Pride
and Prejudice by Jane Austen revolves around Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr.
Darcy. While the novel ends with the two being happily married, Elizabeth is
not initially fond of Mr. Darcy. She forms a prejudice against him because of his
prideful manner. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth learns to understand Mr. Darcy’s
character and love him, fulfilling his desire to be loved by her.
Elizabeth first encounters Mr.
Darcy at a ball. He is a friend of Mr. Bingley, who recently purchased an
estate near the Bennet family. Mr. Darcy has a disagreeable manner, and “not
all his estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding,
disagreeable, countenance” (12). He refuses to dance at the ball and says that Elizabeth
is only “tolerable” (13). However, he soon changes his tone and states that he
thinks highly of Elizabeth, but her judgements on his character are already
formed. It takes a considerable amount of time for her to see the error in her
first impressions.
Elizabeth’s dislike of Mr. Darcy is
fortified by two other events. She meets Mr. Wickham, who explains that Mr.
Darcy cheated him out of an inheritance. Being such an agreeable man, Elizabeth
believes his story. The second event involves her belief that Mr. Darcy interfered
with the love between her sister, Jane, and Mr. Bingley. It appears that Jane
and Mr. Bingley are fond of one another, and it is likely they will be married.
However, Mr. Bingley leaves his estate with no promise of return. Elizabeth initially
thinks that Mr. Bingley’s sisters planned his departure, but she is led to
believe that Mr. Darcy orchestrated the plan. In a later conversation with a friend
of Mr. Darcy’s, Elizabeth learns that Mr. Darcy “saved a friend from the inconveniences
of a most imprudent marriage” (181). On these two stories, Elizabeth bases her
prejudice against Mr. Darcy, and it is not until he explains to her the truth
that her opinion changes.
Mr. Darcy eventually proposes to
Elizabeth, but he is refused by her. She states that he would be “the last man
in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry” (188). Still loving
Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy writes a letter that explains Mr. Wickham’s past and why
he separated Mr. Bingley and her sister. She begins to understand him after
reading the letter. Also, after visiting Mr. Darcy’s estate and witnessing him
interact civilly with her relatives, her opinion of him changes. Lastly, she
learns Mr. Darcy saved her promiscuous younger sister from a shameful situation
with Mr. Wickham. When Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth meet again, her feelings are settled.
He proposes to her again, and she explains that since her past refusal, “her
sentiments had undergone so material a change … to make her receive with
gratitude and pleasure, his present assurances” (346). It is under these
circumstances that the first impressions of Elizabeth were so altered as to leading
her to be married to Mr. Darcy.
Towards the beginning of the novel, Mr. Darcy says that Elizabeth’s defect is “wilfully to misunderstand [everybody]” (57), and throughout the novel it appears that Mr. Darcy might be correct. Elizabeth notably misunderstands Mr. Darcy and Wickham incorrectly judges their character and personality, but is Elizabeth completely to blame for this?
ReplyDeleteWhen Mr. Darcy is first introduced in the novel, he quickly goes from being highly sought after and in high regard to being found “proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased” (12) at the ball. Considering how much gossip goes on within the novel, it can be appropriately assumed that Elizabeth heard of Mr. Darcy’s ill review at the ball before she had even met him herself. Hearing such things from those who Elizabeth already knows rather well, she is certain to have already cast a bad light on Mr. Darcy, and what she overhears him say to Mr. Bingley only furthers the undesirable impression she receives.
Mr. Wickham’s story against Mr. Darcy then becomes a sort of ‘icing on the cake’ for Elizabeth’s ill opinion of Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth believes Wickham because he appears to be a kind and extremely likable gentleman. His description greatly supports this belief, “His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address” (71).
Elizabeth shouldn’t be completely to blame for her wrong impression of Mr. Darcy. She listens to what other people in her life have to say about him, and they all say the same things. Everyone finds Mr. Wickham to be a wonderful man and Elizabeth initially sees him as such, so she believes what he has to say about Darcy. He family and close friends also find Darcy to be too proud and arrogant for their liking and that lines up with the rude comment Elizabeth heard him make to Mr. Bingley. Perhaps Elizabeth isn’t necessarily bad at understanding people, but instead trusts the opinions of those closest to her too much.