I'm going to try answer your questions without reading your answers-

I like P&P . The characters are drawn in interesting ways-some are stereotypes: for instance the sisters-the pretty yet quiet eldest, the feisty intelligent second, the flirt, the bookworm, the spoiled one. Mrs. Bennett, Lady Catherine-you can find characters of their ilk in literature all the time, but Austen still gives them individual shape and color. I think that is why she is still read-fashions change, people don't. You know people like the ones in her books. Of course, we are all Elizabeth...but some of our friends and acquaintances....
No, Austen isn't a realist, she writes social commentary but in broad strokes-sometimes almost satiric. Mark Twain is famous for the "statement said to shock."
P&P isn't my favorite-but I know it is many people's. It is not as sentimental as S&S or Mansfield Park, not as dark as Persuasion, not as sharp as Emma. Northanger Abbey is a deliberate mock of the gothic romance-gotta like them to appreciate it.
Lizzy ran away because she was a silly romantic teenager who had no real idea what she was getting into-and wanted to beat Jane and Elizabeth to the altar. Typical younger child. But she also needed to run away to give Darcy a way to save her and so put Elizabeth in his emotional debt so she would come down off her high horse and entertain his suit. (I don't mean Darcy thought that out-Austen did.)

I think Darcy was stifled and bored, and Elizabeth was a breath of fresh air with lovely eyes-he was a very earnestly GOOD man with a large fortune and a fabulous house. What's not to love?

Thanks for posting ccrdmrbks! I was begining to think no one was interested in a discussion.
"Of course, we are all Elizabeth...but some of our freinds and aquantances..." Lol, yes I think everyone wants to be Lizzy! There is just something about her that everyone likes.
You said that you thought Lydia ran away with Wickham because she wanted to beat her sisters to the altar. I think that thats true also. Being married gave her something over her elder sisters.
I think Elizabeth probably DID love Darcy. She let down Mr. Collins because she did not love him. It seems likely that she would do the same to any other man she did not love, even if he was rich. I hope so at least.
CMK

I feel sorry for Mrs. Bennett. Life was not too easy for her. A husband who married a pretty girl, gave her 5 confinements to beget an heir and was cutting and sarcastic. No wonder she had nervous attacks! Then she had the worry of getting them suitable matches because he had been improvident.
That woman was a saint! Austen treated her badly too!
I felt a bit nervous of posting because it looked a bit like sitting a test, Christin, and it has been too many years since I had to have such a sharp brain. I have noticed that RP'ers tend to post their thoughts at weekends.

make that Lydia ran away.
Lydia also knew that Elizabeth (Lizzy is just too flighty a diminutive for her) was attracted to Wickham-another way to score on the sister who was always criticizing. For Wickham's sake, I hope he continues to rise through the ranks so Lydia can have something to lord over the other wives in camp-otherwise, she will become a nag and a scold very quickly. She has high whine-potential.
I think the Jane-Bingley romance was more of a true love match from start to finish. Darcy thought Jane very dangerous for his friend. Pretty, gracious, well-mannered, quiet, well-read, from a respectable family, peaceful-but POOR and with that mother! Darcy thought he really must save Bingley from himself.
Mr. Collins was a slug-

CMK, it is years since I read any JA. In English schools, especially girls-only schools, each year 'did' a JA book in minute detail, usually up to 'O Level/A Level exam standard.
I studied P&P, Mansfield Park and Emma in quite enough depth to last me the rest of my life.
I found MP boring and Fanny Price a wimp of the "I think I can feel a little headache coming on" variety.

P and P is a better story and surely mocks the girls (and their mothers) of the day with the constant worrying about finding the right man and how much he was worth . . . and you must have noticed that all the eligible bachelors were very very wealthy.
In England we would not consider Mr Bennett to be sarcastic merely ironic and too complacent, until forced to do something about the silly Lydia . . . and I feel if the Wickham/Lydia scandal had been written in the later part of the nineteenth century the book would never have been published . . . she had become a fallen woman. :-)
Emma gives us an all-round character of the bossy heroine and her well-intentioned efforts to control the lives of her entire community.

I realise I probably haven't answered any of your questions but the family is falling down about me with a 'flu' virus and I can feel my brain becoming spongy as I fight off the inevitable!

