1 The opening sequence of the 1995 BBC adaptation by screen writer, Andrew Davies begins energetically with the pounding of horses' hooves across a rural landscape and hunting horns sounding as the musical backdrop. On horseback are Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy - come to view Netherfield Park. Davies starts with them as they will prove the catalyst that will bring much change to Meryton. As importantly, Davies has Elizabeth oversee their arrival. Looking down from a hilltop, she recognises their interest in Netherfield and draws energy from this, skipping and running back down the hill to Longbourn. The stage directions note that 'Seeing the horses galloping has stirred her up'. Davies is drawing on evidence of the energy Austen gives Elizabeth in the novel - in Chapter 7 she walks the 'three miles' to Netherfield to visit Jane claiming 'the distance is nothing' and at Rosings she walks hours in the parkland and then along the lanes reading Darcy's letter in Chapter 36. Unlike the novel, in Davies' adaptation, Elizabeth is the first to know of new people moving to the area. The energy of the opening is in part due to it being shot on film and on location rather than earlier adaptations which were shot on videotape and in a studio as the producer of the Davies' adaptation, Sue Birtwistle, notes.

2 The opening sequence of the 2005 film adaptation by screen writer Deborah Moggach starts in a tranquil manner - with strong contextual elements of the Romantic pastoral. The misty morning fields around Longbourn give way to Elizabeth walking across them to the house, reading what on very close inspection is the final page of her own story, Pride and Prejudice, which she closes with a sigh. The viewer is taken on a tour through the chaotic interior of the house before rejoining Elizabeth outdoors as she enters and overhears her mother talking of a newcomer to Netherfield. The draft script of the opening offers an insight into an unfilmed scene that was to precede this one - where Netherfield Hall is coming to life in preparation for Mr Bingley taking up residence and an intertitle appears with the opening sentence from the novel.

3 The opening sentence is delivered in the novel by Jane Austen's narrator as if declared publicly for all to hear. It is presented as the view of the neighbourhood which is introduced in the following paragraph. Local opinion is that by entering a new community, a single man of good fortune offers himself as a potential husband to the eligible daughters of the neighbourhood. Translating this axiom from the narrative comment to the screen is a challenge. Who should speak it and how should they deliver it? In the 1995 adaptation, Davies boldly gives the first sentence to Elizabeth and actress, Jennifer Ehle, delivers it with an archness and irony in keeping with Austen's narrator. She is echoing the neighbourhood and her mother's opinion but her delivery shows she thinks it is impudent to assume this of a young man just because he moves to a local estate. Elizabeth's line picks up on Mrs Bennet's 'A young man of large fortune' whereas in the novel Mrs Bennet picks up on the first sentence, relaying to her husband that Mr Bingley is 'of large fortune' and 'single'. Andrew Davies explained his reasoning for Elizabeth speaking the first line of the novel in 1995 (Pride and Prejudice: From page to stage).

4 Mrs Bennet's quoting back the opening sentence to Mr Bennet in the novel is reflected in how the 2005 adaptation introduces the sentence in snippets through the Bennet daughters. Screen writer Deborah Moggach and director Joe Wright place Lydia and Kitty at the library door eavesdropping as Mrs Bennet breaks the news of Mr Bingley taking Netherfield Park to her husband in private. Lizzie scolds them for 'listening at the door' but then is drawn in by Lydia's excited 'a Mr Bingley arrived from the North', 'five thousand a year!' And finally Kitty and Lydia's over-excited 'He's single!' attracts Jane who asks 'Who's single?' This is the viewer's first impression of the sisters - Elizabeth and Jane, interested to hear of a new man in the neigbourhood; Kitty and Lydia, manic in their enthusiasm; Mary - not present - playing the piano in another room.

5 Mr Bennet's teasing question about Mr Bingley's arrival relating to his five daughters - 'How so? how can it affect them?' - is the start of his pretence about their new neighbour. Mrs Bennet may be presented as silly with her design to marry one of the Bennet young women to Mr Bingley but, in her prediction 'it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them', she is entirely correct. Her plan, given the eighteenth century context of the importance of a young woman marrying well, is a very practical one to keep her family afloat financially. Davies stays close to Austen's original dialogue but sets it during the brisk walk home from the church with the couple's five daughters in tow.

6 Mr Bennet attempts to deflect his wife from her insistence that he should call on Mr Bingley with a jokey piece of flattery. In suggesting that she had better send the sisters alone to make his acquaintance, because his wife's beauty may make him choose her over her daughters, he stops her in her tracks, in the novel, to reflect on her former beauty. But Davies takes this another way. With the daughters present, this becomes a chance for the younger ones to giggle behind her back and for Elizabeth to gently reprimand them. In the 2005 film, Mrs Bennet chases Mr Bennet through the house, with her daughters in pursuit, as she chastises him for hesitating to visit Mr Bingley, in an opening where the camera is continually in motion.

7 In their private conversation on the novel, Mr Bennet makes his favouritism for Elizabeth apparent early on with 'I must throw in a good word for my Lizzy'. This does not transfer to Davies' dialogue but instead the viewer gains a keen sense of the wit and sense of humour they share when Bennet and Elizabeth exchange a knowing glance through the library window about the row coming from the house as she returns from her ramble.

8 The punchline about Mrs Bennet's nerves being her husband's 'old friends... these twenty years at least' is adapted from the novel by both Davies and Moggach. In both screen adaptations it is placed at a later point either just before or just after Mr Bennet reveals he has already called on Bingley. Although in the 2005 film her nerves become his 'constant companions'.

9 Austen's description of Mr Bennet make him a complex and not entirely likeable sum of his 'odd mixture of quick parts'. Throughout, the reader has evidence of his 'sarcastic humour' and 'caprice'. The latter is linked to his lack of responsibility in thinking of his daughters' futures. In Davies' stage directions he is 'dying to get back to his library' on the walk back from church - 'a disillusioned ex-sensualist' who has had 'over twenty years to repent at leisure' his choice of wife.

10 Austen's parallel description of Mrs Bennet is more critical than that of her husband. She does not understand his character, is of 'mean understanding' and uses her nerves to get her own way. In the 1995 adaptation, on arrival back from church, Mrs Bennet whinges like a toddler to her housekeeper Hicks that Mr Bennet will not visit Mr Bingley, as she helps her out of her coat and consoles her. On screen she ressembles an overgrown baby. Yet Austen reveals 'the business of her life was to get her daughters married'. This is an entirely serious business considering the entailment of the Bennet estate and, in reality, her worries are well-founded, if exaggerated.

11 The keenly anticipated Meryton ball is referred to by the Bennets as the 'next assembly'. In the context of Georgian times, public balls were held, usually to coincide with a full moon to aid travel to and fro, in the Autumn and Winter months. They were important social gatherings, allowing young people from a wider social circle than usual to meet and get to know one another. This ball offers the novelty of Mr Bingley and his 'large party' from Netherfield being introduced to Meryton society.

12 The narrative voice comes close to the voice of gossip in Meryton about marriage market - with the idea that 'to be fond of dancing' was a step to 'falling in love'. This sense of anticipation is translated in Davies' 1995 adaptation by Mrs Bennet's remark that, now Mr Bennet has called on him, her 'girls' will 'all dance with Mr Bingley'.

13 The gap between rumour and reality is portrayed by Austen - town gossip exaggerates the size of the party to include 'twelve ladies' who might form a barrier to the young women of Meryton dancing with Mr Bingley - but in reality, only his sisters attend with him. The town gossip about Bingley and his guests is represented in Davies' adaptation in a lively two-hander between Lydia and Kitty. When the Bingley party arrives at the ball, Elizabeth notes to her sisters and Charlotte - 'only two ladies then after all'.

14 Unlike Austen, Davies provides detailed directions about the people present and setting for the ball - including how they feel in their finery; that Mrs Bennet and Lady Lucas are at 'the top end of the social scale here'. This explains further why they are offended when, as Austen notes, Mr Darcy seems 'so above his company'. Davies visualises the assembly room where dancing, refreshment and talk all take place. He also envisages the atmosphere which is 'hot and sweaty', full of 'coarse male laughter' and 'ROWS of plump matrons sitting down'. People are relaxed enjoying themselves. The onscreen production is slightly more refined than this and these directions in fact describe more accurately the setting and atmosphere of the Meryton Ball in the 2005 Joe Wright adaptation, which is a larger more chaotic gathering. The music stops and a hush falls upon proceedings when the Netherfield party arrives and walks the full length of the room with the whole assembly watching them.

15 In the novel, first favourable impressions of Darcy from the assembly are of his 'handsome features, noble mein' and his 'ten thousand a year' (which would have made his family one of the richest 400 in the country at the time [Mingay, 1963]). But soon 'his manners gave a disgust' as he refuses to engage with the Meryton residents. Davies channels these first impressions through Mrs Bennet who asks Jane and Elizabeth if Darcy is not 'the handsomest man you have ever seen'. But when he snubs them, walking off after he claims he 'rarely dances', Mrs Bennet asks if they have ever met 'such a proud disagreeable man' and agrees with Elizabeth's teasing that he is 'Quite ill-favoured!'. Darcy has signalled to her clearly that he is not in the market for 'falling in love' at this ball. There is no such conversation in the novel and Darcy does dance but only once with each of Bingley's sisters.

