Children of Their Time: Elizabeth Bennet versus Bridget Jones

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Helen Fielding did not invent the plot of her novel Bridget Jones’s Diary, which was first published in 1996, all by herself. When asked about it in an online chat session, Fielding admits that she “shamelessly stole the plot” of Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen (n.pag.). Bridget Jones’s Diary received great praise from critics in the United Kingdom and beyond. In 1999, Fielding published a sequel called Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. A highly anticipated film adaptation entered cinemas in 2001, and soon became very successful. Even though Jane Austen’s novel was published nearly two hundred years earlier than Fielding’s, its plot still seems to be relevant to a turn-of-the-millennium readership. What parallels are there between the two novels and their heroines? In how far are Elizabeth and Bridget children of their time? What changes did Fielding consider necessary when taking Pride and Prejudice into the late 20th century? These questions will be answered in this paper.
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