NEHA YADAV
DOMESTIC CHRONOTOPE IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
The Russian philologist and literary philosopher Mikhail Mikhailvoch Bakhtin (1895-1975) uses the term Chronotope to designate the Spatio-Temporal matrix, which governs the base condition of all narratives and other linguistic acts. The term itself can be literally translated as Time-Space. The term is developed in Bakhtins essay, Forms of Time and Chronotope in the Novel.
Bakhtin in his essay says that a literary works artistic unity in relationship to an actual reality is defined by its Chronotope. He further says that Chronotopes are the organizing centers for the fundamental narrative events of the novel. The Chronotope is the place where the knots of narrative are tied and untied. So, Chronotope is a category that deals with organization of Time-Space model. It enables one to follow shifts in the presentation of the human relation to Space and Time in Literature; it functions as a force giving body to the entire novel, because the organization of time cannot be done without the implication of space organization and vice-versa.
In his essay, Bakhtin mentions various major Chronotopes in the novel, like, the Chronotope of Encounter, which he further connects it with Chronotope of Road, as Encounters in a, especially in picaresque novels, usually take place on the road. Representatives of all classes, ages, nationalities meet on road, thus their temporal and spatial paths intersect. Further, he talks about Gothic Chronotope, sub-divided into Chronotope of castle where we see historical Space and Time intersecting with each other. In the same essay, Bakhtin also mentions Chronotope of Salon and Parlour, and Chronotope of Threshold, where he gives theory of interwining of spatio-temporal relation in those Chronotopes.
In this paper, I would merely touch upon one more example of the spatial and temporal sequences. In Austens Pride and Prejudice, the domesticity of country-side life serves as the locus of action. The country-side of London with its stagnant life is represented in Pride and Prejudice. Here there are no fast-paced events, no advancing historical movement of time; infact time rather moves in narrow circles: the circles of the day, of the month, of the persons entire life. This everyday pace can be categorized under the Domestic Chronotope which is nothing but one of the many ways in which we can organize time-space relationship.
Time and Space are quite small in Pride and Prejudice. Time represented in the novel is just of about few months, where there is no space for past and future, though the present actions would determine future of the characters. Distance or space can be covered in a few hours coach ride between London and a country village or Estate. Austens major characters move away time to time from their homes and villages as well, but it is within these settings that their future lies. The characters in the novel just have time to find suitable partners for their marriage, and almost all events in the novel interwine together to get its characters husbanded and wived. The novel, Pride and Prejudice contains vivid and realistic pictures of the social life of the authors time. The conventions, the manners, and the mode of living of the era are depicted in the novel in a most graphic manner. Courtship is relegated to the central position in Pride and Prejudice. The subject is introduced by the novels famous opening sentence: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. And it remains in the forefront throughout the first chapter which is given over entirely to Mrs. Bennet the business of whose life was to get her daughters married. As Alistair Duckworth says that Pride and Prejudice moves from an initial condition of potential social fragmentation to a resolution in which the grounds of society are reconstituted as the principal characters come together in marriage. The novels major plot threads are set in motion by the arrival of four strangers in the village of Meryton, and the fabric is not completed until each is married- Darcy to Elizabeth Bennet, Bingley to Jane Bennet, Wickham to Lydia Bennet and Mr. Collins to Charlotte Lucas.
Jane Austen doesnt force the dates and their movement on the readers attention, but they are there and they can be and have been worked out; they are evidently part of the basic structure which simply must be there for her to tell a story as they are primary conditions of life, says Stuart Tave. In Pride and Prejudice, though Austen nowhere specifies the dates of events that occur in the novel, we get this idea from the dialogues between Bingley and Jane where Bingley tells her that it has been above eight months that he had seen her the last time, since the 26th of November when they had met and danced together at Netherfield. Thus we get the idea that the particular ball party where Bingley and Jane met for the first time, took place on 26th of November. We see time moving at a soft pace as they meet after such a long time, that is, eight months, and no other special event occur meanwhile with any of them. Also we are provided just about a year of the heroine, Elizabeth Bennets life, from about October to October, the year in which she becomes twenty-one.