16 Note from the Davies stage directions how Bingley dances respectfully with Jane and other Meryton ladies, while Darcy 'prowls the room', observing all, inlcuding the gossiping Mrs Bennet, failing to spot when Sir William approaches to him to speak and ending up 'a little to one side'.

17 Elizabeth is 'sitting down just behind' Darcy when Bingley urges him to dance, making it more plausible that he does not think she will overhear. Instead, in the 1995 adaptation the camera frames Elizabeth in the foreground and then to the side of the two men where she is more obvious to them. This increases the force of his slight to her.

18 Davies retains Darcy and Bingley's conversation almost verbatim: Bingley declares that Jane is the 'most beautiful creature I ever beheld' while appropriately the music playing is the country dance tune 'The Happy Captive'. Darcy states that being unable to dance with Miss Bingley or Mrs Hurst 'it would be a punishment for me to stand up with any other woman in the room', which is close to Austen's dialogue. Davies claims in his stage directions that in his very strong words 'there's an undercurrent of humour to it which is not unconscious on Darcy's part', i.e. this is men's banter, but it does not play out that way on screen.

19 After Darcy slights Elizabeth saying she is 'tolerable' but 'not handsome enough to tempt me' and has already been rejected by 'other men', Davies' adaptation stages it so that Elizabeth crosses in front of him to reach Charlotte: 'This means she has to pass DARCY' who thinks 'actually she is rather interesting...' laying the first foundation here for his attraction to her, which the novel does not. In the 2005 adaptation, the Bennet family have already been introduced to the Bingley party and Elizabeth has asked Darcy if he likes to dance to which replies with the colloquial ‘Not if I can help it’. She is in a quiet spot with Charlotte, hidden from view, when they overhear ‘not handsome enough to tempt me’ line. This adaptation spares Elizabeth the ‘slighted by other men’ comment.

20 Austen has Elizabeth relate the story of Darcy's rejection 'with great spirit among her friends' because her 'lively playful disposition... delighted in any thing ridiculous'. Davies does not openly relay what Elizabeth says to Charlotte either but her reaction and looks exchanged between them and Darcy say it all. In the 2005 adaptation, Elizabeth seizes the right of reply to Darcy’s insult in a group exchange about what encourages affection. She responds to Darcy's question about what she enjoys: ‘Dancing… even if one’s partner is barely tolerable’ and then exits the assembly. This sets up their combative relationship earlier than either the novel or the 1995 adaptation do.

21 In the novel, Austen gives context for the dances themselves through Mrs Bennet. On returning from the ball, she recounts to Mr Bennet who danced with whom for each two-dance set. Dances of the long-form type often lasted 20 minutes each, meaning partners were able to spend 40 minutes in each other's company across the set. In Emma, Jane Austen describes dancing as quite a shared physical experience: 'the felicities of rapid motion' (Ch.29).

22 While 'Jane was so admired' Mrs Bennet relates 'with much bitterness of spirit and some exaggeration' Darcy's slight to Elizabeth and claims she is not so badly off 'by not suiting his fancy'. Davies plays up the banter between Mr and Mrs Bennet even further than Austen and engages Mr Bennet's playful indignance: 'Slighted my Lizzy, did he?'. But the screenwriter gives the last word to Elizabeth who 'safely' promises 'never to dance with Mr Darcy!'. A promise that will be broken at Netherfield Ball.

23 At the start of Chapter 17, Elizabeth shares Wickham's story with Jane in relative privacy of the shrubbery at Longbourn. It is the day after the party at their Aunt Philips' house. Jane begins with 'tender feelings' that Wickham could have been ill-treated in such away but then reverts to seeing that there must be good in both men: 'They have both... been deceived in some way.' The 1995 adaptation sets the same conversation in the bedroom that Jane and Elizabeth share - a setting that Davies often repeats in his screen-writing and which brings a warmer intimacy to the discussions taking place in such scenes. In the stage directions he refers to it as 'Another soft light and shoulders scene.' This is the same night as the Philips' party. Davies also cuts in the Austen dialogue straight to Jane's fear that Darcy' close friends, i.e. Bingley, could not have been 'so deceived in him'. The 2005 film takes a much briefer and lighter approach to this revelation about Wickham's story and places it immediately before the Netherfield Ball just as the sisters are getting ready in their room. Both are in their corsets and their conversation is conducted via the dressing table mirror.

290 The Austen dialogue between Jane and Elizabeth's shows two young women with little experience of being able to judge the behaviour of these new young men in their community. They are negotiating new interpersonal territory here. Jane cannot believe two gentlemen could not have behaved in such a way and wonders if perhaps 'Interested people' have 'misrepresented' one to the other. Elizabeth is more decided on this issue, being persuaded by exact 'names, facts' that Wickham has given 'without ceremony' and with 'truth in his looks'. She is so influenced by her attraction to Wickham. This is even more strongly represented in the 1995 television adaptation. In sharing Wickham's story, Elizabeth has implicitly invited Jane's views. She cautions that 'after so short acquaintance' perhaps they should not trust him so wholeheartedly. She also draws out from Elizabeth (and so confirms for the viewer) an open confession that she likes Wickham 'very much'. She is directed to blush in the stage directions and goes on to describe Wickham's 'natural merriment and energy' and his 'artless' nature. Austen does not go nearly so far. The 2005 film shows the strength of Elizabeth's attraction much more through her looks and tone than through the scant dialogue in this much shorter scene. Elizabeth may become serious when claiming that 'Wickham is twice the man Darcy is' but Jane lightens the mood, joking that she hopes Wickham will be a better dancer at least than Darcy and Elizabeth laughs with her sister into the mirror and continues to play with a feather in her hands, revealing her excitment at the prospect of seeing Wickham that evening at the ball.

25 The conversation in Chapter 17 ends with Jane still undecided and describing the situation as 'difficult indeed' and 'distressing' while Elizabeth declares she 'knows exactly what to think'. Elizabeth has misread the situation while Jane has urged caution. While Davies includes this final exchange in the 1995 script and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth is adamant in her declaration, the 2005 film omits this exchange and places great emphasis on Jane's wish to gain more information on the matter from Bingley at the imminent Netherfield Ball. This seems to reflect Austen's final comment from Jane's point of view in Chapter 17 where she is fearful that if the Wickham affair becomes public, Bingley too will have 'much to suffer'. It is also a reference forward to Chapter 18, where Jane reports back to Elizabeth with Bingley's view on what has occurred between Darcy and Wickham. Later still, in Chapter 40, the sisters will face the greater dilemma of whether or not to let their family and neighbours know of Wickham's immoral behaviour.

26 Austen plunges the reader straight into Elizabeth's experience of the Netherfield Ball at the start of Chapter 18. She is looking around the crowded drawing room, trying to locate Wickham. After Denny explains his absence, she is furious and barely able to control her feelings when Darcy comes to ask how she is. 'Attention, forbearance, patience with Darcy, was injury to Wickham' and she 'turned away with a degree of ill-humour.' This first encounter is replaced in the 1995 adaptation by a series of intense looks between Darcy and Elizabeth across the room. However, the scene-setting for the ball is grander than for the public assembly at Meryton - with guests being met formally by the Bingleys and the reception, dancing and dining taking place across several decorated rooms. The band is also much larger and the music more refined. Davies' stage directions describe the ballroom as 'glittering, elegant, very formal... Beautiful room, tall windows, chandeliers, lots of ELEGANT PEOPLE'. The setting for the 2005 adaptation is even grander and the camera follows Elizabeth through the rooms, gazing around in wonder.

27 The comic juxtaposition of Elizabeth's dance with Mr Collins and her stately dance with Darcy is heightened in the 1995 adaptation. Austen describes her 'dances of mortification' with her cousin. In Davies' adaptation the lively leaping dance that accompanies 'The Shrewsbury Lasses' tune allows for Mr Collins ridiculous jumps and mistakes with the dance steps. The 2005 film has Mr Collins staring overintently into Elizabeth's eyes while she catches up on news of Wickham from her friends in moments when the dance parts her from Mr Collins. This is the Boulanger which in the eighteenth century context is the equivalent of speed-dating. It is worth comparing the way the camera works in the 2005 film for this dance with the way it operates in the dance between Elizabeth and Darcy. Elizabeth and Collins are often obscured by other dancers or Elizabeth is looking away from her partner as he tries to make eye contact with her. In the dance with Darcy - the couple are always positioned centrally, without obstruction and eventually when they are isolated, as if dancing alone, they are locked in one another's gaze.