Thanks for posting everyone. Sorry about all the questions.
--annpan, yes I think it WAS very difficult on Mrs. Bennet to find suitable husbands for her girls. Especially in such a small town as thiers. I think her 'attacks' were just put on to get attention though.
I think one character I felt sorry for was Mary (though she was a bit dull). She did not seem to be understood or liked by anyone in her family. It always amazed me that she did not marry Mr. Collins. They seemed so alike.
I think Mr. Collins could be called a 'toady'. Someone who flatters excessivly.
What I find interesting though is that Mary was classed with Lydia and Kitty as being 'silly'. I always thought that in that time girls who were quiet, studious, religious, 'accomplished' were the most approved. Maybe she was not vivacious and outgoing enough?
-veer, Mansfield Park is my near favorite! I loved it. To each is own I guess! Hope your family gets better soon.
CMK

Mary is a sad character. In other times she would have been called a blue-stocking-not at all what a man was looking for in a wife. She was also a bit self-righteous, probably in response to the infinite silliness of Lydia and Kitty, and the attractiveness of Jane and Elizabeth. Classic middle daughter-being "studious" was the way she could stand out. She probably wasn't biddable enough for Mr. Collins-and she would not have impressed Lady Catherine AT ALL. Not pretty, would have a tendency to lecture instead of allowing herself to be lectured to, and her housekeeping would probably be a nightmare.

Mary is a sad character. In other times she would have been called a blue-stocking-not at all what a man was looking for in a wife. She was also a bit self-righteous, probably in response to the infinite silliness of Lydia and Kitty, and the attractiveness of Jane and Elizabeth. Classic middle daughter-being "studious" was the way she could stand out. She probably wasn't biddable enough for Mr. Collins-and she would not have impressed Lady Catherine AT ALL. Not pretty, would have a tendency to lecture instead of allowing herself to be lectured to, and her housekeeping would probably be a nightmare.

Yes, I suppose Mary might not have been quite pliable enough for Mr. Collin's purposes. But I mean is that she would have been good as a preachers wife because she WAS moralizing and followed her 'duty'. She would have been a good schoolmarm or missionary. She probably just ended up a spinster though. Do you think she could ever make a living for herself (such as the main character did in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall?).
I wonder how many of us would have been considered 'blue-stockings' back then?
I do remember, in the last chapter of the book, Austen mentioning the fates of the two unwed sisters. Let me see if I can find it....

It says that "Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to that she had generally known, her improvement was great. She was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia; and, removed from the influence of Lydia's example, she became by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid."
And it also says this "Mary was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was neccissarilly drawn from the pursuit of accomplishments by Mrs. Bennet's being quite unable to sit alone. Mary was obliged to mix more with the world, but she could still moralise over every morning visit; and as she was no longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters' beauty and her own, it was suspected by her father that she submitted to the change without much reluctance."
That would be terrible to be constantly told that you were not pretty in comparison to your sisters and that you were not an interesting person to be around.
CMK

Veer: The reason I mentioned sarcasm was that, cudgelling my brains to recall the book, I remembered Mr. Bennett making a crack about his wife's nerves being old friends! Yes, this could have been irony too.
Hope that you do not get the flu, it is so lowering, I recall. I have hayfever, which has not hit me before, and is certainly making me feel miserable as I cannot see very well along with the other woes. Ah, poor woman!
I read all the Austen books after seeing the TV productions and had to study Northanger Abbey for the O level English exam over 50 years ago.
I preferred Heyer and being surrounded by all things Regency in Brighton where I was born, went to see Bath. I stayed in a guest house in Royal Crescent and the owners showed me around the rooms. I recall that one was oval in shape and my attention was drawn to the fact that even the doors were curved to continue the theme. It was a lovely trip, seeing the baths (not as they are now though) and the Pump Room etc. I took my mother on the same trip later, just before I migrated to Australia and have happy memories of that too.

It is very interesting . I love creative work.

Ann, i wondered the same thing, myself!

I read the websites notes of classic books meant as study aids for students and notice small errors. I don't know if they are deliberate to catch students who copy from them.

I won't mention the sites or the errors in case they are!

Hmm. In any case, we have had some wonderful discussions over the years. Remember Kristin Lavransdattar? Jane Eyre?