As we have discussed earlier that in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen makes comprehensive study of the domestic life of the people of her time, taking into consideration the theme of courtship and matrimony, and this is elaborated in the ensuing conversation of the Bennets in the very first chapter. The groundwork for courtship of young people is carefully prepared by the elders who invariably derive the utmost delight in devoting all their energies in accomplishing that design. The marriage problem is set broadly before us in this uneasy parental background, where an ill-mated couple must come to terms of the finding of mates for their five daughters, says Dorothy Van Ghent. All the events in the novel take place in account of this theme only. As the story moves further, we come to know that an assembly is held periodically in the town of Meryton which is situated at a distance of about one mile from Longbourn. This assembly is a kind of social gathering which is attended by all the respectable families of the town and the neighbouring villages. This assembly provides the place where representatives of all kinds of respectable class, like gentry, middle-class or aristocracy, could share spatial as well as temporal space under one roof. They meet, talk, dance together and even hunt for their life partners. Austen often says, dancing is the sort of thing one might expect, that enjoyment and ability in moving with significant grace in good time in a restricted space. So all these parties depicted in Austens novel provide a space, though a restricted one, where people could have good time together. It is at this assembly, where Mr. Bingley meets Jane and Darcy meets Elizabeth. Mr. Bingley feels greatly attracted by Jane and his preference for Jane is noticed by everybody at the assembly, and at the beginning itself, we come to know what is going to happen in the future time. Partners for the evening and partners for life become almost indistinguishable. Another event that takes place at this assembly is that Mr. Darcy speaks rather slightingly about Elizabeth, and that she begins to dislike him for having thus spoken. Thus we see that the elements of Pride in Darcy and that of Prejudice in Elizabeth starts working right from the beginning. the distance of the drawing-room, moreover, are the mirror of social distances outside, comments Duckworth. We not only come across increasing distance between Darcy and Elizabeth, but also between different classes of society in the novel - between Aristocracy represented by Darcy and Lady Catherine, the gentry represented by the Bennets and trade represented by Philipses and the Gardiners. The Lucases and the Bingleys seem to add movement between the spaces of these different levels of classes. But then there is lesser possibility of achieving any relevant continuity until hero and heroine of the novel are united. We know that Darcy does not like Elizabeth because of her humble background.
As the story moves further, we see that Jane is invited by Bingley-sisters to dinner at Netherfield park, where she fells ill and has to prolong her stay at Netherfield Park, where she is later joined by her sister, Elizabeth. It is at Netherfield park, where while the likeness between Jane and Bingley intensifies, Mr. Darcys attitude towards Elizabeth also changes slightly. On a closer acquaintance with her, he finds her quite charming, which gives us the sense that there might develop a love-relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth in future time. Though, Elizabeth still harbours her prejudice against Darcy. Thus we see that dinner party at Netherfield Park not only provides the space for Bingleys, Darcys and Bennets to spend time together, but also becomes the space on which the future of Austens major characters- Elizabeth, Darcy, Bingley and Jane- take a turning point, as the love-story from ball party at Meryton to dinner at Netherfield Park intensifies in case of Jane-Bingley, while Elizabeth-Darcys misunderstandings seem to be lessening here, which occurred at Meryton.
