Pride and Prejudice, outlined chapter by chapter
Pride and Prejudice runs to 61 chapters and 121,748 words in the public text. This page lays them out as an outline: words per chapter, where each starts, how much is quoted speech or letters, and which names appear most.
Five landmarks are placed on it, from the opening line to the second proposal; a separate page reads them as the five moments of a writing day. A novelist with a draft can set her chapters beside these and see where the shapes differ.
Every figure comes from counting the text; the method is at the end of the page.
Where the five landmarks fall
| Landmark | Chapter | Starts at | Words in the chapter | Quoted text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening line | 1 | 0.0% | 847 | 79% |
| First proposal | 34 | 47.7% | 2,100 | 44% |
| Darcy's letter | 35 | 49.4% | 2,999 | 88% |
| Jane's letter about Lydia | 46 | 68.9% | 3,012 | 51% |
| Second proposal | 58 | 93.6% | 2,433 | 67% |
The two middle landmarks are consecutive chapters. Together they hold 4.2% of the book, and the halfway point of the word count, word 60,874, falls inside the second of them, the letter.
The other three are spread wide. The opening is at the first word, Jane's letter just past two thirds, and the second proposal in the fourth chapter from the end.
How the chapters are proportioned around them
The 33 chapters before the first proposal hold 47.7% of the words. The 10 chapters between the letter and Jane's letter hold 17.0%.
The 11 chapters between Jane's letter and the second proposal hold 22.3%. The last 4, from the second proposal to the final page, hold 6.4%; after the proposal chapter itself, 3 chapters and 4.4% remain.
The median chapter is 1,825 words, with 30 chapters longer, 30 shorter, and chapter 42 sitting exactly on it. The shortest is chapter 12, at 675 words. The longest is chapter 18, at 5,173, nearly three medians in one.
Six chapters pass 3,000 words: 16, 18, 43, 46, 47 and 52. Four of those six come after the letter. Four chapters stay under 1,000: 1, 2, 5 and 12, three of them among the first five.
Split into three by chapter count, the last third is the heavy one. Chapters 1 to 20 hold 29.3% of the words, 21 to 40 hold 28.9%, and 41 to 61 hold 41.8%.
The average chapter runs 1,786 words in the first twenty, 1,758 in the second twenty, and 2,422 in the last twenty-one.
Who is named, and where
Elizabeth is named in all 61 chapters, 752 times in total, and leads the count in 35 of them, alone or tied. None of the other ten names tracked here appears in every chapter.
Darcy is named 416 times, is absent from 11 chapters, and first appears in chapter 3.
The company around her changes. In chapters 1 to 20, the next names after her are Bingley (167) and Darcy (155). In 21 to 40 they are Darcy (116) and Collins (94), and in 41 to 61 Darcy (145) and Lydia (118).
Several names arrive in concentrated runs. Collins collects 140 of his 178 mentions between chapter 13, where he is first named, and chapter 30.
Lydia collects 79 of her 170 in the seven chapters from Jane's letter to chapter 52. Bingley is not named once in those same seven. Lady Catherine has two peaks, 15 mentions in chapter 29 and 12 in chapter 56.
Elizabeth leads the count in only two of the five landmark chapters: Jane's letter and the second proposal. Chapter 1 belongs to Mr. Bennet, with 6 mentions, and chapter 34 to Darcy, 11 against her 9.
Chapter 35 is Darcy's letter, and the name that appears most in it is Wickham: 12 times, against 4 for Darcy and 2 for Elizabeth. He is first named in chapter 15.
The two biggest single-chapter counts fall in the two longest chapters: Darcy is named 41 times in chapter 18, Elizabeth 42 times in chapter 43.
How much of it is quoted
Across the book, 47% of the words sit inside quotation marks, and 29 of the 61 chapters are above half. Five pass 75%: chapters 1, 19, 35, 47 and 52. The opening chapter is 79% quoted and the closing one 9%.
Seven stay under 10%: chapters 12, 15, 30, 36, 42, 44 and 61, with chapter 12 at zero. The sharpest change between neighbours is at the letter: chapter 35 reads at 88%, chapter 36 at 6%.
The outline, chapter by chapter
Starts at is the position of the chapter's first word in the running count. Quoted text is the share of its words inside quotation marks. Most named gives the two most frequent names in the chapter with their counts, ties included.