28 In contrast, Austen underlines the fact that once Elizabeth has got over her own shock of accepting Darcy's spontaneous invitation to dance she notices 'the dignity to which she was arrived' in standing up with him in the eyes of the company. Davies notes that Darcy and Elizabeth 'dance very well together' and the dignified, 'Wildboar [Mr Beveridge's] Maggot' allows for the 'superior dancing' that Sir William openly praises them for. The pauses caused by Elizabeth and Darcy being separated during the dance add to the tension and drama of their conversation. The complexity of the choreography makes it all the more impressive that the actors only had three days to master this and all the other dances in the series, according to choreographer, Jane Gibson (The Making of Pride and Prejudice, 1995).

29 The tone of the conversation that Elizabeth starts is lighter at first in the 1995 adaptation but, in the novel, the verbs and adverbs used to describe her tone and attitude show she views it as 'a greater punishment to her partner to oblige him to talk'. Phrases like 'Archly', 'unable to resist the temptation' and 'replied with emphasis' indicate she is trying to irritate Darcy in revenge for his ill-treatment of Wickham. Darcy's 'Do you talk by the rule when dancing?' seems light in response to what sound like teasing comments. Both adaptations retain this glittering dialogue but omit other small talk, for example about 'private balls being much pleasanter than public ones.' This comment is restored in their dialogue in the 2005 film, although Elizabeth starts the whole conversation more informally with 'I love this dance', which is accompanied by a soulful theme from Purcell's opera 'Dido and Aeneas': serious music from an earlier historical context, heralding a grown-up relationship between them.

30 Once Mr Darcy asks Elizabeth if she and her sisters often walk to Meryton, the conversation turns darker. It allows her to introduce the topic of Wickham and he tries to explain that Wickham does not often keep friends. Austen interrupts the dance with Sir William's comments about a future happy event between Jane and Bingley and Darcy's eyes 'are directed with a very serious expression towards Bingley and Jane'. When the dance resumes, he attempts to discover her reading tastes - always a good sign in a male character in Austen - but she moves back to his character and how once a resentment is formed he rarely forgives. Darcy requests her to delay judgement of him for the present - not to hold on to hasty first impressions. The signals he sends are retained in the Davies' adaptation and the two part as the dance ends. One stage direction sums up the tone he foresees Elizabeth taking, however: 'ELIZABETH, playfulness masking aggression'. The 2005 adaptation moves further away from Austen to create one of the most memorable scenes of the whole film. The dance is intense, full of longing looks and miscommunication. It ends not with Darcy's request to Elizabeth but with his pledge to 'afford [her] more clarity in the future' about his character. The two have stopped dancing while other dancers move around them and when they resume are alone in the ballroom - immersed in one another's movements and gazes - until the music stops. The effect is that of a couple falling in love in spite of themselves.

31 Immediately after her dance with Darcy, Austen issues Elizabeth and the reader with two warnings about Wickham - the first is venomous from Caroline Bingley who insists that Wickham 'has treated Mr Darcy in an infamous manner'. Ironically, while this is intended to hurt Elizabeth, this information could do Elizabeth a favour. 'Insolent girl!' she responds, labelling it as a 'paltry attack'. The second warning comes indirectly from Mr Bingley via Jane. Elizabeth may feel that Jane's views are influenced by her feelings for Bingley, but in fact it is she who is biased due to her prejudice against Darcy. The 1995 adaptation depicts both these warnings and Elizabeth acknowledges 'Mr Bingley's sincerity' in believing his friend. The 2005 adaptation however, replaces the Miss Bingley warning with a snide comment - 'What interesting relatives you have, Miss Elizabeth' as Mr Collins introduces himself to Darcy. It does not include the warning from Jane at all and so for Elizabeth and the viewer there is much less foreshadowing of Wickham's shady nature in Joe Wright's film.

320 At the end of Chapter 18 the narrator remarks that to Elizabeth it seems 'that had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit or finer success'. Reflecting on the middle and end parts of the Netherfield Ball, this refers not only to the humiliation of Mr Collins before Darcy but also her mother's loud comments on Jane's match with Bingley. Lizzy's with Mr Collins and this throwing her younger daughters 'in the way of other rich men' but also Mary's embarrassing song at the piano and her father's public admonishment of her. Whereas, Elizabeth is stuck at the dinner table, listening to her mother's boasts of her daughter's conquests and their family's luck, in Davies' adaptation she overhears from some distance and when Bingley shouts 'Shall we not have some music? I have a great desire for a song. Caroline!' watches Mary rush to the piano . After her father puts a stop to this before she starts a second song, Elizabeth's shame is complete. This memory comes back to haunt her, in Chapter 35 when Darcy mentions her family's awful behaviour as a factor that has prevented his proposing before. The 2005 adaptation is much freer with the events of the ball after the Darcy-Elizabeth dance. The camera roves around folowing first Elizabeth who witnesses Mary's humiliation, then glimpsing Darcy as he overhears Mrs Bennet's boast, then Jane and Bingley as they talk about riding and finally Mr Collins who is sadly picking the petals off a single flower, and finally back to Elizabeth – alone outside and full of shame. This neatly condenses the events of the latter stages of Austen's ball into a short space of time.

33 The Davies adaptation of Netherfield ball ends with the wild dancing of Lydia through the dining room, after which she throws herself down a chair and shouts how 'fagged' she is. Austen describes how by outstaying their welcome and being the last to leave the ball, by Mrs Bennet's design, they had 'time to see how heartily they were wished away by some of the [Bingley] family'. The reader can be in no doubt of the Bennets' behaviour being judged unfavourably in this social context. The 2005 adaptation has a scene dedicated to the Bennets' departure in the light of a grey dawn. Mrs Bennet declares she has 'never had such a wonderful time' as the camera pans up to the balcony and Caroline says, 'You cannot be serious, Charles.' It sounds a note of reality and is a far cry from the glittering romantic start to the evening when carriages bringing town and country arrived at Netherfield.

34 Austen's narrator briefs the reader that Mr Collins' proposal will be a confident one for he has 'no diffidence' to cause him any doubts that he will be accepted and he sets about in a 'very orderly manner' being sure to follow all 'the observances' that are part of the proposal conventions in the regency context. The reader is aware that his assumptions are wrong which brings ironic humour to the chapter, or as Austen calls it, 'another scene' opening. This humour is reflected in both adaptations with Mr Collins (David Bamber) making a confident entrance to the room where Elizabeth has been abandoned by her family in the 1995 television episode and the diminutive Mr Collins (Tom Hollander) creeping downstairs to the breakfast parlour in the 2005 film and making a cough to announce himself.

35 In Chapter 19, Mr Collins launches right into his reasons for marrying and Elizabeth is unable to head him off because in his opening statement Mr Collins expresses that he will be 'run away with his feelings' and she is close to laughing. So he is able to proceed with the studied reasons for wishing to marry her. These are clearly rehearsed as Mr Collins has previously admitted that he often plans his important speeches, as he would a sermon, the implication being he has neither the wit to speak at length on subjects spontaneously, nor the strength of feeling to speak from the heart. Davies signals this in his stage directions. He says he should set an example to his congregation by marrying; it will bring him great happiness; it is Lady Catherine's express wish that he should marry a sensible, 'useful kind of person' and he quotes her verbatim on this. Then he comes to the charitable act of marrying one of Mr Bennet's daughters to soften the effect of the entail on the family. In these senses, Elizabeth fits nearly as easily his template for a bride as Jane did when he first arrived at Longbourn. However, her 'wit and vivacity' will need to be 'tempered' by 'silence and respect' in the presence of Lady Catherine. He realises he cannot expect her to contribute financially. The proposal, though entirely reasonable in its terms, is not personal to Elizabeth and he demeans her when he means to reassure her. By rounding off with the expression of 'the violence of his affection' Mr Collins adds insult to injury. Considering the 1995 script, Davies stays close to the original dialogue but removes a few of Mr Collins' rhetorical flourishes, such as 'I have the honour', 'I flatter myself'. At the end of his speech Collins looks up from his knees expectantly towards Elizabeth unaware of how far away from acceptance he is. There is a parallel here with the opening of Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth in Chapter 34. He launches in telling her 'You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you', leaving Elizabeth equally shocked and bemused.

36 Elizabeth's thoughts have been quiet in the narrative but the reader is back with Austen's free-indirect narrative as Elizabeth realises she has to put a stop to this now and deliver her refusal. She has limited agency in the proposal process but she does have the right to decline. In the regency context she must do this in a courteous way and without offending the gentleman's feelings. Hence, when she speaks, she recognises both the compliment being paid to her and the honour of Mr Collins' proposal but then immediately 'decline[s]' it. The 1995 adaptation changes the definite 'decline' to 'impossible to accept'.

37 Mr Collins is blind to the weight of Elizabeth's rejection. He is so sure of acceptance because he has followed the rules that will lead to it; he is convinced this is part of proposal etiquette. He is aware that young ladies often give a refusal at first 'to the man whom they secretly mean to accept'. The stage directions in the 1995 script bring out the full condescending obsequiousness of Collins at this point and, in reaction, Elizabeth's fast-evaporating patience.

