In the very beginning of the novel, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley are introduced in tandem, with Mr. Bingley acting as a foil for Mr. Darcy. Where Mr. Bingley is described as "good looking and gentlemanlike" (Austen 6) Mr. Darcy is found to be "handsomer than Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity" (8). He is excessively proud and holds nothing back, declaring Elizabeth Bennet "'tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me'" (8). Darcy's snobbish behavior even causes Mrs. Bennet, who typically approves of every man who possesses the capability of marrying a daughter, to label Darcy as a "disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing!" (9). At the core, however, Darcy is an honest man who holds nothing back. While proud, he is shown to be extremely friendly to those he cares for, protecting Bingley from marrying Jane Austen because he believed her to be "without a symptom of peculiar regard... that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment" (147). He is a truly caring man who is immediately labeled as despicable due to his blunt honesty and only sheds this image through helping save the Bennet's family image and Elizabeth witnessing "praise, of all others most extraordinary" come from Mrs. Reynolds (185).
On the flip-side, Mr. Wickham is a truly sinister character who initially is perceived to be a gentleman. He is initially viewed as "far beyond all in person, countenance, air, and walk" (56) and having "a happy readiness of conversation" (54). As soon as Elizabeth meets him, he finds herself infatuated to his likeness and acknowledges him in an almost deity like status. To her, Wickham can do and say no wrong, and she finds herself thinking of him constantly. However, as time goes on, he reveals himself to be a womanizer and manipulator, using a mix of lies and truth to persuade Elizabeth that Darcy is a scoundrel and scum. As described by Mr. Gardiner, Wickham promises to marry Lydia with his true intentions to "leave the regiment, on account of some debts of honour" (242) and only hoped to "make his fortune by marriage" (243). He had attempted a similar action once before on Darcy's young, impressionable sister, and his true motives are selfish and crude. No one realizes this at first, due to his fake persona and words meant to please.
As seen throughout the story, honesty of thought does not seem to lead to favorable first impressions. Darcy's blunt honesty causes him to be disregarded and viewed badly by others, despite his good intentions. Meanwhile, Wickham is a compulsive liar who portrays himself as a good character in order to draw favor from others. Contrary to today's saying of honesty being the best policy, it seems that wearing a mask, at least initially, will benefit more from the start in this novel.
I think you make a great point about how Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickman express themselves socially in the beginning of the novel, whether or not that actually exemplifies their true characters. I think another comparison to make that builds on this claim is the difference between the outward mannerisms of Caroline Bingley and Lady Catherine. Caroline Bingley is very similar to Mr. Wickman as she expresses her judgmental emotions in private. Similar to Elizabeth’s first impression of Mr. Wickman, Jane holds a high impression of Miss Bingley after the ball (Austen 17) as she is very agreeable in person. However, when away from the Bennet sisters, Miss Bingley insults them and even calls Elizabeth “wild” (37) for coming to visit Jane while she is ill. In opposition to Miss Bingley, Lady Catherine expresses her judgmental opinions of the Bennet sisters directly to Elizabeth’s face. When conversing with Elizabeth during her stay at the Collins, Lady Catherine smugly questions Elizabeth and comments on the Bennet family. In particular she snobbishly exclaims, “The Miss Webbs all play, and their father has not so good as income as yours” (164). While both Miss Bingley and Lady Catherine are obviously very judgmental of the Bennet family, Lady Catherine is more disagreeable in her mannerisms than Miss Bingley because she expresses her horrid opinions vocally. While neither character is expected to be admired, Miss Bingley, similar to Mr. Wickman, is originally seen as more respectable because she does not express her hatred of the Bennet sisters outwardly.
ReplyDeleteI love the examples and evidence that you pulled forward to make your argument, but I arrived at a slightly different conclusion than you did despite this. I believe that Jane Austen IS arguing quite seriously that honesty is the best policy, just over the long run. Of course it is true that Wickham had an amazing first impression, tricking Elizabeth and readers alike into believing that he would be the perfect future husband for her. Additionally, it is true as well that Darcy's first impressions made him seem "disagreeable" to even Mrs. Bennet (9), probably the worst judge of character in the entire novel. However, I did not see evidence that Jane Austen was arguing that "wearing a mask, at least initially, will benefit more from the start in this novel", as you put it. I believe that Austen is trying to gear this lesson more towards the readers, telling us to be slower to trust and not build our entire theories off first impressions. This is reinforced by, how over the long-run, Darcy turns out to be a well-developed and generally likable character (or at least tolerable for Darcy haters out there) while Wickham turns out to be a few steps away from pure evil. From the other perspective, Austen shows us that even if we had a terrible first impression, as long as we didn't lie or trick anyone we stand a chance of improving our reputation, as Darcy accomplishes through his letter and constant service towards Elizabeth. I don't believe it would have been the same if Darcy acted like Miss Bingley, who acts courteous in person then gossips about the Bennet sisters behind their backs.
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