejected. In the case of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, he proposes to Elizabeth and she turns him down. For Mark Darcy, he tells Bridget about the feelings he has for her, but she does not feel the same way. Even after their rejection, both Darcy men continue to pursue the women they love until they eventually achieve their