38 Elizabeth's powers of argument are strongly represented here - she first rejects his customary argument that a woman would refuse a first proposal to test out a man's strength of feeling, pausing to doubt more generally 'if such young ladies there are'. Then she presents her next argument that Lady Catherine would find her 'ill qualified for the situation' as if it's a job she is being considered for. This stops Mr Collins in his tracks: 'Were it certain that Lady Catherine...'. Davies' adaptation omits Elizabeth's reference to Lady Catherine's probable disapproval. Instead, the screenwriter retains, earlier in the proposal, Mr Collins' own reference to Elizabeth's 'wit and vivacity' needing to be tempered by 'silence and respect in Lady Catherine's presence.

39 The final affront to Elizabeth is Mr Collins' measured statement that due to her 'portion' being 'so small' she cannot be sure of ever having another marriage offer. He has reverted to the financial crux of the matter that should make his offer 'acceptable' but in doing so has inflicted hurt. Instead of reacting emotionally, Elizabeth insists he takes her refusal as 'sincere' and accept her as a 'rational creature speaking truth from her heart.' Both the 1995 and the 2005 adaptations pare this exchange right back. Elizabeth in the Davies script borrows Austen's 'Can I speak plainer?' to express her utter frustration at Collins not taking her refusal seriously.

40 Mr Collins' proposal fizzles out in the novel, ending with another misjudged phrase 'You are universally charming', in response to Elizabeth's unequivocal rejection of him, and the vain hope that she will come around to accepting him when 'sanctioned by the express authority' of her parents which would be his next recourse in the context of the regency proposal process. Elizabeth leaves him quietly and in silence. The actors playing Mr Collins in the 1980 and 1995 television adaptations and the 2005 film adaptation interpret his rejection in different ways. Malcolm Rennie (1980) stands puzzling on what could have gone wrong after his kindly but affronting proposal. David Bamber (1995) is left simpering, speaking his last line to himself and wiping his sweaty brow after Elizabeth's quick exit ; Tom Hollander (2005) is still on bended knee from proposing as Elizabeth flees outside and the female members of the Bennet family burst into the dining room giggling or looking worried behind him. He is humiliated and confused: after following all the conventions things have not gone to plan. This is in strong contrast to when Mr Collins proposes to Charlotte in Chapter 22. Following the same conventions but with some trepidation, he successfully gains the hand of this more pragmatic and accepting bride.

41 Davies translates this dialogue and description of the friends' feelings and reactions to Charlotte's acceptance of Mr Collins selectively in his script. Explore which lines he keeps from the conversation between Elizabeth and Charlotte and what he converts to stage directions. These notes from Sue Birtwistle, producer of the 1995 adaptation, show the thought processes behind presenting the life choices that the young women in the novel face.

42 At the start of Chapter 34 Elizabeth, who has a headache and has chosen to stay at the parsonage, is rereading the letters that Jane has sent her recently in which she finds her sister's uniform 'want of cheerfulness'. This gives her an even 'keener' reason to resent Darcy's 'shameful boast' to Fitzwilliam that he separated Bingley from Jane. Then Darcy surprises her with his visit - she had half expected Colonel Fitzwilliam to call and see how she was feeling. The Davies script replicates this with Elizabeth hastily putting away the letters when the door bell rings. The 2005 film sets the scene completely differently. It is in church where Colonel Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth about Darcy's invention which leads Elizabeth to run away immediately after the service, across the Rosings parkland in the rain. With Darcy swiftly following her, Hunsford is not the setting for the proposal but instead, a mock-classical temple in Rosings Park.

502 Darcy's arrival alone is a shock to Elizabeth and also may have been to Jane's Austen's original readers. In the Regency context it would have been unconventional for him to visit her when she was unchaperoned. The narrator creates a tension around his awkward manners: at first 'imputing his visit' to enquiring whether she is feeling better, then 'agitated' and unable to sit still. Davies' 1995 script exaggerates this - having Darcy (Colin Firth) pace around the room, sit down and stand up, looking increasingly uncomfortable while rarely taking his eyes from Elizabeth. He finally stands wedged in a corner of the small parlour seeming far too large for it and blurts out his declaration of love. In contrast the outdoor meeting of the couple in the pouring rain and thunder in the 2005 film moves further away from the novel setting but is another reflection of the 18th century Romantic context in which this script sets the story. The pathetic fallacy of the weather, given the tumultuous emotions of the drenched protagonists, is not lost on the viewer.

44 Darcy's initial declaration is short and heartfelt. Elizabeth naturally 'coloured' when he talks of 'ardently' loving her but remains 'silent'. From here, as the objections to their match which he has had to overcome begin, the indirect narrative takes over with Darcy's proposal viewed through Elizabeth's consciousness. At first she pities him 'the pain' she will inflict through her refusal but then is 'roused to resentment' by his pride in overcoming objections about their difference in social rank that are hurtful to her. The adaptations deal with representing these emotions very differently. In the 1995 script Darcy's declaration may be verbatim but he moves towards the seated Elizabeth in an urgent way that supports the strength of his emotions. In the 2005 adaptation, Elizabeth jumps in shock when Darcy appears at the temple and he immediately launches in to his proposal without the declaration of love until Elizabeth questions what he means. To this he replies with the more direct and modern 'I love you'. He follows quickly with a list of the social objections and people who will object to their match. The ultimate insult - that he has resisted these despite the fact that 'judgement had always opposed inclination' - is retained from the novel in both adapations where Darcy that admits his decision to propose is 'against my own better judgement'. This provokes Elizabeth's anger and loss of 'all compassion'.

45 Elizabeth's reflection in the novel that it is significant to receive 'the compliment of such a man's affections' indicates a momentary nod not only to his status as a potential husband but to the genuine strength of feeling Darcy has expressed. This contrasts strongly with the lack of true feeling in Mr Collins' earlier proposal. However, there is a similarity between the proposals in the male entitlement of assuming that she will accept him: 'he had no doubt of a favourable answer'.

46 In giving her answer, Elizabeth starts in a conventional way as if she is going to acknowledge an 'obligation' to the person proposing, as she did in Chapter 19 when responding to Mr Collins. Things take a different turn as her anger introduces venom into her reply. She feels no such obligation. Although regretting he has endured pain, she cannot see how she induced it, and with all the objections he has, surely these feelings will not last long. Elizabeth's speech in the 1995 adaptation follows the Austen dialogue almost verbatim and the pace of both her response and Darcy's slow walk to the mantlepiece before he replies allows space for Davies' stage directions to be expressed, regarding them both trying to keep their tempers under control. In contrast, the Elizabeth-Darcy dialogue at this point in the 2005 film is fast-paced, consisting of shorter speeches where they taunt each other. For example, at one point Darcy retorts 'Are you laughing at me?' and Elizabeth replies 'No'. Any reference to the idea of 'obligation' is also eradicated from this script.

47 When Darcy responds it is with 'a forced calmness' that comes only after a pause during which he has gained control of some prideful anger which is 'dreadful' to Elizabeth. They are better attuned to each other's feelings than either of them know. His cool response, with its reference to the lack of 'civility' in her reply, fires Elizabeth's anger. To her, he has gone beyond deserving a civil response and she lets him know why - by stating he loves her against his better judgement. For someone who has vowed only to marry for love, he has crossed her principal red line. Both the 1995 and the 2005 adaptations see the importance of the response from Elizabeth. Davies retains her full line, with its powerful power of three expression - 'against your will, against your reason and even against your character' - while the 2005 script picks up on Darcy's earlier reference to it being against his 'better judgement' in her shorter reply.

48 Elizabeth proceeds to present her other reasons for not accepting Darcy: the most telling of which is that he has 'ruined' the happiness of her 'most beloved sister'. Like Darcy of the novel, Colin Firth's line regarding his role in splitting the couple - 'I rejoice in my success' - is inflammatory to Elizabeth and reveals his continuing arrogance and blindness to others' feelings. The 2005 script allows Darcy to offer his reasons for persuading Bingley to give up Jane - largely that he considered her feelings were not strong towards his friend. In the novel these reasons are only given later in Darcy's letter but here, Keira Knightley's Elizabeth can reply saying that Jane is 'shy' and 'hardly shows her true feelings to me'. This is a key facet of the way the sisters' relationship is portrayed in this adaptation and is further explored when Elizabeth reveals nothing to Jane about meeting Darcy at Pemberley. This revelation from Elizabeth about Jane stops Darcy in his tracks and, during a pause, he looks chastened. Elizabeth then asks if Bingley's fortune came into it and Darcy rejects this but is disparaging about her family's improper behaviour - something that is also reserved in the novel for his later letter. It is Elizabeth's turn to look chastened. The film realises reactions in them that the novel and the 1995 adaptation keeps for the letter reading scenes. The 2005 script condenses much into this scene and relies heavily on the actors' reactions in portraying the beginnings of their changing attitudes towards each other.

49 In this heated interchange of conflicting views between the protagonists, Austen twice notes that Darcy is 'listening' closely to Elizabeth without 'interruption'. Although his standpoint is at odds with hers and his response is arrogant, this is still in stark contrast to Mr Collins' failure to hear Elizabeth at all during his formulaic proposal to her. Darcy does at least want to understand why he is being rejected.

