Today's bookstats are about the characters in Jane Austen's Pride &Prejudice, the book I'm reading at the moment. What a pleasure to begin the year with a story so captivating and familiar.
This book has over 120.000 words and the longest word is disinterestedness (17 characters).
The aim of today's bookstats is to find out which character is, according to the number of mentions in the book, the most important! As you can probably guess, it is Elizabeth! She is mentioned 752 times in the book as either Elizabeth, Lizzy or Eliza.
Before I started this little investigation, I took a moment to consult with myself what my expectations of the outcome were and made a top 5. Maybe you would like to write down your own expectations before you read on!
1. Elizabeth
2. Jane
3. Lydia
4. Mr. Darcy
5. Mr. Bingley
Also, I asked two friends what their thoughts on the subject were:
Friend 1 (who read the book once and watched the movie from 2005 and the BBC series from 1995):
1. Elizabeth
2. Mr. Darcy
3. Jane
4. Mr. Bingley
5. Mrs. Bennet / Lydia / Mr. Wickham / no idea
Friend 2 (who has not read the book and only saw the movie from 2005 a while ago)
1. Mr. Darcy
2. Elizabeth
3. Mr. Bingley
4. Jane
5. Mrs. Bennet
I did not include all characters in my search, as there are quite some, but I selected thirteen of them, which, in my eyes, would probably be mentioned most.
Time for the truth.
Well, number 1 and 2 were not so very unexpected. And of course, it was very probable that Mr. Darcy would end up a little bit higher on the list than predicted. But how could I totally forget about Mr. Wickham? Only Friend 1 mentioned him on nr. 5, with a few others. And how can Mr. Bingley only be on nr. 9!? Even Mrs. Bennet is mentioned more often and she is only the mother, not the lover!
When reading the book, it certainly feels like the whole story revolves around Elizabeth & Darcy and Jane & Bingley. Of course, Wickham & Lydia are also a big part of the story, but based on these numbers, it seems like Bingley is only a minor character.
Let's zoom in on a few characters with different names:
Elizabeth is called by her first name 635 times. The shorter form Lizzy is used 95 times and Eliza 22 times.
Jane is mentioned 292 times, and is also 64 times addressed as Miss Bennet.
Lydia occurs 170 times. After she is married and her name changed to Mrs. Wickham, she is dismissed from the story after 3 mentions.
Charlotte is still in the picture after she marries the unlikeable Mr. Collins. Half of the time (26 times) she is Miss Lucas and the other half (27 times) she is Mrs. Collins. Furthermore, she is 85 times called by her first name.
A few extra's:
It seems like the book is more about pride than about prejudice: 49 vs. 9 occurrences. But naturally, you should not always believe the numbers :)
And the word 'nerves' is only mentioned 4 times in total! I would not believe this if I hadn't investigated it myself. If you have watched the BBC series from 1995, you would expect this word at least as many times as Mrs. Bennet herself is mentioned.
I hope you liked this post! Let me know in the comments, also if you think of any other questions do not hesitate to ask them!
Doei!
P.S. As I was reading just yet, I was astonished to find that Jane Austen calls Jane Bennet fat! Well, not in so many words, but when Mr. Bennet receives a letter from Mr. Gardiner about Lydia and Wickham, Elizabeth and Jane run towards their father and 'Jane, who was not so light, nor so much in the habit of running as Elizabeth, soon lagged behind ...'
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| https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PrideAndPrejudiceTitlePage.jpg |
This book has over 120.000 words and the longest word is disinterestedness (17 characters).
The aim of today's bookstats is to find out which character is, according to the number of mentions in the book, the most important! As you can probably guess, it is Elizabeth! She is mentioned 752 times in the book as either Elizabeth, Lizzy or Eliza.
Before I started this little investigation, I took a moment to consult with myself what my expectations of the outcome were and made a top 5. Maybe you would like to write down your own expectations before you read on!
1. Elizabeth
2. Jane
3. Lydia
4. Mr. Darcy
5. Mr. Bingley
Also, I asked two friends what their thoughts on the subject were:
Friend 1 (who read the book once and watched the movie from 2005 and the BBC series from 1995):
1. Elizabeth
2. Mr. Darcy
3. Jane
4. Mr. Bingley
5. Mrs. Bennet / Lydia / Mr. Wickham / no idea
Friend 2 (who has not read the book and only saw the movie from 2005 a while ago)
1. Mr. Darcy
2. Elizabeth
3. Mr. Bingley
4. Jane
5. Mrs. Bennet
I did not include all characters in my search, as there are quite some, but I selected thirteen of them, which, in my eyes, would probably be mentioned most.
Time for the truth.
| 1. | Elizabeth | 752 |
| 2. | Jane | 356 |
| 3. | Mr. Darcy | 258 |
| 4. | Wickham | 194 |
| 5. | Lydia | 173 |
| 6. | Mr. Collins | 141 |
| 7. | Charlotte | 138 |
| 8. | Mrs. Bennet | 135 |
| 9. | Mr. Bingley | 104 |
| 10. | Mr. Bennet | 84 |
| 11. | Kitty | 71 |
| 12. | Mary | 39 |
| 13. | Miss Darcy | 36 |
Well, number 1 and 2 were not so very unexpected. And of course, it was very probable that Mr. Darcy would end up a little bit higher on the list than predicted. But how could I totally forget about Mr. Wickham? Only Friend 1 mentioned him on nr. 5, with a few others. And how can Mr. Bingley only be on nr. 9!? Even Mrs. Bennet is mentioned more often and she is only the mother, not the lover!
When reading the book, it certainly feels like the whole story revolves around Elizabeth & Darcy and Jane & Bingley. Of course, Wickham & Lydia are also a big part of the story, but based on these numbers, it seems like Bingley is only a minor character.
 |
| https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1453725 |
Let's zoom in on a few characters with different names:
Elizabeth is called by her first name 635 times. The shorter form Lizzy is used 95 times and Eliza 22 times.
Jane is mentioned 292 times, and is also 64 times addressed as Miss Bennet.
Lydia occurs 170 times. After she is married and her name changed to Mrs. Wickham, she is dismissed from the story after 3 mentions.
Charlotte is still in the picture after she marries the unlikeable Mr. Collins. Half of the time (26 times) she is Miss Lucas and the other half (27 times) she is Mrs. Collins. Furthermore, she is 85 times called by her first name.
A few extra's:
It seems like the book is more about pride than about prejudice: 49 vs. 9 occurrences. But naturally, you should not always believe the numbers :)
And the word 'nerves' is only mentioned 4 times in total! I would not believe this if I hadn't investigated it myself. If you have watched the BBC series from 1995, you would expect this word at least as many times as Mrs. Bennet herself is mentioned.
I hope you liked this post! Let me know in the comments, also if you think of any other questions do not hesitate to ask them!
Doei!
P.S. As I was reading just yet, I was astonished to find that Jane Austen calls Jane Bennet fat! Well, not in so many words, but when Mr. Bennet receives a letter from Mr. Gardiner about Lydia and Wickham, Elizabeth and Jane run towards their father and 'Jane, who was not so light, nor so much in the habit of running as Elizabeth, soon lagged behind ...'
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