Pride and Prejudice to elope with Georgiana Darcy, and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Marrying a woman of a rich family also ensured a linkage to a high family, as is visible in the desires of Bingley's sisters to have their brother married to Georgiana Darcy. Mrs. Bennet is frequently seen encouraging her daughters to marry a wealthy man of high social class. In chapter 1, when Mr. Bingley arrives, she declares "I am thinking of his marrying one of them." Inheritance was by descent, but could be further restricted by entailment, which would restrict inheritance to male heirs only. In the case of the Bennet
Pride and Prejudice become one of the most popular novels in English literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and paved the way for many archetypes that abound in modern literature. For more than a century, amateur and professional dramatic adaptations, print continuations and sequels, and film and TV versions of "Pride and Prejudice" have reimagined the original novel's memorable characters and themes to reach mass audiences. The 2005 film "Pride & Prejudice", starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, is the most recent Hollywood adaptation of the book. The novel opens with Mrs. Bennet trying to persuade Mr. Bennet to visit Mr. Bingley,