50 In the novel, Elizabeth proceeds directly to her second reason for rejecting Darcy - his cruel treatment of Wickham. Whereas her first reason provoked indignation and a little self-pity in Darcy - reflected in his comment that he had been kinder to Bingley 'than towards myself' - this second reason provokes anger and some jealousy - over her 'eager interest' in Wickham's affairs. In both adaptations Elizabeth's defence of Wickham gets Darcy on the move. Colin Firth starts pacing again around the small parlour at the Hunsford parsonage, whereas Matthew MacFayden advances to stand face-to-face with Keira Knightley. Both Darcys are offended at the fact that Elizabeth judges him on Wickham's testimony. Both also change the subject back to her hurt pride over his objections to her family and their lower rank. The 2005 script omits a key line that the 1995 script retains where Darcy reflects that he has been too honest perhaps - but that 'disguise of every sort is my abhorrence'. Austen points to his essential honesty which Elizabeth is soon to discover contrasts with Wickham's deceptive nature. Honesty is a characteristic that both protagonists share but candour has been the main means of inflicting hurt in this exchange.

51 In response to Darcy's accusation that his honesty has hurt Elizabeth's pride, she launches a full character assassination on him. In her first speech the phrase that leaves him, the narrator relays, with 'an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification' is 'had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner'. This is a double-edged insult: being a gentleman at its deepest level - not just in terms of surface manners - is all-important to Darcy. It is a mainstay of his identity and so this rocks him to his foundations. Added to this, Elizabeth is saying that she would have rejected him even if he had behaved better but she might have been kinder. In her next speech she returns his insults with interest. She may be proud but he has long been in her estimation arrogant, conceited and disdainful of others' feelings. Again, Austen lends Elizabeth the power of three to add weight to her insult. The 1995 script keeps both 'gentleman-like' and three elements of Elizabeth's criticisms. However, the 2005 script modernises the first line in Elizabeth's blunt question: 'And these are the words of a gentlemen?'. Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFayden both look hurt and vulnerable at this point and so close that the viewer feels they are being drawn into a kiss. They have revealed here so much to one another directly that Jane Austen witholds and deals with indirectly in Darcy's letter.

52 There is a nice reverse symmetry in Elizabeth's 'the last man in the world whom I could be prevailed upon to marry' with her assurance to Mr Collins during his proposal that 'I am the last woman in the world that could make you [happy]'. In her first proposal rejection she is kind enough to attribute her unsuitability as the cause, but here it is Darcy's unsuitability she fastens on.

53 Chapter 34 rounds off with Darcy's short and formal farewell - perhaps a return to what he views as gentleman-like behaviour to conclude an unsuccessful proposal. Even so it reveals something of his feelings - he has 'now only to be ashamed of what my own have been' in terms of his misjudgement of hers. Colin Firth delivers these lines and his formal wishes for her health and happiness with an element of regret indicated in Davies' stage direction: 'This costs him something.' Episode 3 ends here, leaving a pensive Elizabeth alone. Similarly, in the 2005 adaptation, Elizabeth is left drenched, bedraggled and in shock, as the camera zooms out to show Darcy walking away from the temple. In the novel the free indirect narrative shows Elizabeth wondering at Darcy's long attachment to her and at having 'inspired unconsciously so strong an affection. But his pride, his abominable pride.'

54 In Chapter 35 Elizabeth receives Darcy's letter in person while she is walking the parkland at Rosings and she stays there reading the letter for a number of hours afterwards. The letter is headed - Rosings, 8am - indicating that Darcy has either been up very early or through the night so he might respond to Elizabeth before he leaves. He requests her to put her feelings aside and asks it 'of her justice' to read the letter. As with honesty, a sense of 'justice' is to prove another core value that the two protagonists share. Darcy begins his letter with an account of his intervention between Bingley and Jane and then turns to Wickham's story. The reading of a long letter is not interesting visually - though the 1980 BBC Fay Weldon adaptation of Pride and Prejudice does attempt to portray this with just a few flashbacks to break it up. The 1995 adaptation instead splits the two parts of the letter over two different settings. Davies begins with the Wickham story with first Darcy writing it and then Elizabeth reading the rest next morning in the parkland; once back at the Huntsford parsonage, she reads Darcy's account of parting Bingley from Jane. The 2005 film retains the order of events in Darcy's retelling in the novel. However, in this script his reasons for parting Jane and Bingley come during the proposal and then the letter arrives at the parsonage that same night to relate Wickham's real story to Elizabeth.

55 The extent of Darcy's hurt feelings is felt through the opening of his letter where he summarises Elizabeth's 'severity of blame' in the charges that she lay before him when rejecting his proposal. He hopes through this letter that this blame may at least be lessened. The initial anger and hurt felt by both protagonists is translated to the screen at the start of Episode 4 of the 1995 adaptation. Voiceover of key lines from their argument are replayed as Elizabeth paces up and down the parlour at Hunsford while Darcy races back to the comparative grandeur of Rosings (illustrated here by production designer, Gerry Scott ) alternately in a temper and stopping in his tracks, hurt. Davies' stage directions for them both are detailed and reveal more of their reactions than the novel does at this point.

56 Darcy launches immediately into explaining why he intervened between Jane and Bingley, citing Jane's seeming indifference and that he thought 'her heart was not likely to be easily touched'. He admits that hearing Elizabeth speak with 'superior knowledge' of her sister has made his former belief 'improbable'. However, he argues that her family's poor behaviour is a sound justification for saving Bingley from an 'unhappy connection'. The one regret he admits is concealing from his friend 'your sister's being in town'. Darcy realises that he has broken his own rule of never being false or disgusing anything through his actions and admits 'I have not yet learnt to condemn them.' The seed of change is sown in Darcy but has not yet germinated. In the 1995 adaptation, Elizabeth reads the Jane-Bingley part of the letter later at Hunsford. Her emotions have calmed somewhat, having already heard Darcy's account of Wickham. Even so, her exclamations to herself against Darcy, such as 'Oh really! Astonish me!' and 'Insufferable!' punctuate his voiced-over letter when he details how he parted her sister from Bingley. In the novel the reader does not know Elizabeth's reactions to the letter until Chapter 36 but Davies needs to portray them on screen as she reads it and hence has her interject with her comments in the script.

57 The second part of Darcy's letter, in Chapter 35, is a full account of his history with George Wickham from their childhood up until Wickham's failed attempt to elope with the 15 year-old Georgiana. Darcy relates how at university he had chance to observe Wickham's 'vicious propensities' in 'unguarded moments' and how he eventually refused to make any further payments to him, leading Wickham to target his sister's £30,000. In Davies' script - Darcy's feverish overnight writing of the letter to Elizabeth is interspersed with shots of her reading the letter in scenes from the Wickham story brought to life as flashbacks. Once again a long stretch of the letter from the novel is enhanced dramatically in the adaptation. The depth of Darcy's hurt, frustration and emotion when writing the letter are portrayed in the brief overnight letter-writing scenes and can be appreciated through this series of stills in which Colin Firth becomes overwrought and finally exhausted. These reflect Darcy's comments in his letter to Elizabeth that there is no fear of him renewing his offers of the previous night that were 'so disgusting to you' and at the end a fear that his explanations might prove 'valueless' due to 'your abhorrence of me'. By contrast, in the 2005 adaptation, the focus for the aftermath of the proposal is all on Elizabeth. In this series of stills Keira Knightley, as Elizabeth, is shown reflecting on what might have been and scoffing slightly as she reflects as day turns to night in the Hunsford parsonage. This is all wordless action. Then as she stares into the mirror, Darcy comes to deliver his letter. She starts - it is uncertain if this is a dream but then she sees the letter as evidence it was reality and Darcy's voiceover of a truncated version of the letter begins.

58 Introducing the letter from her heroine's perspective at the beginning of Chapter 36, Austen notes 'the contrariety of emotion' it excites in Elizabeth. This 'contrariety' is strongly depicted throughout the scenes of her reading it in the 1995 adaptation. As Elizabeth opens the letter in the Rosings parkland, the Darcy voiceover rounds off his account of Wickham and she anxiously reassesses Wickham's excuse to her for not attending the Netherfield Ball (delivered via flashback). Her anger returns as soon as the script segues to the topic of Darcy's intervention between Jane and Bingley. She huffs loudly, almost in disbelief, as initially he claims he cannot blame himself for doing so. Her emotions match the novel where she considers his belief on this subject as 'all pride and insolence'. Having been seated on a tree stump, she now races off angrily across the park towards Hunsford as the voiceover continues with interjections from Elizabeth and flashback scenes to Netherfield Ball to explain when Darcy first became aware of a serious attachment between his friend and Jane.

