Pride is a common theme throughout Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bennet and Mr. Darcy are both shown to be prideful at different points in the novel; however, their pride does not encompass their whole characters. Austen highlights that pride is only a component of Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s personalities and that their other traits, such as wittiness and loyalty, make them a well-suited couple.
At the beginning of the novel, the Bennet family considers Mr. Darcy “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (13) because he refuses to dance with anyone at the ball and regards himself as above the company. He even rejects an invitation to dance with Lizzy, claiming she is not attractive enough to tempt him. As the story progresses, however, readers begin to understand Mr. Darcy’s pride is a result of his wealth and affluent connections. As Darcy falls in love with Lizzy, his connections are shown to mean less to him. He wishes to marry Lizzy despite her indecent connections. Lizzy at first rejects Mr. Darcy’s proposal, but after he ensures Lydia’s marriage to Mr. Wickham and supports Mr. Bingley’s marriage to Jane, Lizzy changes her mind. She realizes that, while he may sometimes be prideful, he is also endearing and trustworthy. She claims, “’Indeed he has no proper pride,’” (356) and decides he would make a worthy husband.
Although she focuses most of her discussion of pride on Mr. Darcy, Lizzy is not a stranger to pride herself. Her pride allows her to reject the first proposal of Mr. Darcy. She tells him during this proposal that she has “never desired [his] good opinion” (186). This statement conveys Lizzy’s pride in the sense that she does care about whether he likes her company. However, after she reads Darcy’s letter about Wickham, she realizes that Darcy is an honorable man and “[grows] absolutely ashamed of herself” for being so “blind, partial, prejudiced, [and] absurd” (201). She recognizes that her pride has led her to make assumptions about Mr. Darcy’s disposition. After Darcy proves Lizzy wrong about his character, she discovers her pride may have gotten in the way of her finding true love. Thus, when Darcy makes his second proposal, Lizzy accepts him and confesses her prejudices against him have been unwarranted.
Lizzy and Darcy make amends for their pride by apologizing and changing their manners towards the other. They come to realize they would make an advantageous couple. After they are married, Lizzy tells Mr. Darcy, “You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking and looking, and thinking of your approbation alone. I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them” (359). Lizzy thus explains the reasons Darcy falls for her and the ways in which she complements him. Her own journey to love is also gradual, but she eventually realizes the qualities she shares with Darcy make the two a viable match for a happy marriage.
In terms of romantic love, it is often said that opposites attract, but Elizabeth and Darcy are in fact much more similar than Elizabeth may want to believe. I agree that they are both very prideful and for Elizabeth, sometimes this pride masks her more pleasant traits, such as her “wit and vivacity” (Austen 92). It is quite a humbling experience when Elizabeth finally recognizes Darcy’s true character, and her shame for being so “blind, partial, prejudiced, [and] absurd” makes her reflect on and reevaluate her previous assumptions about Darcy (178). As for Darcy, his outward arrogance and supercilious disposition make him “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (13). His attitude hides his true feelings for Elizabeth and prevents him from acting on these feelings for a long time. In fact, he even tries to convince himself that he does not love her at all. “But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes” (18). It is interesting that both Darcy and Elizabeth, blinded by their unpleasant first impressions of each other, are so intent on disliking each other that once they do finally fall in love, they realize how alike they really are. So maybe opposites do not always attract.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your take on the role of love in softening one’s harsher qualities. I think both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy possess their fair share of pride, Lizzie’s stemming from “compliment(s) on her wit and vivacity” and Darcy’s from his connections and signs of affluence like the “large, handsome stone building of Pemberley” (Austen 62, 169). As the reader sees the novel and its characters through Elizabeth’s eyes, most of the information gleaned about Darcy until the end concerns his flaws, from his temper to his reluctance to dance with “young ladies who are slighted by other men” to, yes, his pridefulness (Austen 7). Lizzie’s negative attitude of Darcy holds throughout the majority of the novel, not changing until Darcy pays off Wickham to marry Lydia, which is where we start to see Lizzie view Darcy in a way that “make(s) her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present [assurance of love and proposal for marriage]” (Austen 257). Darcy’s pride hasn’t diminished or changed, and neither has Lizzie’s, but due to the progression of events in the plot, the flaws that they once saw in each other have softened in their minds enough to cause them to see the other in a new light. This new light extends beyond Darcy’s admiration of the “beautiful expression of [Lizzie’s] dark eyes” and extends to her intelligence, wit, and personality, something that allows both of them to look beyond their own pride and prejudice and form a connection with the other (Austen 15). The title of the book means more than just the name of the story- Pride and Prejudice translate directly into the book, functioning as traits and concepts that prevent couples from being together until the end, when love and truth cause the characters to look past their original preconceived notions and see the other characters for their true selves.
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