| Chapter | Words | Starts at | Quoted text | Most named |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 847 | 0.0% | 79% | Mr. Bennet 6 · Bingley 4 |
| 2 | 798 | 0.7% | 71% | Bingley 7 · Mr. Bennet 6 |
| 3 | 1,700 | 1.4% | 34% | Bingley 16 · Darcy 7 |
| 4 | 1,063 | 2.7% | 32% | Bingley 11 · Darcy 7 |
| 5 | 956 | 3.6% | 68% | Elizabeth 7 · Darcy 3 · Jane 3 |
| 6 | 2,345 | 4.4% | 59% | Elizabeth 16 · Darcy 14 |
| 7 | 1,990 | 6.3% | 41% | Elizabeth 15 · Jane 12 |
| 8 | 1,929 | 8.0% | 57% | Bingley 21 · Elizabeth 15 |
| 9 | 1,729 | 9.6% | 59% | Bingley 17 · Elizabeth 10 |
| 10 | 2,207 | 11.0% | 68% | Darcy 21 · Bingley 18 |
| 11 | 1,599 | 12.8% | 54% | Elizabeth 14 · Bingley 11 |
| 12 | 675 | 14.1% | 0% | Elizabeth 7 · Bingley 5 |
| 13 | 1,693 | 14.7% | 67% | Collins 6 · Mrs. Bennet 5 |
| 14 | 1,118 | 16.0% | 48% | Mr. Bennet 8 · Lady Catherine 5 |
| 15 | 1,695 | 17.0% | 3% | Collins 9 · Elizabeth 6 · Jane 6 |
| 16 | 3,366 | 18.4% | 61% | Darcy 21 · Wickham 19 |
| 17 | 1,280 | 21.1% | 31% | Elizabeth 10 · Wickham 8 |
| 18 | 5,173 | 22.2% | 40% | Darcy 41 · Elizabeth 29 |
| 19 | 1,914 | 26.4% | 80% | Elizabeth 14 · Collins 11 |
| 20 | 1,645 | 28.0% | 58% | Elizabeth 19 · Collins 16 |
| 21 | 2,003 | 29.3% | 59% | Jane 13 · Bingley 11 |
| 22 | 1,732 | 31.0% | 22% | Collins 15 · Elizabeth 11 · Charlotte 11 |
| 23 | 1,612 | 32.4% | 12% | Elizabeth 12 · Collins 9 |
| 24 | 1,928 | 33.7% | 60% | Jane 13 · Elizabeth 12 |
| 25 | 1,515 | 35.3% | 44% | Elizabeth 9 · Darcy 6 |
| 26 | 2,331 | 36.6% | 60% | Elizabeth 21 · Jane 7 |
| 27 | 1,255 | 38.5% | 39% | Elizabeth 10 · Jane 4 |
| 28 | 1,449 | 39.5% | 23% | Elizabeth 14 · Collins 10 |
| 29 | 2,382 | 40.7% | 34% | Collins 16 · Lady Catherine 15 |
| 30 | 1,229 | 42.7% | 3% | Elizabeth 10 · Charlotte 5 |
| 31 | 1,554 | 43.7% | 58% | Darcy 14 · Elizabeth 10 |
| 32 | 1,496 | 44.9% | 39% | Elizabeth 12 · Darcy 8 · Collins 8 |
| 33 | 1,858 | 46.2% | 53% | Darcy 18 · Bingley 9 |
| 34 | 2,100 | 47.7% | 44% | Darcy 11 · Elizabeth 9 |
| 35 | 2,999 | 49.4% | 88% | Wickham 12 · Bingley 5 |
| 36 | 2,003 | 51.9% | 6% | Darcy 14 · Wickham 9 |
| 37 | 1,369 | 53.5% | 38% | Lady Catherine 7 · Collins 6 |
| 38 | 1,038 | 54.7% | 45% | Elizabeth 10 · Collins 5 |
| 39 | 1,631 | 55.5% | 60% | Elizabeth 11 · Wickham 6 |
| 40 | 1,677 | 56.8% | 70% | Elizabeth 10 · Jane 9 |
| 41 | 2,268 | 58.2% | 40% | Lydia 21 · Elizabeth 12 |
| 42 | 1,825 | 60.1% | 9% | Elizabeth 10 · Jane 2 · Wickham 2 |
| 43 | 4,854 | 61.6% | 23% | Elizabeth 42 · Darcy 17 |
| 44 | 2,334 | 65.6% | 2% | Darcy 17 · Elizabeth 14 |
| 45 | 1,732 | 67.5% | 15% | Elizabeth 20 · Darcy 17 |
| 46 | 3,012 | 68.9% | 51% | Elizabeth 17 · Lydia 16 |
| 47 | 4,080 | 71.4% | 77% | Elizabeth 19 · Jane 16 · Lydia 16 |
| 48 | 2,254 | 74.7% | 38% | Elizabeth 11 · Mr. Bennet 6 |
| 49 | 2,240 | 76.6% | 69% | Elizabeth 14 · Jane 11 |
| 50 | 2,200 | 78.4% | 19% | Lydia 10 · Wickham 8 |
| 51 | 2,070 | 80.2% | 46% | Elizabeth 16 · Wickham 12 |
| 52 | 3,025 | 81.9% | 78% | Wickham 16 · Darcy 10 |
| 53 | 2,935 | 84.4% | 42% | Elizabeth 16 · Bingley 15 |
| 54 | 1,593 | 86.8% | 40% | Elizabeth 14 · Darcy 5 · Jane 5 |
| 55 | 2,326 | 88.1% | 34% | Elizabeth 23 · Jane 19 |
| 56 | 2,727 | 90.0% | 75% | Elizabeth 21 · Lady Catherine 12 |
| 57 | 1,654 | 92.3% | 55% | Elizabeth 17 · Lady Catherine 6 |
| 58 | 2,433 | 93.6% | 66% | Elizabeth 14 · Darcy 8 |
| 59 | 2,469 | 95.6% | 51% | Elizabeth 30 · Darcy 15 |
| 60 | 1,586 | 97.7% | 64% | Elizabeth 7 · Jane 5 · Lady Catherine 5 |
| 61 | 1,248 | 99.0% | 9% | Elizabeth 12 · Darcy 9 |
How this outline was measured
The text is Project Gutenberg eBook #1342, listed there as "Public domain in the USA" (gutenberg.org/ebooks/1342, read 17 September 2026). The chapters were split on their headings in that file, and the words of each were counted.
"Quoted text" is everything between opening and closing quotation marks: spoken lines, and also the letters the novel quotes in full. That is why chapter 35, which holds Darcy's letter, reads at 88%.
A name is counted each time it is found in a chapter's text, and all counts are approximate. The same count runs on any long text whose chapters are headed the same way, a novel or a memoir alike.
The novel measured here was published on 28 January 1813, after a working draft titled First Impressions (Jane Austen's House, read 17 September 2026).