59 In the novel, Elizabeth rushes her first reading 'scarcely knowing anything of the last page or two' and puts it away vowing that 'she would never look in it again'. But, within a minute, she is re-reading and continues walking the lane and re-reading for two hours. This is echoed in the Davies' adaptation where Elizabeth puts the letter hurriedly away until she reaches the parsonage and the privacy of her own room. There the voiceover completes the story of how Darcy and the Bingley sisters parted Bingley from her sister with several new or invented scenes depicting Bingley being persuaded against the match by Darcy and his sisters and Darcy watching as a despondent Jane leaves the Bingley town house. The idea of re-reading the letter is implied here as it is in the novel where by the end of the chapter, with regard to Wickham's story, Elizabeth concludes that Darcy is entirely blameless. Continuing to have the letter in her possession, means that Elizabeth can return repeatedly to reconsider its contents and what it tells her about Darcy as is suggested in future conversations with Jane. Indeed, the letter and the proposal conversation are returned to when Darcy proposes again in Chapter 58. There it becomes clear how crucial both have been in the protagonists coming to a true appreciation of each other and their self-development.

60 At the start of Chapter 40, Elizabeth is finally able to speak in private with Jane about Mr Darcy's proposal. She immediately thinks of the pain Darcy must have suffered on being refused by Elizabeth but her sister is more concerned that Jane will think ill of her because of her bad judgement of Wickham's character. She then tells Jane of how Darcy's letter explained Wickham's true story. This is a severe blow for Jane who 'had gone through the world' never 'believing so much wickedness existed'. Austen emphasises the older sister's goodness through Elizabeth's eyes. Davies conflates the opening of this conversation, assuming that Jane has already been told both about the proposal and about Wickham. She excuses Elizabeth saying that she could never have guessed he had a 'vicious character'. There is a sense here of Davies relating back to Chapter 17: even given a longer acquaintance, the sisters would not have been able to imagine such wickedness of Wickham. In contrast, the 23 second bedroom scene in the 2005 film, where Elizabeth attempts to break the news of Darcy's proposal to Jane, focuses on how a distance is growing between the sisters. Jane has her back to Elizabeth in bed. When her tearful sister mentions seeing Mr Darcy at Rosings all Jane can do is ask if he talked of Bingley. Both sisters are isolated by their own emotional turmoil. Whereas Davies' sisters talk over Elizabeth's predicament in the warm light of Jane's bedroom, in the 2005 film, shutting down Jane's question about Bingley, Elizabeth says 'he did not' and abruptly blows out the candle burning by their bedside. This could also be viewed as a reflection of Elizabeth's decision in the novel to protect Jane by not revealing to her that Darcy intervened between her and Bingley.

61 In revisiting Darcy's letter with Jane, Elizabeth is brought to reflect on how full of self-reproach she felt when first reading it and how she missed her confidante - 'Oh! How I wanted you!' she exclaims when recalling the aftermath of the proposal. This closeness and affection between the two sisters is conveyed strongly in Davies' adaptation and to this dialogue Davies adds one of Elizabeth's most telling lines from Chapter 36: 'Till that moment I never knew myself'. In speaking to Jane she is transported back to the depth of emotion that she felt at Rosings, reading the letter alone.

62 Elizabeth next consults Jane about whether or not Wickham's true nature should be shared with friends and neighbours. In the Georgian context, this is a moral dilemma for the sisters: it would be a serious decision to release information that would harm a person's name. They assume with Wickham imminent departure for Brighton with his regiment, he will be unable to inflict any more damage on their community. Elizabeth adds the more important point - that Darcy has not given her permission to make the Wickham story public and will want to protect his family's reputation. Her alliance to Darcy is a complete reversal from how she felt in Chapter 17 when championing Wickham. This is also reflected in her earlier comment to Jane that there is only enough 'merit between them' to 'make one good sort of man' and she is 'inclined to believe it all Mr Darcy's' The sisters have exchanged their views on this topic equitably and decide to say nothing 'at present'. Davies stays close to the novel dialogue. Jane's final thought in the novel is that they should not make Wickham 'desperate' and to complement this Davies ends with a new line iterating Elizabeth's wish to 'think so well of people' as Jane does.

63 When her conversation with Jane is over, Elizabeth reflects on the final element of her moral dilemma - her decision to withhold from her sister how Darcy was instrumental in parting her from Bingley. The only circumstance in which she can forsee this information being shared is if Bingley himself tells Jane. At this stage Elizabeth views that as a 'very improbable event'. Given that these thoughts are delivered by Austen via a mix of direct speech (Elizabeth to herself) and free indirect narrative, they are not proactively represented in the 1995 and 2005 adaptations, although Davies does refer to Elizabeth's thoughts tending to the 'Bingley story' in his stage directions. Elizabeth's decision to keep this information from Jane is another sign of the deep affection she feels for her sister and indeed it turns out to be wise decision.

64 It is unusual for Austen to give such a detailed description of a setting as she does for Pemberley in Chapter 43, starting with the scope of the parkland which reveals the house in dramatic way that surprises and awes Elizabeth so that she cannot participate in conversation very easily with her Aunt and Uncle. The reader will know that it takes a great deal to render Elizabeth speechless. This is reflected in the the 1995 adaptation where the view of the house takes her breath away. In the 2005 film Elizabeth stands up in the carriage and lets out a shocked laugh when she sees it, followed by the Gardiners who stand open-mouthed staring at the grandeur of the house. The latter makes it a comic moment contrasting with the novel.

65 In Elizabeth's positive reaction to the way in the grounds of Pemberley 'natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste', there is a compliment to Darcy's planning and management of his parkland that Austen's reader would have understood. In the Georgian context, grand estates had recently been designed according the rules of the eighteenth-century picturesque set out by William Gilpin, with features such as strategically placed 'wildernesses', classical-style temples and statues, hothouses and manicured meadows. Austen herself was not keen on these elaborate designs. The 2005 film allows Elizabeth some first-hand encounters with the hills and dales of Derbyshire just before the visit to Pemberley. In the 1995 adaptation, Davies transfers Elizabeth's feeling from the novel 'that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!' to Mrs Gardiner's line 'I think one would be willing to put up with a good deal to be mistress of Pemberley'.

66 Once inside the house, both the Gardiners and Elizabeth admire the refined taste expressed in its furniture and furnishings - 'neither gaudy nor uselessly fine' and with 'more real elegance' than that of Rosings with its new £800 fireplace. Elizabeth also observes the hillside and parkland from the windows - each view a reframing of Darcy's land and a representation of his power and measured control. The 2005 film portrays Elizabeth's careful appraisal of objects that belong to Darcy and the views over the estate from the windows. Unlike in the novel and the 1995 adaptation, she does this alone making the exploration more personal. In the 1995 adaptation it is Mr and Mrs Gardiner who take in the view from the window while Elizabeth reflects that she might have been mistress of all this.

67 Having already seen the miniature of Darcy, his full-scale portrait in the picture gallery holds Elizabeth's attention in the novel as she recognises his smile that 'she remembered to have sometimes seen, when he looked at her'. Her thoughts are positive, reflecting the housekeeper's glowing account of his behaviour and character: 'What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant?'. Another reading may be that Elizabeth sees in Darcy's portrait, the man in the context of his ancestors; she literally witnesses his lineage. The idea that Darcy himself is moving closer and closer that Austen builds in the novel is enhanced in the 1995 adaptation by Elizabeth's contemplation in the gallery being intercut with his arrving back at Pemberley and preparing to take a swim in the lake.

68 In the novel, Darcy makes his unexpected return to Pemberley simply walking from the direction of the stables around to the front of the house where Elizabeth has just emerged after the tour. This is enough of a shock for her but the adaptations take this a step further. In the 1995 adaptation, Davies shows a Darcy tired after his journey and his time in London, stripping off for a cleansing swim in the lake, only to emerge drenched and half-clothed to encounter Elizabeth. Portraying the shock of their meeting and how uncomfortable it makes them was Davies aim. He is on record as saying he wanted it to be a comic moment. In visualising Darcy's physical prowess and willingness to throw off convention, also makes him even more attractive to Elizabeth, however. In the 2005 film adaptation, the meeting is just as dramatic with Elizabeth spying Darcy as he watches his sister practise on the new piano. He spots Elizabeth and follows her as she hurries out of the house.

69 Paying attention to how the camera shots of Elizabeth and Darcy are edited together in the 1995 adaptation as they catch sight of each other, and how the music swells to a crescendo, is important to understanding that this is a climactic plot point. They have both been in each other's thoughts and now they are rather overwhelmed to meet face-to-face, especially given the terms they parted on at Rosings. The music is still playing as Elizabeth says 'Mr Darcy!' but it stops just before he replies 'Miss Bennet'. In the novel Elizabeth blushes and then finds it hard to fathom why Darcy is being so polite, while in the 1995 adaptation the two initially stare at each other 'in total bewilderment and panic' and then find it hard to meet each other's gaze as they start their awkward conversation.

70 Austen relays the short conversation between Darcy and Elizabeth indirectly, concentrating on 'his repeated enquiries' about her trip and how long she has been away from home, before he walks off in way that 'plainly spoke the distraction of his thoughts'. The vagueness of their conversation offers the screen adaptors some leeway in creating the dialogue. Davies' scene has Darcy ask twice after the health of Elizabeth's family while in the 2005 film adaptation he tenderly says, 'Yes, yes I know', when she says she likes to walk and prefers to return to Lambton alone. This Darcy shows he has listened to her and absorbed her likes and dislikes. The characters' dialogue runs over each other, colliding to show their embarrasment and eagerness to speak, in a more naturalistic way than the 1995 adaptation. The scene ends with Darcy's expression of "missed opportunity" as Elizabeth hurries away.