Meanwhile, another character named Wickham is introduced who helps in enlarging the distanced-gulf between Elizabeth and Darcy. Though Darcy, at another ball party at Netherfield, suggests Elizabeth to avoid basing her judgement on him on the incident of Meryton or account by Wickham, to which Elizabeth decides to postpone her judgement, which obviously angers Darcy and they part not to meet again until they meet at Hunsford, a new space in the novel. Outside of Mrs. Bennets imagination, however, unions are not formed so easily. Instead of receiving a proposal of marriage, Jane received a letter from Miss Bingley informing her that all the inmates of Netherfield Park were leaving London and that Mr. Bingley was thinking of marrying Mr. Darcys sister, Georgiana. At Hunsford, Elizabeth is proposed by Darcy, to which she rejects. Next day, she gets a letter from him and her reading through that letter marks a turning point in her attitude towards Mr. Darcy. Her prejudice begins to crumble. Later, she visits to Pemberley, at Darcys estate where she gets aware of Darcys intrinsically worthy character. Taken with her response to the letter, her visit to Derbyshire marks a crucial change in the direction of her critical views, where Gardiners and Darcys servants makes her to get acquainted with true nature of Mr. Darcy. At Pemberley, looking at Darcys estates, Elizabeth also gets the idea about what her future would be with a man like him. By travelling through different spaces of the house, through rooms and park, she realizes the permanence of the estate and of her future life. As Stuart Tave says, those journeys became valueable only because they bring into her life not open spaces without responsibility, but the surprising impetus of pressing new times. So, we see that as the time passes in the novel, and as soon as there is a change in the space of the heroine, her perspective towards the hero undergoes a change. And finally, she is in love with Darcy. By this time, she has decided to culminate Hers and Darcys time and space into one. As, we as readers follow Elizabeths journey through different spaces in the novel, we see her prejudice crumbling and Darcys pride becoming humbler. He leaves his ideal center and moves into the space of less perfect world. Now, he could easily remove the blind-fold from his eyes which had prevented him to see the real love between Bingley and Jane. There has to be a compromise between past and present, of perfect material life and perfect social life. And then after the episode where Wickham-Lydias marriage take place and the good-name of Bennets family is saved due to intervention of Darcy, Elizabeths attitude towards Mr. Darcy changes completely and at the end, we sees her accepting the proposal of Mr. Darcy and also Bingley comes to Netherfield and proposes marriage to Jane. And marriage of Darcy-Elizabeth takes place on the same day as the marriage of Jane-Bingley.
So the final destination is reached, that is, the marriage between hero and heroine takes place. The space of marriage-ceremony also needs to be discussed here. It is the occasion where spatio-temporal space of people interwines together, here the space and time of the people of all the classes discussed earlier would interwine with each other. They join together to attend the union of two persons. This union is not only physical, but the space and time of the couple also are united together, forever.
If we talk about the historical time being represented in the novel, first we have to talk about the charge laid against Austen that she completely ignores in her domestic tales, the momentous events of 18th century England. The 18th century was an age of significant change- the French revolution, changes in the social structure etc. and the charges laid by various critics is not completely true. Though war does not forms a part of Pride and Prejudice, yet there are several references to soldiers and regiments in case of Wickham, who is a soldier and Brighton, the place where Wickhams regiment is to move from Meryton. Thus, Brighton represents the space where historical time of the era combines in the novel.
The later half of the 18th century also marked an improvement in roads and the development of faster coaches. Travelling became easier. And in Pride and Prejudice, Darcy calls covering of fifty miles of good road in more than half-a-day time as very easy distance, which gives us another incident of spatial-time relation where road as a space is improved and movement from one place to another takes lesser time in the novel.
Thus, the clarity of atmosphere with which Austen gives us the actions of her characters in common life in Pride and Prejudice, and in almost all her novels, makes her stories special even if they are spotted again and again in different stories. Stuart Tave rightly comments, hers is a timeless world, where life repeats and renews itself in each well-lived individual life. And in that sense it is a spacious world. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen provides spatio-temporal sequences all through her novel; by changing the spaces of her heroine time to time, she gives her heroine proper time and space to decide her future and correct her past in the present itself.
[2452 words]
WORKS CITED
1. JANE AUSTENS PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, edited by B.MANGLAM. (2007) print.
2. M.M. BAKHTIN Forms of Time and Chronotope in the Novel.
3. DOROTHY VAN GHENT On Pride and Prejudice.
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