71 Both adaptations bring Darcy out of the house to catch up with Elizabeth far faster than happens in the novel where she rejoins the Gardiners and walks through the park contemplating the unexpected meeting and Darcy's gentle manner towards her, before he comes to find them. In the 1995 adaptation he joins them just as they are about to depart Pemberley in haste. He is heartened when Elizabeth expresses genuine warmth about Pemberley, takes time to talk personally to both her Aunt Uncle building an immediate rapport and encourages them to walk the parkland with him. These are Davies' interpretations of Darcy's gentle manner. Mr Darcy chases after Elizabeth in the 2005 film as she runs from the house. The Gardiners are not present and after their uncomfortable dialogue, Elizabeth insists she will walk back solo to Lambton across the countryside. She is depicted more in the context of the Romantic heroine of the late eighteenth century than a Regency tourist.

72 Both the time that elapses in the novel before Darcy rejoins Elizabeth and the time that he then spends talking with her uncle, give Austen's heroine a chance to reflect on the changes she sees in Darcy and to wonder at them. Her astonishment is 'extreme' and she asks why he is 'so altered' concluding that 'it cannot be for my sake that his manners are thus softened' and that it is impossible that he should love her still. The reader thus asks themselves the same question and is set wondering. The viewer is not privy to Elizabeth's thoughts in the 1995 adapatation, and instead it is left to a series of questioning looks from Elizabeth as Darcy shows interest and courtesy to her aunt and uncle and to Mrs Gardiner's question 'Can you not?' when her neice says 'I can't imagine what has effected this transformation' to convey Elizabeth's fast-changing thoughts.

73 Darcy's wish to introduce his sister to Elizabeth while she is in Derbyshire is a sign that he wishes to continue their relationship. And the fact that he says Georgiana 'more particularly wishes to be known to you' means that he has talked of Elizabeth to her. These reactions are laid out by Austen in the free-indirect narrative that follow the invitation: Elizabeth feels a 'surprise' so great that she does not know how she replies to him, and relief that her rejection of him 'had not made him think really ill of her'. Austen hints ironically that Elizabeth cannot yet conceive that this is not just reconciliation. Darcy is signalling, in the context of the Georgian courtship etiquette, that he wishes to introduce Elizabeth to his dearest family member and that his sister is personally interested in her. The 2005 film depicts the invitation very differently. Mr Darcy, who does not meet the Gardiners at Pemberley, is at the inn at Lambton when Elizabeth arrives back there. She watches his introduction to her aunt and uncle and only joins them once he has left. They express how charming he has been and pass on the message that 'he particularly wanted you to meet his sister'. The only words that Elizabeth utters in reply to all this information are 'his sister'. She recognises the compliment Darcy is paying her but does not quite understand it. Here it is noticeable that the invitation is issued as Darcy's wish not Georgiana's. The message is simpler here, as the viewer has not seen so much of Darcy's earnest attentions to Elizabeth as the reader has in the novel, but Joe Wright effects both the surprise of the unexpected meeting and the kind and courteous overtures of Darcy towards Elizabeth and her relatives with great economy.

74 Chapter 46 of the novel opens with the arrival at the Lambton Inn of two letters for Elizabeth from Jane. Elizabeth's previous 'disappointment' at not receiving news from Jane before is explained by the fact that her sister had addressed the first one 'remarkably ill'. This small detail, billed by Austen as a quirk of fate, has wider plot implications. Its effect is to telescope action so that Elizabeth hears all about Lydia's elopement with Wickham in one fell swoop. It also delays the response of Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle and related to this, Darcy's call to action. The damage to the Bennet family's reputation is potentially deeper because of this postal blip. It represents another way in which letters can be employed by writers to complicate or frustrate a plot. Because of its crucial nature it is retained in the 1995 adaptation with Elizabeth reading the letters alone at the inn, with Jane's voiceover becoming more and more urgent. This, together with the arrival of Darcy, makes for a long sequence of nearly 9 minutes, which clearly a film cannot match. In the the 2005 adaptation, the reading of the letters is unseen by the audience with Elizabeth emerging from a bedroom in tears to inform the Gardiners and Mr Darcy together of the shocking news from Longbourn.

75 The change in Jane's tone as she relays more information about the elopement, and learns more herself about Lydia's situation, is quite extreme. In the novel her first letter begins as a straight-forward 'account' of daily life then moves to 'agitation'. At the start of the second letter she is 'bewildered' by the unfolding events, speaks of 'our distress' and ends 'earnestly begging' for Elizabeth's return. This is not the gentle, calm Jane that Austen has depicted previously and reflects a household at Longbourn that is out of control. The use of Jane's voiceover in the 1995 adaptation easily conveys this change in her feelings and, along with few interspersed scenes of the chaos at Longbourn and flashbacks allowing Elizabeth to reflect on Wickham's words and Darcy's about Georgiana, help to dramatise the letters. Jane's growing distress in this chapter is a main force in pulling Elizabeth back home.

76 Into this scene of desolation enters Darcy whose emotions at finding Elizabeth alone and so upset become unguarded. His dialogue in the novel breaks down - he is 'grieved indeed' ... 'grieved--shocked' and as Elizabeth reveals there is no news of the eloping couple, and she wishes now she had let her family know of Wickham's true nature, he responds with 'silent acquiescence'. Elizabeth misunderstands this as any hopes of their future being dashed but in fact Darcy is blaming himself and is at present unable to think how he can help. Davies portrays these emotions clearly through his stage directions. The 2005 adaptation of this scene is set in the evening as Darcy, the Gardiners and Elizabeth return from time at Pemberley together. In the dark wood-panelled rooms of the inn at Lambton, Darcy paces up and down while Elizabeth reads the letters out-of-view, and the Gardiners sit waiting to hear what has happened. Immediately the news is broken, Darcy claims responsibility - 'This is my fault'. The protagonists' emotions are much more open as Elizabeth says it is her fault too and Darcy keenly wishes he could 'help'. When Elizabeth fears 'it is too late', the implication is that she is talking of the future of their relationship. The whole scene lasts only 100 seconds and the presence of the Gardiners means that plans for departing can be made almost before Darcy has left them.

77 With Elizabeth's response to her aunt's letter in Chapter 52, the reader is drawn close to her mixed emotions, as she fathoms what Darcy's actions in funding and arranging Lydia's marriage to Wickham might mean to her own relationship with him. She is deep in thought. In Davies' 1995 adaptation this is presented as the image of Darcy and her uncle shaking hands fades and Elizabeth has only a moment to reflect before Wickham arrives. In the 2005 film, Elizabeth hears of Darcy's involvement from Lydia at the dining table. At this point Wickham shoots her an unnerved glance. It is only as he pauses to nod goodbye to her and she turns away, that he will know her full disapproval. A whole dialogue from the novel is expressed solely by a series of looks.

78 The settings between the novel and the 1995 adaptation contrast strongly here - at the start of Chapter 52, Elizabeth is in 'the little copse' reading the letter. In Davies' script she is in the garden much closer to the house. She is somewhat ambushed by Wickham in the novel, barely having time to get up from her seat, and with no chance of avoiding him. On screen in the 1995 production, Wickham is posing against a wall when he interrupts her reading.

79 Elizabeth's reply about being interrupted shows the power that a Jane Austen speech can wield in one word. In this case the word 'must'. She enables her heroine to show that she is irritated by his interruption but that he could prove to her that it might have been worth it. Austen could have chosen 'is' or 'will be' but instead selects the stronger 'must' with its implication of duty and obligation. Andrew Davies' stage direction gives a strong sense of how this line will be delivered.

80 Davies' script indicates that they stroll in the garden along the path by the house, while in the novel, Wickham joins Elizabeth and the two walk with more privacy in the copse. But Davies' earlier draft indicates that Wickham has plans to lead Elizabeth into the wilderness garden but she steers him to the well-trodden more public path.

81 In the novel, Wickham starts his gentle enquiries about Elizabeth's visit to Pemberley with talk of the housekeeper there. This first part of the conversation from the novel appears in Davies' earlier draft. This may have been cut during shooting to keep the action moving, because it repeats some of Wickham's complaints of his ill-treatment from an earlier conversation or during the editing to keep Episode 6 to the right length.

82 When Wickham refers to 'passing' Darcy in London a few times, Elizabeth and the reader already know that these were no chance meetings and therefore that he is lying to her face. In Davies' script this is the first thing he says to her about Darcy and Pemberley which sharpens the insult. Or is he testing her out to see what she knows?

83 If Wickham is testing Elizabeth about what she knows, her response does exactly the same to him. By first suggesting that Darcy might be in town due to a wedding, and only clarifying after a pause that she means his wedding to Miss de Bourgh, she unsettles Wickham. In the Davies production, his facial expression says "how true, if only she knew". The actors' performances highlight the inferences present in the dialogue much of which is Jane Austen's.

84 Their veiled argument steps up once Elizabeth and Wickham start to talk about Georgiana Darcy, whom she introduces into the conversation. When Wickham, at the height of his hypocrisy, says he hopes Georgiana will turn out well, Elizabeth fires a more serious warning shot: 'she has got over the most trying age'. In Darcy's young sister's case it was Wickham who nearly caused her downfall and the reader is reminded of Darcy's pain when explaining the foiled elopment in Chapter 36. Davies' stage direction is explicit in showing how Elizabeth's comment unnerves Wickham who on-screen half stops in his tracks before changing the subject rapidly.

85 Elizabeth's playful-sounding question to Wickham about making sermons is, as Davies' stage direction states, full of 'obvious irony'. In the novel Wickham defends himself saying how the parson's life would have suited him. In Davies' script this is shrunk to a slightly cross look and 'Exceedingly well'.

86 The hammer-blow response, revealing to Wickham that Elizabeth knows exactly what he is, comes in the novel when she refers to hearing from 'an authority' as good as Darcy that Wickham turned down the parish promised to him in favour of a payout. Without revealing her sources, but showing which side of the story she believes, in the Davies script she reduces Wickham to a mere 'Well' in response as he submits.

87 Elizabeth acknowledges her victory by putting an end to this 'quarrel' and offering him her hand. As long as he knows where she stands, they can move on as 'brother and sister'. Neither the Wickham of the novel nor the on-screen Wickham can meet her gaze. And in both the novel and Davies' script Elizabeth has walked them back to the house and she leads the way in. Austen introduces Chapter 53 with confirmation that Elizabeth has silenced Wickham and this effectively marks the end of his character arc. In the 2005 film, as Lydia and Wickham depart from Longbourn, without a word having passed between Elizabeth and Wickham. His last act is to pull Lydia down to sit in the carriage and stop her loud goodbyes to her family. An ominous sign.

88 There is strong contrast in the arrival of Lady Catherine at Longbourn between the two adaptations. In Davies' 1995 adaptation it is the remaining Bennet women (including Jane) who receive her in the daytime. Whereas in the Joe Wright adaptation, Lady Catherine arrives at night and the whole household greet her at the door, including Mr Bennet and the dogs. The effects of these choices of setting the scene are very different: Davies matches the novel with the move to the outdoors for the debate that follows between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine which is less cloying and claustrophobic than the candlelit interior scenes of the 2005 film.

89 The brusqueness of Lady Catherine’s arrival and entrance in the Bennet’s sitting room is matched by the conciseness of Austen’s sentence structure. The brusqueness of her actions will soon be reflected in her dialogue with Elizabeth. Andrew Davies captures this abrupt quality in Lady Catherine’s opening lines and then adds an extra note of rudeness as she twice cuts off Mrs Bennet's comments mid-sentence.

90 Jane Austen expresses Elizabeth's thought to herself as 'she said' – but it is clear that this is the character’s internal monologue. In other parts of the novel this is expressed by Austen as part of free-indirect speech by phrases such as 'thought Elizabeth' or said to herself.

91 Lady Catherine’s opening sentences are jabs at Elizabeth with the repeated use of 'You cannot'…'your own heart… your own conscience' making it clear that Elizabeth is in the wrong about something and she has put her 'noble guest' to much trouble in travelling to Longbourn. Lady Catherine is to use this rhetorical device of anaphora (highlighted in pink) repeatedly in her argument with Elizabeth. The fact that this is to be a verbal duel is signified in the Davies’ adaptation when she turns abruptly to face Elizabeth some 10 paces away as soon as they enter the walled garden and have some privacy. Later, in both the 1995 and 2005 adaptations, the combatants draw closer to one another.

92 In contrast to the assertive statements from Lady Catherine, Elizabeth uses conditional sentences based on hypotheticals to deflect her opponent’s claims. Here 'If you believed it to be impossible… I wonder you took the trouble of coming…' Her evasion is like a parry to Lady Catherine's lunge forward with a sword. This device is called a rhetorical conditional (highlighted in red) and is used several times. Andrew Davies retains these, recognising them as a key part of Elizabeth's verbal arsenal.

93 Throwing her own words back in her face is another ploy that Elizabeth uses to strike back at Lady Catherine's rudeness. Here – she returns the word 'frankness' that Lady Catherine has claimed is one of her strong points with the implication that frankness is only another word for extreme offensiveness – something Elizabeth does not herself possess. She manages to operate within the politeness code of her social context and use this as a reason for not denying the rumour about her and Darcy. As part of making the dialogue shorter for the screen, Davies chooses to omit this detail - her ladyship neither claims to be frank nor does Elizabeth have this as ammunition to fire back at her.

94 Lady Catherine introduces the tale of how she and Darcy’s mother decided long ago that he and Miss de Bourgh would be married. In rhetorical terms she is using an anecdote (highlighted in yellow) to support her claim that Elizabeth should reject any claim she has on Darcy. The stage directions in Andrew Davies' script show Lady Catherine's change of mood as she first hesitates to use such a personal story and then grows angrier with Elizabeth as she tells it.

95 The point of Elizabeth’s lower social class is emphasised by another forceful language device – the power of three – when she tells her she is ‘of inferior birth, of no importance in the world and wholly unallied to the family'. In rhetoric, this is called a tricolon (highlighted in green). Davies changes the emotive power of three to 'without family, connections of fortune' to take away the stigma of Elizabeth being considered 'unimportant' which might have clashed with the ideas of viewers of the 1990s and replaces it with the money-related term 'fortune'.

96 Austen makes effective use here of the conditional question (highlighted in blue). Using the 'If... why...?' construction helps to give emphasis and strength to Elizabeth's arguments. And placing two questions in succession, enforces the logic of the point she is making: why should Darcy not have another choice of partner and furthermore why should she not be his choice?

97 This exclamation from Lady Catherine over Elizabeth's 'obstinate' and 'headstrong' qualities is ironic given these are strong traits of Lady Catherine herself. Elizabeth has resisted her before when in Chapter 37 she battles verbally but politely with her host in insisting that she and Maria must leave Rosings after six weeks. In the end 'Lady Catherine seemed resigned.' Despite, as she says not 'being in the habit of brooking disappointment', Lady Catherine has met someone more obstinate than herself and, even in this more serious matter, Elizabeth will withstand the social pressure she exerts.

98 The fact that Elizabeth remains logical is supported by her use of balanced sentences with equally weighted halves. This device of parataxis (highlighted in orange) is present in many speeches by Jane Austen’s witty heroines and here makes it sound like she is laying out a case in a court of law. Davies uses one of the more direct examples of parataxis when Elizabeth seeks to impress on Lady Catherine that she is Darcy's equal.

99 Elizabeth acknowledges this is a verbal battle by pointing out to Lady Catherine that her arguments have been frivolous and that in making them she has been ill-judged. By commenting on the standard of argument she attacks the argument rather than the person directly but still criticises Lady Catherine’s skills and judgement.

100 By changing the sentence order here, Austen gives emphasis to what Darcy's reaction might be to Lady Catherine intervening in his business while still insisting through 'I cannot tell' that Elizabeth does not know his mind on this matter. This syntactic inversion (highlighted in turquoise) also leads nicely into her balancing point introduced by 'but': what Elizabeth does know is that Lady Catherine has no right to be interfering in her life.

101 Lady Catherine's speech rises to its climax here and having posed a series of questions around the inferior social rank of the Bennet family she ends with two rhetorical questions (highlighted in purple) which Elizabeth cannot possibly be expected to answer. The exaggerated language of 'the shades Pemberley' being 'thus polluted' satirise the tone of epic poetry for dramatic effect.

102 Elizabeth finally loses her cool after Lady Catherine resorts to insulting her family (just as she does when Darcy does this during his first proposal). She speaks her response ‘resentfully’ and tries to bring the conversation to an abrupt close.

103 It is Elizabeth who rises first and takes the initiative to act. The Davies adaptation takes this further with Lady Catherine out of breath and hurrying to keep up with Elizabeth as she makes off to the house from the walled garden.

104 In a final appeal to the code of manners stongly linked to social context, Lady Catherine asks if Elizabeth will not reject any claims on Darcy for ‘duty, honour and gratitude’ and another emotive power of three. In response, Elizabeth flings the same three words back at her adversary. She is not beholden to Lady Catherine and has received no offer and so can deflect these terms. Elizabeth's response in Davies' script does not react to Catherine's attempt at moral blackmail, but returns another balanced argument to her. Essentially, this matter is between herself and Darcy and no-one else.

105 Mrs Bennet’s half-question, wondering if Lady Catherine ‘had nothing special to say to you’ is deflected by Elizabeth, the narrator ephemistically comments with a ‘little falsehood’ to protect herself and to avoid explanation to her mother. The 2005 dialogue echoes the response of a teenager as Elizabeth storms upstairs shouting ‘Won’t you ever leave me alone!'